Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist

Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist – Events & Freelance Recruitment

Location: Dubai, UAE

Employment Type: Full-Time, Fixed-Term Contract

Contract Duration: 7 Months

Start Date: ASAP

About the Role:

Talent BluePrint is seeking an experienced, highly driven, and delivery-focused Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist – Events & Freelance Recruitment to join our team in Dubai on a seven-month fixed-term contract.

This is a hands-on recruitment role responsible for delivering end-to-end recruitment across major sporting events, entertainment, exhibitions, festivals, conferences, cultural programmes, experiential activations, and other large-scale live projects across the GCC.

Key Responsibilities:

End-to-End Recruitment Delivery

• Independently manage the complete recruitment lifecycle for assigned freelance and selected full-time positions, from initial role briefing through sourcing, screening, interviewing, shortlisting, selection, confirmation, and joining.
• Manage multiple recruitment requirements simultaneously while delivering qualified candidates within demanding event and project timelines.
• Develop effective sourcing strategies based on the role requirements, project scope, location, contract duration, required experience, and deployment timelines.
• Source, screen, interview, assess, shortlist, and present suitable candidates while maintaining a strong balance between recruitment speed and candidate quality.
• Conduct detailed candidate assessments covering relevant event and project experience, technical or functional capabilities, availability, location, salary or rate expectations, and overall suitability.
• Ensure candidates are thoroughly assessed before submission and that candidate profiles accurately represent their experience and alignment with the role.
• Coordinate interviews, candidate feedback, offer discussions, confirmations, and joining follow-ups.
• Maintain ownership and accountability for assigned vacancies from initial briefing through successful recruitment and deployment.
• Proactively identify recruitment challenges or delivery risks and escalate them at an early stage with practical recommendations.

Events & Freelance Recruitment

• Recruit freelance, contract, and selected permanent professionals across a broad range of event functions, including:
• Event and Venue Operations
• Sports Operations
• Guest and Spectator Services
• Hospitality and Catering
• Registration and Accreditation
• Workforce and Volunteer Management
• Logistics and Site Operations
• Transport and Traffic Operations
• Production and Technical Operations
• Audio-Visual, Lighting, and Technical Production
• Venue Technology and IT
• Health, Safety, and Environment
• Security and Crowd Management
• Protocol, VIP, and VVIP Services
• Ceremonies and Entertainment
• Marketing and Communications
• Brand Activations and Experiential Events
• Media and Broadcast Operations
• Ticketing and Fan Engagement
• Project Management and Event Leadership
• Build and maintain strong talent pipelines across sports, entertainment, exhibitions, conferences, festivals, cultural events, experiential activations, government programmes, and large-scale live projects.
• Assess candidates based on the relevance and scale of their previous projects, responsibilities, functional expertise, client exposure, and experience working within complex event environments.
• Validate candidate availability, project commitments, preferred locations, compensation expectations, and willingness to work on short-term or project-based assignments.
• Support urgent, high-volume, and last-minute recruitment requirements while maintaining quality and accuracy.
• Develop long-term professional relationships with high-performing freelancers and event professionals to support repeat deployment across future projects.

Talent Sourcing & Market Mapping

• Proactively source candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter, RecruiterFlow, Juicebox, job portals, professional networks, referrals, social media, industry contacts, and direct headhunting.
• Identify and engage passive candidates with relevant event, project, and technical experience.
• Develop targeted sourcing strategies for specialist, niche, high-volume, and senior-level event positions.
• Conduct talent mapping and market research across relevant event functions, organisations, projects, and geographic markets.
• Build proactive talent pipelines for recurring positions and anticipated workforce requirements.
• Maintain awareness of major regional events, industry developments, market movements, candidate availability, and emerging talent pools.
• Continuously expand Talent BluePrint's freelancer and event professional network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the wider GCC.

