Talent Acquisition Manager

Who we are

SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia is an International Non-governmental organization and a member of SOS Children’s Villages International Federation. We started our humanitarian work in Ethiopia with the opening of our first Village in Mekelle, Northern part of Ethiopia in 1974. Since then, we have expanded our programs to different regions where there are significant needs for intervention and where we believe we can work in partnership with all relevant actors to bring sustainable positive outcomes for children’s and young people.

Today, we have grown significantly to meet the persistent challenges that confront Ethiopian children who have lost parental care and those that are at risk of losing their parental care. Working in close collaboration with international donors, local government and community-based organizations across eight program locations; we aspire that every child grows up with love, respect and security.

Want to know more about life at SOS?

🌟 Explore our Employee Value Proposition Here

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Our Commitment to Safeguarding  

At SOS Children's Villages, safeguarding isn't just a policy, it's a foundational value embedded in everything we do. We are unwavering in our commitment to protecting the children, young people, adults, and communities we serve, as well as our workforce and resources.

We cultivate an environment of trust and accountability where every voice is heard and respected. All successful candidates will be expected to champion our holistic safeguarding principles, actively upholding our Child & Youth Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, and regulations against sexual misconduct, fraud, and corruption.

By joining our team, you commit to integrating these vital standards into your work, ensuring the highest levels of safety, ethics, and integrity in every action and partnership.

Together, we create a world where everyone feels safe, respected, and protected

Join Our Mission:

We are looking for  Talent Acquisition Manager  who is  responsible to leads the design, implementation and continuous improvement of the national association’s talent acquisition framework. The role ensures that workforce planning, sourcing, assessment, selection, pre-employment checks and onboarding consistently secure capable, values-aligned people for current and anticipated organizational needs. The position owns safer recruitment, strengthens employer branding, and uses recruitment data to improve quality, timeliness, equity and accountability.

The role ensures that child and youth safeguarding, the Code of Conduct, Living Our Values, diversity, equity and inclusion, data protection, Ethiopian labour requirements, and relevant international and local standards are embedded throughout the recruitment lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

1. Talent Acquisition Strategy and Governance

• Support Head of People and culture in development and periodic review of the talent acquisition strategy in consultation with leadership, hiring managers and programme locations, ensuring alignment with workforce plans and organizational priorities.
• Own, maintain and monitor implementation of the Talent Acquisition SOP, RACI, templates, service standards and approval controls.
• Track recruitment KPIs, service levels and quality measures; recommend corrective actions based on evidence and stakeholder feedback.
• Provide technical guidance to National Office and programme-location teams to ensure consistent application of national standards.

2. Workforce and Recruitment Planning

• Coordinate annual and rolling recruitment plans based on approved workforce requirements, expected vacancies, project pipelines and critical skills needs.
• Partner with Programme Development, Finance and hiring functions to provide realistic, costed staffing inputs for donor proposals and new project designs.
• Agree recruitment timelines, assessment methods, panel composition and roles with hiring managers before each process starts.
• Monitor recruitment workload and priorities, escalating capacity, budget or decision bottlenecks promptly.

3. Sourcing, Assessment and Selection

• Design fit-for-purpose sourcing strategies and maintain talent maps and pipelines for priority, recurring and hard-to-fill positions.
• Ensure vacancy announcements, shortlisting, tests, interviews and selection decisions are job-related, documented, fair and consistent.
• Lead or technically support senior, sensitive or complex recruitment processes and quality-assure other recruitment exercises.
• Develop and standardize competency and values-based assessment tools, including structured interviews, written tests and assessment-center methods.
• Train and coach hiring managers and panel members on structured interviewing, bias mitigation, scoring, documentation, confidentiality and safeguarding.

4. Candidate Experience, Diversity and Employer Brand

• Establish service standards for candidate communication and ensure timely, respectful updates throughout the recruitment process.
• Develop and implement employer-branding initiatives that reflect SOS Children’s Villages’ purpose, values and employee experience.
• Ensure job advertisements are accurate, inclusive, engaging and consistent with the approved job description and organizational identity.
• Use LinkedIn, relevant job platforms, professional networks, career fairs and targeted outreach to broaden access to qualified candidates.
• Embed diversity, equity and inclusion throughout sourcing, assessment and selection, and review recruitment data for potential barriers or adverse patterns.

5. Recruitment Systems, Documentation and Reporting

• Monitor recruitment and onboarding workflows in the approved Applicant Tracking System and Dynamics 365 HR environment, in coordination with system owners.
• Ensure complete, accurate and confidential recruitment records, including approvals, applications, scoring, interview notes, declarations, checks, offers and acceptance documentation.
• Prepare or coordinate offer letters and employment contracts using approved grade, salary and benefit information and authorized templates.
• Produce periodic dashboards and reports covering vacancy status, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source effectiveness, process compliance, candidate quality and diversity indicators.
• Protect candidate data and ensure access, retention and disposal comply with organisational requirements and applicable law.

