Principal Talent Partner

Who are we?

Smarkets: Predicting the Future of Betting

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.

The Team

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.

About the Role

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.

What you will do:

Talent Strategy & Partnership (30%)

• 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.

Full-Cycle Recruitment & Execution (70%)

• Sourcing & Headhunting: Execute proactive, advanced sourcing strategies (not just relying on job boards) to build deep pipelines for highly specialized and hard-to-fill technical roles.

• Candidate Experience: Own and deliver a best-in-class, personalized 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.

Role Requirements:

Must-Have Experience & Qualifications

• 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 (e.g., Cloud technologies, modern programming languages, data engineering).

• London Tech Market: Established network and expert knowledge of the London/UK technical talent landscape.

• Nice to have: Previous experience hiring technical and operational talents in the East Coast.

Skills & Attributes

• Strategic & Hands-On: A unique ability to toggle seamlessly between long-term strategic thinking and the immediate, hands-on execution of sourcing and candidate management.

• Impact-Driven: Highly analytical and uses data (source-of-hire, time-to-hire, quality-of-hire) to drive efficiency and decision-making.

• Exceptional Communicator: Polished, persuasive, and empathetic communication skills necessary to engage with both C-level executives and technical talent.

• Accountable and ownership-driven: Possesses a deep sense of ownership for the entire recruitment lifecycle, ensuring exceptional candidate management and outcomes.

Our Values

Our values are at the heart of everything we do - guiding how we work, collaborate, and innovate. They reflect what we expect of ourselves and each other to deliver the best results, while fostering a positive, high-performing environment:

• Push to Win: We set ambitious goals and relentlessly pursue them, always striving for excellence.

• Make Others Better: We lift each other up, share knowledge, and celebrate team success over individual achievement.

• Give a Shit: We care deeply about our work, our users, and the impact we make.

• Be a Pro: We take ownership, act with integrity, and consistently deliver to a high standard.

• Bring the Energy: We bring positivity, curiosity, and enthusiasm to everything we do, inspiring those around us.

Culture Fit: These values define how we succeed as a team. If this isn’t you, this may not be the right place. We hire people who thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative, and ambitious environment.

Perks & Benefits
We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, alongside a dynamic, collaborative environment where your work truly makes an impact and your voice is heard. Our team is diverse, driven, and ambitious - united by a strong work ethic and a hunger to innovate and win.

Our benefits are designed around Health, Wealth, and Development, supporting you both professionally and personally.

These include:

• Stock Options: Vest over 4 years, your success is our success.

• Pension Scheme: Competitive plan via Aviva, with up to 6% matched contributions if you opt in.

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive coverage to keep you and your family healthy.

• Enhanced Parental Leave: Enhanced maternity and paternity leave to support you through life’s most important moments.

• Stay Fuelled: Enjoy fresh, chef-made breakfast and lunch every day, plus a constant supply of fruit, snacks, tea, coffee and soft drinks, because great work starts with great food.

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme: Support for sustainable commuting and staying active.

• Learning & Development: £1,000 annual education budget for courses, conferences, books, or training.

• Holiday: 25 days paid leave + bank holidays, with the option to carry over 5 days.

• Flexible Working: Hybrid model with 3 days in the office and 2 days from home to fit your lifestyle.

• Global Working: Work from anywhere in the world for up to 20 days a year.

• Team Energy: Regular socials, hackathons, and events — because collaboration and fun go hand-in-hand.

What happens next​

We aim to have a simple and speedy hiring process and we want to make sure that we are right for you as much as the other way around.

• CV application review - We will review it as quickly as possible

• Let’s chat - Quick chat with our team about your experience and the role

• Hiring Manager - Meet your Line Manager for an Experience & Mindset Interview

• Take-Home Task - At-home task to show off your skills

• In-Office Interview - Lunch with other colleagues in the team + Chats

Diversity & Inclusion

We’re an equal opportunities employer and celebrate diversity in all its forms. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know — we’re happy to accommodate your needs.