Candidate Management & Experience

• Manage the complete candidate journey and maintain clear, professional, and timely communication from initial engagement through interview, confirmation, onboarding, and joining.
• Provide candidates with accurate information regarding the role, project scope, responsibilities, location, contract duration, working arrangements, timelines, compensation, and expectations.
• Maintain regular candidate engagement and provide timely updates and feedback throughout the recruitment process.
• Ensure confirmed candidates remain engaged and committed during the period between selection and project commencement.
• Proactively identify potential candidate withdrawals, availability changes, competing commitments, or other risks and take appropriate action.

Candidate Readiness & Recruitment Coordination

• Ensure selected candidates are fully aligned on project scope, responsibilities, dates, location, working arrangements, and expectations before confirmation.
• Follow up on candidate availability, contracts, required documents, onboarding information, and other recruitment-related requirements.
• Work closely with internal recruitment, operations, HR, payroll, and logistics teams to support a smooth transition from recruitment through onboarding and deployment.
• Maintain accurate candidate information and ensure recruitment documentation is complete and shared with relevant internal stakeholders within agreed timelines.
• Escalate any candidate readiness, documentation, availability, or joining risks at an early stage.

Stakeholder Management

• Work closely with recruitment managers, internal teams, hiring managers, and project stakeholders to understand workforce requirements and recruitment priorities.
• Participate in recruitment briefings and clarify role scope, required experience, project expectations, timelines, and candidate specifications.
• Provide regular and accurate updates on recruitment progress, candidate pipelines, market availability, and potential delivery challenges.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and provide practical recommendations based on candidate availability and market conditions.
• Build trusted working relationships through responsiveness, ownership, transparency, and consistent recruitment delivery.

Recruitment Systems, Reporting & Data Management

• Maintain accurate and consistent recruitment records within RecruiterFlow.
• Ensure all assigned vacancies, candidate profiles, sourcing activities, communications, interview updates, and recruitment outcomes are captured and regularly updated.
• Actively use Juicebox and other recruitment technologies to improve sourcing efficiency and candidate identification.
• Maintain clean, complete, accurate, and current candidate data.
• Prepare and maintain recruitment trackers, pipeline reports, and progress updates when required.
• Monitor assigned vacancies and ensure recruitment priorities, candidate stages, pending actions, and potential risks are clearly tracked.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of recruitment processes, sourcing strategies, candidate assessment methods, systems, and reporting.

Team Collaboration

• Work collaboratively within the recruitment team and contribute to shared project and organisational recruitment objectives.
• Share relevant candidate pipelines, freelancer networks, market intelligence, sourcing insights, and recruitment knowledge across the team.
• Support urgent and priority requirements across projects during peak recruitment periods.
• Contribute to a culture of ownership, accountability, responsiveness, teamwork, and high-quality delivery.
• Support and guide junior recruiters where required by sharing sourcing techniques, event recruitment knowledge, and candidate assessment best practices.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Events Management, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on recruitment experience, with strong experience in events, staffing, workforce solutions, hospitality, entertainment, or project-based recruitment.
• Strong understanding of the events industry and the functions involved in delivering major sporting events, exhibitions, festivals, conferences, entertainment programmes, and large-scale live projects.
• Experience recruiting across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or the wider GCC is highly preferred.
• Strong sourcing and direct headhunting capabilities using LinkedIn Recruiter, job portals, professional networks, referrals, and recruitment technologies.
• Experience using RecruiterFlow, Juicebox, or similar ATS and AI-powered sourcing platforms is advantageous.
• Strong interviewing, candidate assessment, stakeholder management, and relationship-building capabilities.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage multiple recruitment campaigns simultaneously.
• High attention to detail and a strong commitment to recruitment quality, candidate experience, and data accuracy.
• Ability to remain responsive, adaptable, and solution-oriented in a fast-paced environment with changing project requirements.
• Ability to work independently while contributing effectively within a collaborative recruitment team.
• Candidates must be available to join immediately or within a short notice period.