6. Onboarding and Probation Interface

• Own the recruitment-to-onboarding handover and ensure selected candidates, hiring managers and relevant support functions receive complete and timely information.
• Maintain the national onboarding protocol and monitor completion of required induction steps, including safeguarding and Code of Conduct orientation.
• Track onboarding and probation milestones, while line managers retain accountability for day-to-day induction and probation assessment.
• Analyses feedback from new employees and managers to improve the recruitment and onboarding experience.

7. Safeguarding and Safer Recruitment

• Embed holistic safeguarding requirements in vacancy announcements, screening, assessment, selection, contracting and onboarding.
• Ensure required identity, qualification, employment, reference, criminal-record and other vetting checks are completed and documented before engagement, subject to applicable law and organizational standards.
• Ensure conflicts of interest, related-party considerations and panel declarations are managed transparently.
• Escalate safeguarding concerns or exceptions immediately through the designated safeguarding and management channels.
• Ensure every new co-worker receives safeguarding orientation within the first month of employment and that completion is recorded.

8. Stakeholder and Vendor Management

• Build trusted working relationships with hiring managers, HR colleagues and programme locations, clarifying expectations and providing transparent progress updates.
• Manage recruitment agencies and assessment vendors against agreed scope, quality, confidentiality, safeguarding and value-for-money requirements.
• Represent SOS Children’s Villages in relevant HR, talent and professional networks and use external insights to strengthen internal practice.

Our Ideal Candidate?

Let's find out if we're a match. The next step in our process depends on how your background closely align with the below criteria’s. 

Essential Requirements (Must-Have):

• Education:Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management, Management, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Psychology or another directly relevant field.
• Experience:Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in human resources, including substantial end-to-end recruitment and talent acquisition experience; at least 3 years coordinating or leading recruitment processes, projects, teams or functional work.
• Demonstrated experience in workforce/recruitment planning, sourcing, structured shortlisting, competency-based assessment, interviewing, selection, reference checking, offer management and onboarding.
• Practical understanding of safer recruitment, vetting, confidentiality, conflicts of interest and ethical handling of candidate information.
• Strong written and spoken English and Amharic, with the ability to prepare clear reports, facilitate learning and influence stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel to programme locations and demonstrable commitment to SOS Children’s Villages’ values, Code of Conduct, child and youth safeguarding, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Desired Assets (Nice-to-Have): 

• Master’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Management or a related field.
•  Recognized professional certification or membership such as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD or an equivalent HR qualification.
• Accredited or formal training in competency-based interviewing, assessment-center design, psychometric assessment, safeguarding in recruitment, vetting or recruitment analytics.
•  Experience in an INGO, NGO, humanitarian, child-focused or other multi-location and values-led organization.
• Experience recruiting for donor-funded projects and translating proposal staffing assumptions into compliant recruitment plans.
• Hands-on experience with iCIMS, Dynamics 365 HR or a comparable enterprise applicant tracking/HR platform.
•  Working knowledge of an additional Ethiopian language relevant to SOS Children’s Villages programme locations.
• Sound working knowledge of Ethiopian labour requirements relevant to recruitment, employment contracts and pre-employment documentation.

Role specific Competencies:

• Talent acquisition strategy, workforce planning and recruitment project management.
• Structured, behavioural and competency-based interviewing and assessment design.
• Stakeholder engagement, consultation, facilitation, communication and influence.
• Sound judgement, problem-solving, evidence-based decision-making and appropriate escalation.
• Applicant tracking systems, workflow improvement, user support, data quality and reporting.
• Recruitment analytics, including time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source effectiveness, quality and diversity indicators.
• Employer branding, inclusive advertising, professional networking and responsible use of social media.
• Safer recruitment, candidate data protection, confidentiality, records management and audit readiness.
• Diversity, equity and inclusion in sourcing, assessment and selection.
• Change management, adaptability, planning, prioritization and delivery under competing deadlines.

SOS Lead and Core Competencies 

Lead Competency 

• Role model: Act as a role model for the organization, living our values and inspiring and learning from others
• Collaboration: Remove barriers to participation, share decision making and build partnerships
• Empowerment: Promote inclusion and equitable sharing of power
• Strategic Thinking: Live the values and mission, setting realistic goals and translating them into actionable plans

Core Competency 

• Kindness: Act with empathy towards everyone he/she works with.
• Continuous Learning: Make an effort to learn, understand and grow as a person, admitting your own mistakes.
• Inclusiveness: In any actions show respect and care for others.
• Initiative: speak up when things are not right, do not hesitate to act, and adapt to change when necessary.
• Results Orientation: look for solutions and focus on desired results.

Does This Sound Like You?

To apply, please submit your updated resume via SOS Children's Villages Application portal (ICIMS)

We actively champion diversity and inclusion and strongly encourage women to step forward and apply. As part of our unwavering commitment to holistic safeguarding protecting children, youth, adults, and assets our selection process emphasizes value alignment and includes thorough background checks for all potential hires.

SOS Children's Villages in Ethiopia is an equal opportunity employer, providing fair consideration to all applicant regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or class.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.