Head of Recruitment and Training - Star Pubs

Head of Recruitment and Training

Function: Star Pubs – Central Operations
Location: Field-based

Salary: £68,000 - £78,000 (depending on experience) plus 15% of base salary (taken as cash) as a benefits allowance plus annual commercial bonus, in addition to full benefits listed below.

Contract: Permanent

Closing Date: 18th September 2026 Please note where we receive high volumes of applications, we may choose to close the vacancy early so don't delay applying!

Fancy shaping how Star Pubs attracts, recruits, develops and supports the people who run our pubs?

HEINEKEN has a long-held belief that pubs are an integral part of British culture and that well-invested pubs, run by skilled pub operators, can prosper and thrive. As the nation’s leading pub, cider and beer company and the name behind a host of brilliant brands, we’re looking for equally brilliant people to help us bring out the best in the great British pub.

We're looking for a Head of Recruitment and Training to lead our end-to-end Licensee Attraction, Recruitment and Capability strategy. This is an opportunity to create a market-leading approach to attracting, developing and supporting pub operators across the UK, bringing together attraction, recruitment, onboarding, training and ongoing development under one joined-up vision.

You'll play a critical role in ensuring we attract exceptional operators, equip them with the skills and support to succeed, and build a strong pipeline of talent for the future.

This is a senior leadership role with significant scope to shape strategy, influence business performance and make a measurable difference to our operators and the success of our pub estate.

About the role
You'll lead a direct team of four and a wider team of (19) across Recruitment, Attraction and Training, covering Attraction Marketing, Licensee recruitment, and the operator capability agenda across both our Just Add Talent (JAT) and Leased & Tenanted (L&T) businesses.

Your focus will be the entire operator journey, from the moment someone discovers an opportunity with Star Pubs through recruitment, onboarding, capability development and ongoing business support.

You'll own the strategy for attracting high-quality operators, building sustainable talent pipelines and strengthening Star Pubs' position as the partner of choice for ambitious pub operators.

You'll also lead our capability strategy, ensuring operators have the training, knowledge and support they need to build successful and sustainable pub businesses. This includes onboarding, apprenticeships, digital learning and the development of engaging, modern learning experiences that drive measurable outcomes.

With a strong commercial focus, you'll use data and insight to improve attraction and conversion, reduce vacancy periods and ensure our capability programmes contribute to operator profitability, retention, customer experience and estate performance.

Working closely with Operations, Property, Investment and Marketing teams, you'll build strong partnerships across the business and externally, providing insight and recommendations to the Star Leadership Team on attraction performance, operator engagement, capability and future talent pipelines.

About you
We're looking for a strategic and commercially minded leader who can turn ambitious ideas into measurable results.

You'll have significant leadership experience within hospitality, retail, recruitment, learning and development, business development, or another commercially focused environment. You'll have a proven track record of leading teams, driving change and delivering results through others.

You'll be comfortable operating at both strategic and operational levels, using data and insight to make decisions, improve performance and identify opportunities for growth. Experience of building talent pipelines, improving attraction and conversion performance, and developing capability programmes that enhance commercial outcomes will be important.

We're also looking for someone who brings curiosity, fresh thinking and a continuous improvement mindset. You'll be energised by finding better ways of attracting, developing and supporting operators, while ensuring every initiative delivers real value for both operators and the business.

Strong stakeholder management will come naturally. You'll be comfortable influencing senior leaders, working cross-functionally and bringing partners together around a shared goal.

Experience within the licensed trade, hospitality sector, or working with owner-operators, franchisees, licensees or similar partner-led businesses would be advantageous.

Most importantly, you'll understand that great pub businesses are built by great people, and you'll be passionate about helping operators succeed.

What success looks like
You'll know you're making an impact when we're:

• Building a strong pipeline of high-quality operators across JAT and L&T.
• Improving attraction, application and conversion performance.
• Reducing vacancy periods and improving appointment rates.
• Developing stronger succession plans and future multiple operator pipelines.
• Improving operator profitability, retention and long-term success.
• Delivering engaging capability programmes that operators and their teams genuinely value.
• Increasing participation and learning outcomes through modern learning solutions.
• Enhancing Star Pubs' reputation as the destination of choice for ambitious pub operators.
• Creating a market-leading operator attraction and development model that differentiates Star Pubs from competitors.

This could be the role for you.

We're bringing two critical parts of the operator journey together under one leadership team, creating a unique opportunity to shape the future of operator attraction, development and success at Star Pubs.

If you're excited by the prospect of building something industry-leading, influencing business performance at scale and making a lasting difference to hundreds of pub operators across the UK, we'd love to hear from you.

Our benefits and rewards

• Annual bonus
• Benefits Allowance (15% of base salary taken as cash)
• Company-funded Private Medical Healthcare
• Double-matched pension (up to 10%)
• Meal and Broadband allowance
• 35 days annual leave (holiday trading available) + 3 public holidays
• Flexible benefits, including a retail discounts platform
• A quarterly allowance to purchase our delicious ciders and beers (low and no alcohol options available)
  
  

…And much more! Check out our Why Join Us page if you’d like more information.

You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in our colleague networks, in which people from across the business connect to help champion diversity, equity and inclusion, ensuring we’re continuing to give people a voice.

The application
If you like what you’ve read and are ready to brew a better career with us, let’s get going! We may close vacancies early where we receive lots of applications, so don’t delay!

If you need any adjustments made to support your application, for example, if you require information in different formats, or if you have any accessibility issues, then we’re more than happy to review our processes – please feel free to get in touch with us at recruitment@heineken.co.uk

You might feel that you don’t meet every single requirement for this role, and that’s okay – we all need the opportunity to develop and untap our full potential. If this advert piqued your interest, we’d encourage you to submit an application rather than ruling yourself out. You never know – you may be exactly what we’re looking for!

Who We Are
Star Pubs is part of HEINEKEN UK. The vast majority of our 2,400 pubs are leased out to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Around 240 pubs operate on our Just Add Talent model (a managed operator agreement). Our ambition is to bring out the best in the great British pub – by attracting and retaining the best operators, investing to create great pubs at the heart of their communities and providing licensees with market-leading insight and support.

Apply today to discover Your Future, Untapped!