Team Lead - Talent Acquisition

Job Title: Team Lead - Talent Acquisition

Location: Vancouver HQ

Salary: 70,000-90,000 + bonus

The Company

Founded in 1981, JD Sports has grown from a single store in the UK into a leading global omnichannel retailer of Sports, Fashion, and Outdoor brands. With our retail stores expanding and evolving throughout Canada, our teams are united by a shared passion for sport, music, fashion, and the culture that connects them.

We are committed to building diverse, inclusive, and high-performing teams who bring energy, individuality, and a genuine passion for our brands to everything they do. JD continuously and successfully sets the global standard for retail experience best through the unique delivery of the world’s most authentic brands to the market. Our people are at the heart of the JD experience, working together to support our stores, strengthen our business, and bring the JD experience to life across Canada.

The Opportunity

As the Talent Acquisition Team Lead, you will take on daily team oversight, strategic alignment, and operational leadership for the JD Canada Group (JD Sports, Livestock, & size?) recruitment function. You will lead by example - driving the recruitment strategy for senior-level and critical roles across Head Office, Retail, and Warehouse - while scaling execution to meet high-volume seasonal and New Store Opening (NSO) demands. Your primary goal is to ensure a smooth, efficient, and world-class recruitment process, empower your TA team, and act as a strategic advisor to the business, all while promoting JD as an employer of choice.

Key Duties/Responsibilities:

• Provide daily leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight to the Talent Acquisition team to ensure alignment with business goals and peak season targets.
• Develop recruitment strategies and build talent pipelines for senior-level and/or critical roles across Head Office, Retail, and the Warehouse.
• Lead and support hiring events, scaling recruitment efforts around New Store Openings (NSOs) and critical high-volume hiring seasons.
• Work closely with hiring managers to understand their staffing needs, develop rapport, set expectations, and provide coaching on interview best practices and team dynamics.
• Continuously improve the employment branding of JD, size?, and Livestock, while managing the overall recruitment advertising strategy and job board tools.
• Ensure a world-class candidate experience throughout the entire recruitment lifecycle, from initial sourcing to first-day orientation.
• Prepare, extend, and negotiate job offers for selected candidates once approvals are obtained.
• Oversee the completion of reference and background checks. Ensure the accurate creation of employee files based on signed agreements so new hires are ready for payroll, and coordinate job-specific training schedules with hiring managers.
• Maintain accurate recruitment reporting and metrics to track team performance and inform strategic hiring decisions. Provide administrative support for the overall recruitment function to ensure processes run smoothly.

Skills/Experience/Knowledge Needed:

• 4+ years of experience in Talent Acquisition, including experience in a senior, lead, or team oversight capacity.
• Experience in the retail industry is highly preferred.
• Experience leveraging an ATS and HRIS to support recruitment and employee administration (experience with Ceridian Dayforce is highly preferred).
• Solid understanding of the Canadian recruitment landscape to attract top talent, alongside good knowledge of current HR-related provincial legislation and regulations.
• Strong sourcing, networking, and lead-generation skills to locate candidates with difficult-to-find skillsets across local and expanding markets.
• Excellent relationship-building skills and experience providing recruitment support in a coaching and advisory capacity to all levels of management.
• Exceptional ability to collaborate, communicate effectively (written and verbal), and build quick rapport with key stakeholders.
• Well-developed recruitment techniques and practices, including leveraging multiple talent attraction channels.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage multiple projects, prioritize, and drive a team through high-volume tasks, deadlines, and requirements.
• Results-oriented, process-driven, and personable - with the ability to foster a transparent, honest, and positive team environment.

The Perks: To match our culture, focused on creativity, innovation, and a love for fashion, we offer our employees unique benefits

• Performance-driven culture with growth opportunities.
• Staff discount across product ranges (includes staff, family & friends discount).
• Extended health, dental, vision, and professional services (RMT, Chiropractor, Physiotherapist, etc.) coverage.
• Paid Birthday off!
• Travel perks, including exclusive hotel deals in major cities (Vancouver, Toronto, NYC, Los Angeles).
• Learning & development allowances and social events.

Our Values:

• Entrepreneurial
• Competitive
• Responsibility
• Integrity

We believe in extending our entrepreneurial and competitive spirit beyond financial performance to making the world around us a better place. We always strive to do the right thing for our colleagues, our customers, and our communities.

Equal Opportunity: At JD Sports Canada, we believe our strength comes from the diversity of our people, perspectives, and experiences. We are committed to creating an inclusive, equitable, and accessible workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome applications from all qualified candidates and are committed to ensuring a fair and inclusive recruitment process. If you require an accommodation at any stage of the hiring process, please let us know - we are happy to work with you to ensure you have the support you need to participate fully.