HR Jobs in the UK: Who's Hiring Right Now (Oct 2026)

You want an HR role in the UK and you need to know who is actually hiring before you spend another weekend on applications. Here is a dated snapshot of the market, taken on 14 October 2026 from the JobRise live jobs feed, so you can aim your effort where the openings are.

The snapshot at a glance#

As of 14 October 2026, there were 28 open HR jobs in United Kingdom on the JobRise feed. Of those, 23 were posted in the last 30 days and 19 in the last 7 days, so most of what you see is fresh.

These are counts of open listings on one feed, not a full market survey. Treat them as a map of where to look, not a promise about total vacancies.

Who is hiring#

Ten employers account for a visible chunk of the listings, and the mix tells you a lot. Bauer Media Outdoor has 3 open listings, Lanes Group has 2, and PIMCO, Datadog, Anthropic, OpenWorks Engineering, Teltonika, Bulletproof, zendbox and the Raspberry Pi Foundation each have 1.

Some of these names are recruiters or staffing firms rather than the end employer, so read each listing carefully before you apply. A role posted by an agency can still land you the job, but you should know who pays your wages on day one.

The roles themselves cluster in three buckets. Recruitment and talent acquisition is the biggest, with titles like "Recruiter II, GTM Ecosystems" at Datadog, "Recruiter, G&A" at Anthropic, and "Talent Acquisition Partner FTC 6 months" at Bauer Media Outdoor. People operations is next, with "People Operations Analyst - 12 Month FTC" at PIMCO and "People Operations Coordinator (6 months FTC) - LON" at Bulletproof. Then there is generalist HR, such as "HR Manager" at Teltonika, "HR Operations Assistant" at zendbox, and "Recruitment and Onboarding Coordinator" at OpenWorks Engineering.

Where the jobs are#

London dominates with 12 of the 28 listings. Dublin has 2, Manchester has 2, Cambridge has 2, and Bury has 1. The Dublin count is worth a second look if you have the right to work there, since it sits in a UK-filtered feed.

If you are outside London, do not write the market off. Manchester, Cambridge and Bury show there is demand beyond the capital, and remote or hybrid arrangements are common enough in HR roles that the city on the listing is not always the city you sit in.

What the job-type mix says#

Full-time roles make up 21 of the 28 listings, contract roles 5, and part-time roles 2. That is a market that wants permanent headcount, with a meaningful slice of fixed-term and contract work bolted on.

The contract slice is not noise. Several of the named roles are fixed-term contracts, including a 12-month FTC at PIMCO and a 6-month FTC at Bulletproof. FTCs often convert or lead to the next role, so they are worth chasing even if you want permanent work.

One number should shape your expectations: 0 of 28 listings carry entry-level titles such as intern, graduate, junior or trainee. This snapshot skews to people who can run a process on their own from day one. If you are earlier in your career, aim at coordinator and assistant titles and be ready to show transferable admin and scheduling experience.

What the market looks like#

Big tech is present and paying attention to HR. Datadog and Anthropic are both hiring recruiters, and both sit in the kind of growth phase where talent teams expand fast. Startups and scale-ups appear too, with zendbox and Bulletproof listing coordinator-level people ops work.

Agencies and staffing firms are in the mix as well, which is normal for HR hiring because firms often outsource their own recruitment. The public sector shows up through the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charity with an education mission. In other words, the 28 listings are not one market. They are four, and your CV wording should change slightly for each.

How to apply this week#

Apply direct wherever you can. If a listing names the employer, go to that employer's careers page and apply there as well as through the job board, because direct applications tend to reach the hiring manager with fewer filters in between.

Mirror the listing's own keywords. If the advert says "talent acquisition", "GTM", or "onboarding coordinator", those exact phrases should appear in your CV where they are true of your experience. Recruiters search on the words they wrote.

Check your CV parses cleanly before you send it. A free ATS resume checker will show you whether a robot can read your dates, titles and skills, which is the difference between a shortlist and silence.

Pay is rarely shown in this slice. Only 1 of the 28 listings displays salary, and it reads: "Senior Recruiter | GTM Expansion" at Ramp: £92K, £126.5K • Offers Equity • Offers Commission. Treat that as one data point, not a benchmark, and check the current official sources for anything you rely on.

Your 7-step plan#

• Pick your lane: recruitment, people operations, or generalist HR, and write one CV version for it.
• List the 10 named employers above and check each careers page for the roles named here.
• Rewrite your top three bullets using the exact phrases from the adverts you want, such as "onboarding coordinator" or "talent acquisition".
• Run your CV through the ATS checker and fix anything it flags on dates, titles, or formatting.
• Apply to the freshest listings first: 19 went up in the last 7 days, and speed matters most there.
• Send a short note to a recruiter or hiring manager at each employer, referencing the specific role title.
• Track everything in a spreadsheet: employer, role title, date applied, source, and follow-up date.

Putting the country numbers in context#

For the wider picture, the JobRise Hiring Report: the UK shows 2,742 open listings across all categories and 2,245 posted in the last 30 days. HR is 28 of that total, which tells you it is a specialist corner of a much larger market.

That matters for your search strategy. Because HR is a small slice, a single new listing can shift your options, so checking the feed weekly beats a monthly binge.

FAQ#

How current are these numbers?

They are a snapshot taken on 14 October 2026 from the JobRise live jobs feed, counting open listings rather than surveying employers. Listings move fast, so re-check the feed before you plan around any single role.

Are all these employers hiring directly?

Not always. Some names on the listings are recruiters or staffing firms placing staff elsewhere, so read the fine print on each advert. You can still apply, but confirm who the end employer is before you negotiate anything.

Is it worth applying for contract and fixed-term roles?

Yes, if you can accept the timeline. Contract roles made up 5 of the 28 listings and several named roles are fixed-term contracts, and FTC work often leads to permanent internal moves.

I am junior. Are there any entry-level HR roles here?

In this snapshot, no: 0 of 28 listings carried intern, graduate, junior or trainee titles. Aim at coordinator and assistant roles instead, and lean on admin, scheduling, and onboarding experience.

Should I only apply to London roles?

No. London had 12 of the 28 listings, but Manchester, Cambridge, Bury and Dublin also appeared, and many HR roles offer hybrid arrangements. Apply where you can realistically commute or work.