Principal Talent Partner

Please note:
Profiles will be reviewed starting in January, and shortlisted candidates will be contacted thereafter.

Smarkets runs one of the world’s most sophisticated prediction markets, handling over £29 billion in volume since 2010 and engaging 200,000+ traders globally. We’re a technology company that happens to revolutionise betting - from sports to political markets, to delivering the sharpest prices and the fairest odds.

Our stack is designed for scale, reliability, and speed:
Linux, Kafka, Postgres, Kubernetes, with Python 3, C++17, and React powering our platform. We build infrastructure that institutions trust while keeping trading accessible to everyone. Our edge? We’ve thrived through every market cycle, competitor, and industry revolution.

At the heart of our success are our people. We create a high-performance environment where exceptional talent can thrive, blending deep business experience with a commercial mindset to drive strategic growth.

If you’re ready to help shape the future of prediction markets with cutting‑edge technology and a customer‑first philosophy, Smarkets is where you belong.

We are a lean, highly strategic team focused on enabling company success through efficient systems and people‑first solutions. We are moving towards automation and advanced tooling to build a world‑class, self‑service employee experience. Team members operate with autonomy and are encouraged to challenge the status quo, constantly seeking innovative ways to improve. We thrive on creative problem‑solving, viewing resilience and experimentation as key to achieving our ambitious roadmap.

We are seeking a highly experienced and uniquely talented Senior Talent Partner to join our team. This role requires both strategic vision and rigorous, hands‑on execution. You will own the recruitment lifecycle of your pipelines, responsible for attracting, assessing, and hiring the technical and G&A talent that will define our future success. This is not a passive role, you’ll headhunt people to build our pipelines.

We are looking for a true partner who understands the nuance of building exceptional engineering teams and has the grit and proven ability to operate effectively without a large support infrastructure.

• Strategic Planning:
  Act as a trusted partner to the Leadership Team and Hiring Managers, developing and executing a data‑driven talent acquisition strategy aligned with our goals.
• Technical Bar Ownership:
  Define, articulate, and maintain our exceptionally high technical and cultural bar. Continuously refine assessment methods to ensure we hire individuals who thrive in a complex, fast‑moving environment.
• Employer Branding:
  Champion and articulate the company's value proposition to the external market, particularly within the competitive London tech landscape.

• Sourcing & Headhunting:
  Execute proactive, advanced sourcing strategies (not just relying on job boards) to build deep pipelines for highly specialised and hard‑to‑fill technical roles.
• Candidate
  
  Experience:
  
  Own and deliver a best‑in‑class, personalised candidate experience from initial contact through offer acceptance.
• Screening & Assessment:
  Conduct in‑depth, competency‑based screening interviews, effectively serving as the initial technical and cultural filter for all candidates.
• Offer Negotiation:
  Manage complex offer negotiations, compensation benchmarking, and closing strategies.

• Experience (12+ Years): A minimum of 12 years of progressive experience in technical recruitment, specifically within the high‑growth tech/startup environment.
• Startup/Standalone Expertise:
  Proven experience operating as a standalone internal recruiter or successfully managing the entire recruitment lifecycle (end‑to‑end) within an agency environment, demonstrating deep self‑sufficiency and resourcefulness.
• Technical Acumen:
  Deep, demonstrable understanding of modern software development, architecture, and tech stacks common in Series B companies…