Michael Wood
Cheshire,UK
Summary
A CIPD-qualified, strategic Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning leader with over 15 years’ experience in HR and TA, transforming recruitment functions across regulated engineering, operational, and corporate environments.
A proven strategic advisor to senior stakeholders, with a track record of transitioning organisations from RPO models to scalable, high-performing in-house capabilities.
An expert people manager who has coached, developed, and mentored multidisciplinary teams to drive measurable outcomes across cost, quality, and candidate experience.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work history
Senior Talent Acquisition Partner – Commercial & Engineering (AMP8)
United Utilities
Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire
2025.01 - 2026.05
- Partnered with Head of Talent Acquisition to design, build and embed a new Talent Acquisition function, transitioning from an outsourced RPO model to a scalable internal capability aligned to long term workforce strategy.
- Managed and developed recruiters and recruitment administration support staff, driving clearer accountability, improved engagement and 6% uplift in SLA and KPI performance across delivery, quality and responsiveness.
- Designed and rolled out organisation wide recruitment training for hiring managers, improving recruitment maturity, quality of decision making and alignment to strategic workforce needs rather than purely transactional process.
- Created and embedded candidate and hiring manager feedback mechanisms, delivering 96% excellent feedback and providing actionable insight for process improvement and experience enhancement.
- Worked closely with Employer Brand and Marketing colleagues, supplying data led insight to support EVP development and attraction campaigns, contributing to improved Glassdoor sentiment and external candidate perception.
- Delivered end to end recruitment across senior specialist engineering and commercial roles, from briefing through to offer and onboarding.
- Reduced agency spend by £250K annually through direct sourcing, supplier rationalisation and internal capability build.
- Improved time to hire by 10% through process optimisation, better workforce planning and stronger senior stakeholder engagement.
- Led quarterly workforce forecasting discussions with senior leaders (up to Director Level) to identify capability gaps, hiring risk and future demand.
- Delivered senior level reporting on recruitment performance, pipeline health, DEI outcomes and market insight.
- Facilitated strategic discussions with directors, finance leaders, HR professionals, and business partners, enhancing organisational effectiveness through tailored collaboration initiatives.
Senior Talent Partner – Defence (Dreadnought Programme)
Rolls-Royce
2024.01 - 2025.01
- Designed TA strategy and drove delivery across specialist engineering and security-cleared vacancies aligned to programme delivery milestones.
- Implemented direct sourcing strategies to enhance recruitment effectiveness in challenging talent markets.
- Engaged with senior stakeholders, utilising data-driven insights to lead workforce planning initiatives, optimise hiring decisions, and address talent risk mitigation challenges.
- Delivered executive-level reporting on hiring progress, talent pipelines and market insight.
- Directed recruitment and administration teams, successfully achieving 5% reduction in time to hire, £150k decrease in agency spend, and 6% increase in female hires.
Senior Talent Partner – Rolls-Royce Electrical (Tempest Programme)
Rolls-Royce
2023.01 - 2024.01
- Developed targeted recruitment strategy for specialist engineering and technical vacancies, facilitating successful sixth-generation fighter programme delivery..
- Established proactive talent pipelines to fulfil recruitment needs within scarce and security-cleared markets. Achieving 5 % Reduction in Time to Hire
- Directed and developed a team to achieve key KPIs and enhance SLAs.
- Enhanced forecasting and reporting capabilities to improve decision-making and operational efficiency.
Senior Talent Partner – Group IT / Corporate Functions
Rolls-Royce
2022.01 - 2024.01
- Managed comprehensive recruitment efforts encompassing cyber, digital, data, legal, finance, and commercial functions, utilising strategic sourcing techniques and collaborative team engagement..
- Partnered with senior stakeholders to advise, lead and understand hiring requirements, workforce plans and operational priorities.
- Implemented targeted sourcing strategies for hard-to-fill digital and corporate roles to enhance recruitment effectiveness. - reducing agency spend across the function by 200k
- Improved recruitment reporting, data quality and talent insight to support hiring decisions and planning.
- Provide expert guidance to directors, finance leaders, HR professionals, and business partners to enhance organisational effectiveness and collaboration.
HR Manager | Team Leader | Senior Recruiter
Royal Air Force
2009.01 - 2021.01
- Led HR and recruitment teams across UK and overseas locations, supporting operational workforce requirements.
- Managed recruitment campaigns, assessment centres and early careers attraction activity across the South East.
- Directed large-scale training rollouts for 1,000+ personnel across multiple operational sites.
- Managed high workloads and operational priorities within fast-paced and constantly changing environments.
- Built strong relationships with leaders and operational stakeholders to support workforce planning and service delivery.
- Held SC / DV clearance supporting sensitive operational activity.
Education
CIPD Level 5 Extended Diploma - HR Management
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Skills
- Talent Acquisition & Delivery
- Workforce Planning & Forecasting
- Stakeholder Management
- Candidate & Manager Support
- Reporting & Talent Analytics
- Diversity & Inclusive Hiring
- Direct Sourcing & Talent Pooling
- High-Volume & Hard-to-Fill
- Process Improvement
- SuccessFactors / Workday
- Supplier & Agency Management
- Team Leadership & Development
- SAP SuccessFactors
- Workday
- ATS Platforms
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- Talent Analytics
- MS Office
- Reporting Dashboards
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UK National | Eligible for security-sensitive roles | Open to hybrid, regional and UK-wide opportunities
Accomplishments
- Built and embedded a new scalable, inhouse TA function at United Utilities, growing the team from 5 to over 20 personnel.
- Led and developed a multidisciplinary Talent Acquisition team, including recruiters and administrative support staff, improving key recruitment SLAs and KPIs by 6%
- Designed and delivered a new, companywide recruitment training programme for all hiring managers,
- Created and implemented candidate and hiring manager feedback surveys, achieving 96% “excellent” feedback over the last 12 months
- Provided strategic recruitment data and insight into the Employer Brand and Marketing teams, contributing directly to EVP development and outreach strategy.
- Reduced time to hire by 10% across critical engineering and commercial roles
- Delivered improvements in diversity outcomes, increasing female and underrepresented group hiring by 7%, exceeding industry benchmarks.
- Over 250k reduction in agency spend across commercial and engineering
Timeline
Senior Talent Acquisition Partner – Commercial & Engineering (AMP8)
United Utilities
2025.01 - 2026.05
Senior Talent Partner – Defence (Dreadnought Programme)
Rolls-Royce
2024.01 - 2025.01
Senior Talent Partner – Rolls-Royce Electrical (Tempest Programme)
Rolls-Royce
2023.01 - 2024.01
Senior Talent Partner – Group IT / Corporate Functions
Rolls-Royce
2022.01 - 2024.01
HR Manager | Team Leader | Senior Recruiter
Royal Air Force
2009.01 - 2021.01
CIPD Level 5 Extended Diploma - HR Management
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development