Director, Talent Acquisition & Development

NBCUniversal•Universal City, CA

19h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Talent Acquisition and Operational Learning serves as a strategic talent leader responsible for building sustainable talent pipelines and developing critical capabilities that enable business performance at Universal Studios Hollywood. This role integrates workforce planning, hiring, onboarding, and operational learning to ensure the organization has the right talent, with the right skills, at the right time.

Requirements

Excellent leadership, change management, consulting and influence skills while demonstrating the ability to think strategically and translate business performance gaps into learning and development strategies.
10+ years’ experience designing, developing, and implementing learning and/or talent acquisition solutions.
7+ years’ experience in a management/leadership role; or equivalent combination of education and experience
Bachelor’s degree is required in Business, Human Resources, Organizational Development.
Ability to work both collaboratively as a team across various functions and work independently in an ambiguous, constantly changing environment with a relentlessly solution focused attitude.
Ability to manage multiple projects to ensure on-time delivery and quality using both internal and external resources.
Demonstrated success leading both Talent Acquisition and Learning/Development functions in complex, high‑volume environments
Proven ability to translate business strategy into talent, capability, and workforce solutions
Experience leading through ambiguity, scale, and change with measurable results
Excellent leadership/interpersonal skills to establish and maintain effective relationships at all levels of the organization
Demonstrated knowledge of strategic workforce planning to drive processes and deliver high quality HR services in a fast paced, highly dynamic environment.
Experience building consensus and integrating processes, policies and procedures across multiple decision-makers in a hybrid corporate structure
Hands-on, engaged, motivated self-starter with managerial experience
Proven track record of success and a strong focus on quality and customer service
Able to deal with immediate priorities while anticipating and planning for strategic future needs
Ability to influence the organization with skill, grace and humor
Proven ability to translate strategy to action and drive accountability for progress to key milestones

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree is preferred in Psychology, Instructional Design, or Organizational Development.
Experience in theme park, hospitality or retail industry highly preferred
Results focused; a consultative leadership style that builds high-performing teams across multi-disciplined projects that consistently meet targets and realize organizational benefits.
Experience preferred in leading professional recruitment and learning and development functions.
Experience with applicant tracking systems
Success in developing and negotiating major vendor relationships

Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership to the team in the development and execution of recruitment strategies for seasonal and full-time destination dedicated role.
Coaches leaders and team members to operate as strategic talent advisors, not transactional partners
Establish innovative sourcing strategies to attract top talent candidates and support business skill gaps.
Foster a culture of inclusivity through strategic partnerships with internal leaders and external community organizations and/or agencies that focus on identifying exceptional talent
Serve as business owner of applicant tracking system (Smart Recruiters) to ensure the ongoing problem resolution, improvement, data integrity and optimization of the system
Conduct ongoing analysis of the Talent Acquisition function to determine how recruitment processes and protocols may be streamlined, new talent pools can be developed, and department resources can be most effectively deployed
Own and evolve a destination‑level workforce and hiring strategy aligned to seasonal demand, labor market conditions, and long‑term capability needs
Partner with Finance and Operations on forecasting, labor planning, and hiring prioritization
Establish and monitor TA success metrics (e.g., time‑to‑fill, quality of hire, retention, candidate experience) and drive continuous improvement
Serve as an advisor and strategic liaison to Hiring Managers and HR, providing guidance and direction related to all Staffing programs in support of strategic business goals and needs
Partner with HRBPs and business leaders to link learning investments to performance, readiness, and succession
Leverage data (engagement, performance, attrition) to prioritize learning strategies and measure impact
Collaborate with center of excellence on the development and execution of UDX performance and development feedback tools.
Design talent pathways that connect hiring, onboarding, development, and internal mobility
Partner with HR and leaders to strengthen promotion readiness and bench strength for critical roles
Lead the Team Member Engagement strategies and consult with organizational leaders on results interpretation and action planning.
Partner with UDX on the design and execution of engagement surveys and ad hoc employee research.
Partners with Comcast/NBCUniversal in the integration and delivery of core corporate programs.
Facilitates USH nomination process for corporate programs and serves as learning lead supporting NBCU Talent Lab.
Build guest service delivery strategy and annual tactics based on company metrics/measures to support increased improvement.
Supports both global guest service initiatives as well as functional support.
Drive destination focused internship and recruitment programs intended to create a pool of talented candidates for entry to mid-management professional positions throughout the organization.
Delivers key business activities, including internal leadership meetings and team events/off sites
Develops and manages external vendor/partner relationships resulting in high-quality, cost-effective learning solutions.
Builds and maintains strong client, and subject matter expert relationships to gather ongoing needs assessment information and build curriculum content and OD solutions.
Provide regular reporting to HR and Executive team on the status of staffing activities and performance.
Other duties as assigned.