Lakeside view in Cumbria

About Us

We’ve provided recruitment expertise to leading engineering companies since 1985, and in turn helped our candidates and contractors with the right roles to help them progress their careers.

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Our people deliver our expertise.

We know that our colleagues are the reason that our clients and candidates choose to partner with us. With expert knowledge of their local markets, industry insight and innovative solutions - they ensure our clients have the right strategy to be successful.

  • Hope Davies

    Hope Davies

    Compliance & Administration Consultant

    Egremont

  • Lee Howard

    Lee Howard

    International Recruitment Team Leader

    Woking

  • Janet Coulton

    Janet Coulton

    Purchasing Assistant

    Heysham

  • Tim Millbank

    Tim Millbank

    Team Leader

    Wigan

  • Kate Backshall

    Kate Backshall

    Recruitment Account Manager

    Woking

Two colleagues talking sat across from one another

We do things differently - it’s in our values, and they’re visible in everything we do

Whether you’ve just discovered NRL or have worked with us for decades - the overarching thing you’ll notice is our culture. As a family-owned business, we understand the importance of doing the right thing. Whether that's when working with our colleagues, our contractors and clients, or when taking responsibility for the environment around by reducing our carbon emissions by one tonne per employee and renewing our Carbon Neutral International Standard certification each year as a continued commitment to tackling climate change.

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carbon emissions as a recipient of the Carbon Neutral International Standard

70

global countries supported with recruitment and mobilisation

63

trained Inclusive+ Recruiters working with our clients

19

in SIA’s Largest Global Engineering Staffing Firms 2023

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​I have witnessed NRL’s excellent responsiveness to our needs. The pre-selected candidates presented by NRL were all good candidates with all the required experience and qualifications. NRL further provided valuable advice in relation to local HR matters.
Miklós Almásy de Zsadány

Chief Executive Officer, Ras Ghareb Wind Energy SAE

​We feel confident approaching NRL, knowing that their team will be able to resource a wide range of suitable candidates helping us scale up our business during seasonal peaks. We would have no hesitation in recommending NRL to others.
Project Manager

Pentland Group

​A close and valued relationship built on trust, knowledge and experience. NRL provide candidates that we wouldn’t normally find in our day-to-day advertising, and within our industry it is vitally important that we expand our networks with our partners.
Bill Miller

Bill Miller, Recruitment Programme Manager, Doosan Babcock

​It’s refreshing to work with a supplier who really listens to our business needs and responds accordingly, providing valued support to fulfil our recruitment requirements.Throughout our partnership I have found them to be honest, flexible and collaborative, whilst remaining practical and realistic because of their in-depth knowledge of the industry.
Brian Falcus

Operations Director, Building Services, Emtec Group

A team meeting in an office

Recruitment solutions designed around compliance – for our clients and our contractors

Our reputation is important to us, it’s one our clients associate with compliance – trusting us to advise and steer them to ensure recruitment activities remain compliant and our contractors uphold industry standards.

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Our story

After four decades in the recruitment industry, we’ve achieved a few milestones – but we also know we have many more to come.

  • 1983

    NRL is founded

    NRL, a Non-Destructive Testing company, is launched by brothers Andrew and Hugh Redmayne, in an office on the Sellafield site in Cumbria

  • 1985
    1985

    Recruitment expertise established

    The business expanded into Recruitment, as NRL began advertising job vacancies to support engineering contracting projects in Cumbria

  • 1991
    1991

    Continued growth in Scotland

    Recognising an opportunity to support clients in Scotland, we established our first Scotland office in Falkirk

  • 2006
    2006

    NRL named Hot Recruiter

    Our business entered the Recruiter magazine’s Hot 100 listing in position 23 – a prestigious industry accolade which we continue to hold today

  • 2008
    2008

    NAECI expertise formalised

    NRL joined the Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA), as the first major provider of NAECI recruitment expertise

  • 2013
    2013

    Oil & Gas expertise acquired

    The acquisition of Petrolic expanded NRL’s expertise in Oil & Gas in the UK, and for the first time establishing International recruitment services

  • 2015
    2015

    Recruitment Company of the Year

    The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) named NRL Recruitment Company of the Year (>£50m)

