Talent Specialist

If you're looking for a role where you can make a genuine difference, you've found it.

At Markel, you'll help create meaningful career opportunities for graduates, apprentices, interns and placement students, supporting them through some of the most important milestones of their professional journey. This isn't simply a coordination role. You'll play an active part in designing, delivering and continuously improving programmes that build future capability across our business.


You'll help shape exceptional candidate and participant experiences, drive programme innovation and use data, insights and emerging technologies to ensure our Early Careers proposition remains engaging, inclusive and fit for the future.

The opportunity

Role purpose

Working closely with the Senior Talent Specialist and Head of Talent Development, you will co-ordinate and help deliver Markel International's Early Careers portfolio (graduate, apprenticeship and intern programmes) - combining hands-on delivery and co-ordination with programme design, candidate experience, data insight and the smart use of AI to make our proposition genuinely best-in-class.

Key responsibilities

Early Careers co-ordination & delivery

• Co-ordinate the end-to-end delivery of Early Careers programmes – recruitment cycle, assessment centre logistics, training sessions, inductions, onboarding and cohort co-ordination (on-site and remote)
• Support the Senior Talent Specialist in designing, enhancing and evaluating programmes so they build the capability the business needs
• Act as an ambassador for the Markel employer brand, curating an engaging, inclusive candidate experience across every touchpoint - from attraction to onboarding.
• Support all apprenticeship activity, including administration relating to the apprenticeship levy, account management and provider liaison.

• Use AI tools in the design, delivery and administration of Early Careers programmes - for example content creation, candidate engagement, assessment support, data analysis or streamlining programme administration - and take a proactive interest in identifying new opportunities to apply AI to improve the candidate and cohort experience.
• Own the data lifecycle for Early Careers - collecting, reviewing and maintaining accurate programme data, creating dashboards, and reporting insights out to the business to support decision-making, demonstrate impact and inform continuous improvement.

General Talent Development support

• Set up courses in Workday Learning, manage attendance and support facilitators.
• Co-ordinate logistics for training and events, both on-site and remote, and liaise with providers and procurement on scheduling and contracts.
• Run reports, summarise data and create presentations for stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate documentation, track invoices, manage the My Learning inbox and support professional qualifications.
• Assist with broader Talent Development and HR projects as required.

Skills, knowledge & experience

• 1-2 years prior experience of talent development and/or early careers programmes within a fast-moving, international business.
• Strong co-ordination skills with excellent organisation, attention to detail, prioritisation and time-management skills, with the ability to work to deadlines.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office - particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Strong AI skills - confident and capable in using AI tools (e.g. Microsoft Copilot/Claude, generative AI) to create content, analyse data, streamline administration and improve how programmes are designed, delivered and administered, with proactive, hands-on experience of applying AI to enhance the Early Careers proposition.
• Solid data skills - confident across the full data lifecycle, from collecting and reviewing programme data to building dashboards and reporting insights out to the business. Able to turn data into clear, compelling narratives that measure programme success, track engagement, retention and progression, and inform continuous improvement and workforce planning decisions.
• Strong communication skills, able to convey talent and early careers' information to the business in a clear, commercial and pragmatic way.
• Highly autonomous, but equally comfortable working within a collaborative, supportive team.
• Experience of managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Experience working in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

Who we are:

Markel Group (NYSE – MKL) a Fortune 500 company with over 60 offices in 20+ countries, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance, specialist advisory, and investment operations around the world.

We’re all about people | We win together | We strive for better | We enjoy the everyday | We think further

What’s in it for you?

• A great starting salary plus annual bonus & strong benefits package…
• 25 days paid holiday plus Bank Holidays, with the opportunity to buy/sell extra leave
• Fantastic company pension scheme, private medical and dental cover, life assurance, travel insurance cover, income protection, season ticket loan as well as other great benefits on offer
• There are countless opportunities to learn new skills and develop in your career and we can provide the support needed to do just that!

Are you ready to play your part?

Choose ‘Apply Now’ to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

Markel celebrates the value of a diverse workforce that brings experience and expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds and life circumstances. Whatever your background, if you feel you meet the requirements of this role then we want to hear from you. We are also happy to consider candidates who are looking for flexible working patterns.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with all reasonable accommodations to be able to participate in the job application or interview process and to perform essential job functions if successful. Please contact us via email at [email protected] or call us at 0161 507 5827 to request any accommodations that may be needed. This includes any alternative formats of any documents or information on how to apply offline.

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