Title: Principal Recruitment Consultant - Contract
Location: London (Liverpool St - 3 days / WFH - 2 days)
Sector: Contract recruitment within the Defence, Nuclear and Aerospace sectors in UK & EU
Basic salary: Negotiable for the right candidate with proven track record
We are seeking a new member of the team. This is to build and develop a contract only desk focusing on placing highly skilled engineers in the UK & EU defence sector. Experience of building a successful technical / engineering desk using a candidate led approach, is essential.
Role Overview
The Principal Consultant is a senior, contract revenue-generating individual contributor with full accountability for driving sales growth and/or delivering high-quality recruitment outcomes within their specialist market.
This role requires a consistent and disciplined sales focus, a strong sense of urgency in all activity, and complete accountability for both contract revenue generation and delivery performance. The Principal Consultant owns their market, their pipeline, and their results.
Operating with authority and commercial maturity, the Principal Consultant takes responsibility for outcomes, drives hiring processes forward with urgency, and protects profitability through disciplined sales execution and delivery excellence.
Sales Responsibilities (Revenue Ownership & Market Leadership)
- Take full accountability for achieving and exceeding persona contract billing and margin targets at Principal level.
- Demonstrate consistent sales focus through proactive, high-level business development activities.
- Operate with urgency in business development, client follow-up, and opportunity progression.
- Own and grow a specialist market vertical, building long-term, revenue-generating, strategic client relationships.
- Build, manage, and maintain an accurate and healthy sales pipeline, taking accountability for conversion ratios.
- Generate high-quality job flow aligned to profitability objectives.
- Conduct consultative job briefing meetings with accountability for qualifying roles and setting expectations.
- Position services confidently, maintaining strong sales focus when negotiating pricing and terms to protect margins.
- Identify and act on account expansion and cross-selling opportunities with urgency.
- Take accountability for accurate forecasting and disciplined Bullhorn reporting.
- Generate new business through strategic candidate marketing and market mapping initiatives.
- Drive urgency in closing opportunities and securing client commitment.
- Maintain professionalism, sound judgement, and confidentiality at all times.
Delivery Responsibilities (Fulfilment Excellence & Placement Accountability)
- Take full accountability for managing complex and high-value roles from intake through successful placement.
- Demonstrate urgency in sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and managing interview processes to reduce time-to-fill.
- Build and maintain a high-quality contract pipeline of specialist active and passive candidates.
- Apply strong sales focus when presenting candidates, clearly articulating their value and market positioning.
- Conduct thorough and commercially aware candidate qualification with accountability for quality and alignment.
- Drive urgency throughout interview coordination, feedback loops, and offer negotiations.
- Take accountability for closing offers successfully while protecting and maximising margin.
- Guide clients and candidates through the hiring process with authority, structure, and urgency.
- Proactively identify risks in the recruitment process and take ownership of resolving them.
- Generate new business through strategic candidate marketing ('spec CVs') and market mapping initiatives.
- Maintain consistent, high-quality communication with clients and candidates.
- Achieve and exceed KPIs relating to placements, activity, and individual profitability.
- Maintain accurate and timely Bullhorn documentation with full ownership of data integrity.
Commercial Accountability
- Full accountability for individual contract revenue, margin performance, and pipeline health.
- Responsible for maintaining consistent contract sales focus across both business development and delivery.
- Expected to demonstrate urgency in daily activity levels and opportunity progression.
- Accountable for managing both effort and outcomes without reliance on supervision.
- Responsible for protecting profitability through disciplined negotiation and process control.
Minimum Requirements
- Minimum 4+ years’ recruitment experience with consistent evidence of revenue accountability.
- Proven success in exceeding billing and margin targets.
- Demonstrated ability to operate with urgency in a fast-paced, commercially driven environment.
- Strong and consistent sales focus across both client and candidate engagement.
- Advanced negotiation and influencing capability.
- Highly organised with strong prioritisation and time management skills.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong Bullhorn system proficiency with disciplined reporting standards.
Behavioural Expectations
- Demonstrates accountability for personal revenue, delivery of quality, and professional standards.
- Operates with urgency in business development activity, client responsiveness, and placement execution.
- Maintains a disciplined and visible sales focus in every professional interaction.
- Take ownership of challenges and implement proactive solutions.
- Exhibits resilience and persistence in achieving ambitious revenue targets.
- Maintains professionalism, integrity, and sound commercial judgement at all times.