  • 2018

    Transmission & Distribution expertise acquired

    NRL extended it's expertise into Transmission & Distribution and Strategic Purchasing with the acquisition of Heysham based Intec (UK) Ltd

  • 2018

    UK’s largest staffing firms

    The Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) recognised NRL as a top 50 largest staffing firm in the UK

  • 2019
    2019

    Best Contractor Engineering Agency

    The Contracting Awards named NRL the Best Contractor Recruitment Agency for Engineering at their inaugural awards ceremony

  • 2020
    2020

    NRL ranked a top 10 firm

    SIA’s industry reporting lists NRL as one of the top 10 largest Engineering staffing firms in the UK.

  • 2020
    2020

    Business expands to Ireland

    Growing demand for local services sees NRL establish a new Recruitment business in the Republic of Ireland

  • 2020
    2020

    Growth in Teesside

    Building on over 30 years of delivering expertise in the North East, NRL sets up a second operational base in Teesside.

  • 2021
    2021

    Back office team win TALiNT Award

    NRL’s compliance and NAECI expertise is recognised by winning the Back Office Team of the Year accolade at the TALiNT International Annual Recruitment Awards

  • 2021
    2021

    Award winning website

    NRL’s Recruitment website wins Best Large Recruitment Agency at the National Online Recruitment Awards.

  • 2021
    2021

    Carbon Neutral International Standard achieved

    The NRL Group achieves carbon neutral status across all businesses with One Carbon World.

  • 2022
    2022

    Armed Forces Covenant

    The NRL Group sign the Armed Forces Covenant and achieve an Employer Recognition Scheme bronze award

  • 2022
    2022

    CD Group acquisition

    The NRL Group acquires Newcastle based CD Group, including Contract Design (Northern) and translation and interpreting experts Eldon (now NRL Language Solutions)

  • 2022
    2022

    Living Wage Employer

    The organisation voluntarily becomes a Living Wage Employer to ensure a fair and real living wage for every colleague

  • 2022
    2022

    Social Mobility Pledge

    The NRL Group sign the Social Mobility Pledge to reinforce their support for young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds

  • 2022
    2022

    Lighthouse charity

    Keen to support financial, emotional and physical wellbeing in construction, the NRL Group become a company supporter of the Lighthouse construction industry charity

  • 2022
    2022

    NRL becomes an Inclusive Recruiter

    Colleagues complete training to secure the company wide Inclusive+ Recruiter certification from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies

  • 2023
    2023

    40 years in business

    The NRL Group marks 40 years of delivering expertise at work

  • 2023
    2023

    Largest Global Engineering Staffing Firms

    Recognised as a top 20 global engineering staffing firm by Staffing Industry Analysts

  • 2023
    2023

    Mental Health First Aiders

    The NRL Group invests in Mental Health First Aider training to extend welfare support for colleagues

  • 2024
    2024

    NRL Group secure the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award

  • 2024
    2024

    NRL registers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    NRL's International team establish a presence in Ridayh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, expanding their MENA region capability.

  • 2024
    2024

    NRL certified™ as Great Place To Work®

    97% of employees agree that the NRL Group is a Great Place To Work® through an independently verified and anonymous staff survey, earning us the official certification™.

  • 2024
    2024

    Disability Confident Committed status achieved

    As a business we thrive for equity, so it was important for us to formalise our inclusive recruitment approach, by signing up to become a Disability Confident Committed employer.

aerial view of a team brainstorming session

Understanding our part in ensuring diverse workplaces and equal opportunity

We support thousands of people’s careers each year, so it was important to us to earn the Inclusive+ Recruiter certification from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies – thanks to colleagues in our branches undertaking extensive training.

Awards and Accreditations

Recruiter HOT 100 logo
TALiNT Recruitment Power List 500 Logo
SIA Largest Staffing Firms in the UK
Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award
ASPCo members
The Contracting Awards Winner Logo
ISO 9001: 2015 logo
Engineering Construction Industry Association logo
Energy Industries Council logo
Constructionline Gold Member logo
National Association of Women in Construction logo
Constructing Excellence in the North East logo

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