The posting
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:
Team Leadership
- Manage the day-to-day work of the recruitment team — set priorities, allocate requisitions, track progress.
- Coach and develop team members through weekly 1:1s, real-time feedback, and structured training.
- Recruit, onboard, and integrate new team members as the team scales.
- Set clear performance expectations and hold the team accountable to them.
- Build a team culture aligned with Novara's values: fairness, directness, loyalty, earning trust through action.
Delivery Ownership
- Own the pipeline for all active client requisitions — from brief through to placement.
- Ensure candidates are sourced, screened, and submitted within target timelines.
- Quality-check all candidate submissions before they go to clients — no CV goes out below Novara standard
- Drive candidate quality across the desk: relevance, accuracy, motivation, availability, right-to-work.
- Manage candidate experience — response times, communication cadence, professional engagement throughout.
Process and Systems
- Own the operational rhythm of the delivery team — weekly standups, pipeline reviews, hand-offs.
- Optimise use of Vincere (CRM) — ensure data hygiene, pipeline visibility, and candidate tracking discipline.
- Design and refine sourcing playbooks for each specialism (survey, ROV, subsea, inspection marine).
- Build the internal knowledge base — market maps, competitor mapping, key candidate networks.
Client Interface
- Take direct client briefs where appropriate, freeing the CEO to focus on new business.
- Manage ongoing client communication on active roles — status updates, submission tracking feedback loops.
- Represent Novara professionally in all client-facing communication.
Reporting to CEO
- Weekly delivery reports covering pipeline health, submissions, feedback, and blockers.
- Flag issues proactively — client concerns, candidate risks, team performance, operational bottlenecks.
- 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
- Strong candidate quality judgement — able to assess CVs, screen calls, and identify strong candidates quickly.
- Excellent English (written and spoken) — direct communication with UK, EU, Singapore, and Australian clients.
- Proficient with a modern ATS / CRM (Vincere preferred; Bullhorn, JobAdder, or Loxo acceptable).
- Comfortable using LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean sourcing, and industry-specific databases.
- Data-literate — able to read pipeline metrics and identify what's working and what isn't.
Leadership
- Direct, honest management style — comfortable giving and receiving feedback.
- Proven ability to build team culture and develop junior team members.
- High personal accountability — takes ownership of outcomes, does not deflect.
- Comfortable operating with autonomy — you will run the delivery function while the CEO focuses on BD.
Personal
- Fairness, directness, and integrity as core operating principles.
- Long-term orientation — you want to build something, not just tick boxes.
- Bias to action — solves problems rather than raising them without solutions.
- Committed to full-time exclusive employment with Novara — this role does not accommodate outside commercial commitments.
Nice to Have
- Existing network in offshore energy / marine recruitment in Southeast Asia or Europe.
- Experience with contract redeployment models (contractor lifecycle management).
- Familiarity with international mobility, tax treatment, and compliance for offshore contractors.
- Prior experience working with a lean, founder-led business rather than large corporate agencies.
About the Working Relationship You will work directly with the founder / CEO of Novara Search. This means:
- Real autonomy and ownership from day one.
- Direct visibility of business decisions and strategy.
- Fast feedback loops — no layers to work through.
- High expectations on quality, speed, and integrity.
- A commitment on our side to invest in your growth as the business grows.
