ILRI Consultancy: Senior Recruitment and Talent Acquisition Consultant

International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Senior Recruitment and Talent Acquisition Consultant for the Rural Employment through Animal Feed production (REAP) Program. The consultant will provide overall coordination of REAP recruitment under P&C direction, maintain momentum across concurrent recruitment streams, proactively resolve or escalate outstanding actions, and provide hands-on recruitment support to meet agreed timelines.

ILRI is an international organisation working for better lives and better planet through livestock.

ILRI’s mission emphasises the interconnections between people, animals, and the environment, aiming to improve the lives of more than 300 million people in low- and middle-income countries through livestock science that supports equitable and resilient livestock systems, ultimately contributing to food systems transformation with climate and environmental benefits. This mission is delivered through two core strategic objectives: co-designing and deploying sustainable, science-based livestock solutions, and leveraging science to inform and influence policy and investment decisions.

ILRI is a member of the CGIAR, a global research alliance that works to transform food, land and water systems in a climate crisis and is the only CGIAR centre dedicated to addressing multiple development challenges through sustainable livestock solutions.

About the program: REAP is a five-year multi-country initiative intended to advance education and relieve poverty by enabling 1,000,000 financially disadvantaged young women and men, aged 18 to 35 years, to access new work opportunities in sustainable feed and livestock value chains across the seven countries. The Program will equip young people with technical, entrepreneurial, financial; digital and workplace capabilities linked to real economic opportunities and enable financially disadvantaged young people to access work, finance, productive assets, markets and income-generating opportunities that improve household resilience and wellbeing. Among its participants, the Program shall target 70% young women and at least 5% youth with disabilities and 20,000 refugees and displaced young people.

The programme will support youth-led and youth-inclusive enterprises to enter, stabilise and grow in feed and livestock markets; strengthen market systems, services, and commercial relationships; and improve policy, finance, innovation, extension, and other enabling systems required for youth-led enterprises to succeed and generate additional employment opportunities. Across these areas, it applies gender-transformative and inclusive approaches to address restrictive gender and social norms, reduce barriers to young women’s participation, and strengthen their agency, voice, leadership and access to resources and opportunities. Safeguarding measures are embedded throughout the programme to protect young people from harm and support their safe participation.

Led by ILRI, the consortium includes ICARDA, IITA, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and icipe, working with downstream delivery partners, enterprise-support organisations, financial institutions, government and private sector actors. The Director draws on partners’ expertise in feed and livestock systems, enterprise development, market systems, inclusive finance, digital innovation, policy, and gender and social inclusion to guide country delivery and achieve measurable youth work outcomes, adapting implementation in response to evidence.

Scope of Work for the Consultant

• Develop and maintain a consolidated recruitment plan and strategy covering all positions, milestones, responsibilities, dependencies and target dates, in consultation with P&C and hiring managers.
• Lead and coordinate recruitment streams across P&C, hiring managers, panels and the operational recruitment consultant; agree priorities, advise on appropriate recruitment and sourcing approaches and track progress against the consolidated plan.
• Proactively follow up outstanding actions, panel feedback, documentation, approvals and scheduling decisions with the responsible persons; maintain an action log with owners and deadlines and drive timely completion of agreed actions and decisions.
• Identify recruitment risks and bottlenecks early, propose practical solutions and alternative recruitment approaches , adjust sequencing with P&C agreement and promptly escalate issues requiring management intervention.
• Provide hands-on sourcing, headhunting, screening, assessment and interview support for priority or complex recruitments, as agreed with P&C, including identifying suitable talent for difficult-to-fill roles..
• Review recruitment documentation for completeness, consistency and readiness for P&C review, and support timely completion of checks and recruitment reports.
• Contribute to weekly progress check-ins and provide consolidated updates on progress, overdue actions, key recruitment risks, market or sourcing challenges, and decisions required; coordinate records and final handover.

The consultant reports to the Interim Head of People and Culture or designate. The consultant coordinates recruitment delivery and the operational consultant’s agreed activities under P&C direction. ILRI retains responsibility for shortlisting, selection, employment terms, approvals, offers and appointments. The consultant must declare conflicts, protect personal data, observe safeguarding and ethical recruitment requirements, and charge no fees to candidates. All outputs belong to ILRI.

FINAL PRODUCTS

• Consolidated recruitment strategy and plan with milestones, responsibilities, dependencies and timelines.
• Updated recruitment tracker, action and risk log, and weekly progress updates covering recruitment progress, sourcing challenges, key risks, overdue actions with decisions required.
• Monthly delivery report covering milestones achieved, overdue actions, corrective measures and priorities for the following month.
• Completed outputs for directly assigned recruitments including targeted sourcing and headhunting for priority and hard-to-fill roles, and consolidated completion and handover report with outstanding actions and owners.

Consultancy Fee: By mutual agreement based on agreed milestones and deliverables

Post location: ILRI Nairobi campus, remote or other agreed locations.

Duration: Nine (9) months; contract dates to be confirmed.

Terms of Appointment: This consultancy is only open to Kenyan Nationals.

Essential skills and qualifications

The interested candidates should possess:

• Degree in human resource management, business administration or a related field. Relevant professional certification in human resources, talent acquisition or recruitment required.
• At least ten years of relevant recruitment experience, including leading and coordinating multiple recruitment streams and senior or specialist appointments. Experience in targeted sourcing and headhunting for senior, specialist or difficult-to-fill roles. Demonstrated ability to drive follow-up and delivery across stakeholders while providing hands-on support and senior-level recruitment advice. International research, development or non-profit experience is an advantage.
• Highly proactive and organized, with strong follow-through, prioritization and coordination skills. Able to anticipate delays, maintain momentum, influence stakeholders and manage competing deadlines. Strong recruitment judgement, reporting skills and proficiency in applicant tracking systems.
• Strong written and spoken English.

How to apply:

Applicants should submit their CV stating their qualification and experience in the relevant areas expected for the position with a covering letter justifying the candidature for the consultancy to the Head of People and Culture, by clicking on the "Apply Now" tab below on or before 6 November 2026. The position title and reference number REAP/05/2026 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the cover letter.

We thank all applicants for their interest in working for ILRI. Due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

ILRI does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing, or training).

To find out more about ILRI, visit our websites at http://www.ilri.org/

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer