About this role
Position Summary:
Lead and scale Novara's Philippines delivery team. Own the day-to-day management of recruiters and sourcers, drive candidate quality and speed to fill, and free the founder to focus on business development and client relationships. This is a hands-on leadership role — you will be managing people, actively driving delivery outcomes, and shaping how the team operates as we scale from 2 to 6 people over the next year.
Job Details
- Work from Home
- Monday to Friday: 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM (Manila Time) - please take note that flexibility is required to support operational needs.
- Following Singapore holidays
Responsibilities
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Team Leadership
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Manage the day-to-day work of the recruitment team — set priorities, allocate requisitions, track progress.
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Coach and develop team members through weekly 1:1s, real-time feedback, and structured training.
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Recruit, onboard, and integrate new team members as the team scales.
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Set clear performance expectations and hold the team accountable to them.
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Build a team culture aligned with Novara's values: fairness, directness, loyalty, earning trust through action.
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Delivery Ownership
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Own the pipeline for all active client requisitions — from brief through to placement.
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Ensure candidates are sourced, screened, and submitted within target timelines.
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Quality-check all candidate submissions before they go to clients — no CV goes out below Novara standard
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Drive candidate quality across the desk: relevance, accuracy, motivation, availability, right-to-work.
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Manage candidate experience — response times, communication cadence, professional engagement throughout.
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Process and Systems
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Own the operational rhythm of the delivery team — weekly standups, pipeline reviews, hand-offs.
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Optimise use of Vincere (CRM) — ensure data hygiene, pipeline visibility, and candidate tracking discipline.
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Design and refine sourcing playbooks for each specialism (survey, ROV, subsea, inspection marine).
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Build the internal knowledge base — market maps, competitor mapping, key candidate networks.
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Client Interface
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Take direct client briefs where appropriate, freeing the CEO to focus on new business.
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Manage ongoing client communication on active roles — status updates, submission tracking feedback loops.
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Represent Novara professionally in all client-facing communication.
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Reporting to CEO
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Weekly delivery reports covering pipeline health, submissions, feedback, and blockers.
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Flag issues proactively — client concerns, candidate risks, team performance, operational bottlenecks.
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Contribute to strategic decisions on team structure, hiring, and process evolution.
Qualifications
Experience
- 8+ years in recruitment, with at least 3 years in a team lead, senior recruiter, or delivery management role.
- Proven track record of managing recruitment teams (2–6 people minimum)
- Direct experience in one or more of: offshore energy, oil & gas, marine, subsea, ROV, survey, inspection, or infrastructure recruitment (strongly preferred).
- Experience recruiting for international clients — not purely domestic Philippines placements.
- Contract or freelance recruitment experience (not just permanent placements).
Skills
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Strong candidate quality judgement — able to assess CVs, screen calls, and identify strong candidates quickly.
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Excellent English (written and spoken) — direct communication with UK, EU, Singapore, and Australian clients.
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Proficient with a modern ATS / CRM (Vincere preferred; Bullhorn, JobAdder, or Loxo acceptable).
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Comfortable using LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean sourcing, and industry-specific databases.
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Data-literate — able to read pipeline metrics and identify what's working and what isn't.
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Leadership
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Direct, honest management style — comfortable giving and receiving feedback.
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Proven ability to build team culture and develop junior team members.
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High personal accountability — takes ownership of outcomes, does not deflect.
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Comfortable operating with autonomy — you will run the delivery function while the CEO focuses on BD.
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Personal
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Fairness, directness, and integrity as core operating principles.
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Long-term orientation — you want to build something, not just tick boxes.
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Bias to action — solves problems rather than raising them without solutions.
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Committed to full-time exclusive employment with Novara — this role does not accommodate outside commercial commitments.
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Nice to Have
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Existing network in offshore energy / marine recruitment in Southeast Asia or Europe.
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Experience with contract redeployment models (contractor lifecycle management).
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Familiarity with international mobility, tax treatment, and compliance for offshore contractors.
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Prior experience working with a lean, founder-led business rather than large corporate agencies.
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About the Working Relationship You will work directly with the founder / CEO of Novara Search. This means:
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Real autonomy and ownership from day one.
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Direct visibility of business decisions and strategy.
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Fast feedback loops — no layers to work through.
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High expectations on quality, speed, and integrity.
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A commitment on our side to invest in your growth as the business grows.