RPO Project Manager

We are seeking an experienced RPO Project Manager to lead the delivery of a large-scale Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) program based in Perth.

This is a key client-facing leadership role responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of recruitment services across a complex, high-volume and specialist hiring environment. The successful candidate will bring strong experience managing recruitment programs within mining, resources, energy, engineering, construction, infrastructure, or other heavy industries, with a solid understanding of the talent challenges associated with these sectors in the Australian market.

We are looking for someone who can operate confidently in a large, complex organization, build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, lead recruitment teams, and use data and market intelligence to continuously improve recruitment outcomes.

Experience working within an RPO environment or leading Talent Acquisition/Recruitment programs in-house within the resources or heavy industry sector will be highly valued.

Key Responsibilities

RPO Delivery & Project Management

• Lead the day-to-day delivery and overall performance of the RPO program, ensuring recruitment objectives, service levels, timelines, and quality expectations are achieved.
• Manage recruitment delivery across multiple business areas, locations, disciplines, and levels of seniority.
• Develop and maintain project plans, recruitment forecasts, workforce priorities, governance structures, and delivery strategies.
• Identify delivery risks, recruitment bottlenecks, capacity constraints, and process gaps, implementing solutions proactively.
• Ensure recruitment activity remains aligned with changing workforce requirements and business priorities.
• Drive continuous improvement across recruitment processes, technology, candidate experience, stakeholder engagement, and reporting.

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a key point of contact for senior client stakeholders, Talent Acquisition leaders, HR teams, hiring managers, and operational leaders.
• Build trusted relationships across the organization and develop a strong understanding of business operations and workforce requirements.
• Lead regular governance, operational, and performance meetings with stakeholders.
• Manage expectations effectively and provide clear visibility into recruitment progress, challenges, market conditions, and recommended actions.
• Partner with stakeholders to translate workforce demand into practical and achievable recruitment strategies.
• Provide consultative guidance rather than simply managing recruitment transactions.

Recruitment Strategy & Market Expertise

• Develop sourcing and recruitment strategies for difficult-to-fill and business-critical positions.
• Apply strong knowledge of talent markets within mining, resources, engineering, energy, construction, infrastructure, or related industries.
• Understand the recruitment complexities associated with technical, engineering, operational, project, corporate, and specialist roles.
• Use market intelligence to advise stakeholders on talent availability, compensation, location challenges, competitor activity, candidate expectations, and sourcing opportunities.
• Partner with sourcing teams to develop proactive talent pipelines and targeted direct-sourcing strategies.
• Support workforce planning and future talent requirements where appropriate.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and support recruiters, sourcers, coordinators, and other recruitment professionals supporting the account.
• Establish clear expectations around recruitment activity, quality, stakeholder management, candidate experience, and delivery.
• Monitor team capacity and allocate resources according to hiring priorities and demand.
• Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.
• Identify development opportunities and provide coaching to strengthen team capability.

Performance, Reporting & Governance

• Own and monitor key RPO performance indicators, including:
  • Time to fill / time to hire
  • Recruitment pipeline and conversion
  • Sourcing effectiveness
  • Candidate response and engagement
  • Hiring manager satisfaction
  • Candidate experience
  • Aging requisitions
  • Offer acceptance
  • Recruitment activity and productivity
  • SLA/KPI performance
• Analyze recruitment data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Prepare and present meaningful recruitment insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Ensure appropriate governance, compliance, documentation, and recruitment processes are consistently followed.

About You

You are an experienced recruitment leader who understands how to operate within a large, complex and operationally demanding organization.

You are comfortable balancing strategic stakeholder management with hands-on operational delivery and can quickly identify when recruitment performance is not meeting expectations and implement corrective strategies.

You bring credibility when working with senior stakeholders and understand that successful RPO delivery requires more than filling vacancies—it requires understanding the client's business, workforce challenges, talent market, and operational priorities.

Required Experience

• Significant experience within Talent Acquisition, Recruitment, RPO, or Recruitment Operations.
• Demonstrated experience managing recruitment delivery, projects, or programs within mining, resources, energy, engineering, construction, infrastructure, industrial, or other relevant heavy-industry environments.
• Previous experience in either:
  • an RPO environment managing a major client/account, or
  • an in-house Talent Acquisition leadership/project role within a large resources or industrial organization.
• Strong understanding of the Australian recruitment market, ideally including Western Australia.
• Proven experience managing multiple recruitment workstreams and complex stakeholder groups.
• Strong experience working with senior HR, Talent Acquisition, operational, and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop recruitment teams.
• Strong understanding of proactive sourcing, talent mapping, and recruitment market intelligence.
• Experience managing recruitment KPIs, SLAs, dashboards, reporting, and performance reviews.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.

Highly Desirable

• Previous experience supporting recruitment within a major mining or resources organization in Australia.
• Experience managing large-scale or enterprise RPO programs.
• Exposure to recruitment for mining operations, engineering, projects, maintenance, technical, corporate, or operational functions.
• Experience working across both high-volume and specialist/technical recruitment.
• Knowledge of workforce planning and talent market mapping.
• Experience managing recruitment transformation, process improvement, or implementation initiatives.

What Success Looks Like

The successful RPO Project Manager will quickly establish credibility with the client and recruitment team, develop a strong understanding of the organization's workforce priorities, and create clear visibility around recruitment performance.

You will bring structure, accountability, and strategic thinking to the program while ensuring the recruitment team remains focused on delivering high-quality candidates and an excellent stakeholder and candidate experience.

Most importantly, you will understand the realities of recruiting within Australia's mining, resources, engineering, and heavy-industry talent market and be able to translate that knowledge into practical recruitment strategies and measurable results.