Director, Talent Acquisition & Performance Development

Prodege•El Segundo, CA

3d•$150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

As Prodege scales, the ability to hire well and grow our people is a competitive advantage, and this role sits at the center of that effort. We are not looking for someone to keep recruiting and development ticking over as-is. We are looking for someone who brings deep expertise across talent acquisition and development and an instinct for making both better. This is a builder's role. You will own how we attract, hire, and grow talent across Prodege while standing up the systems, processes, and team structure that let the function scale with the company. Some of the foundation is in place and working. Other parts you will design, document, and scale. We are looking for someone who has done that work before and is energized by it, not someone who only wants to maintain a machine that already runs. Your mandate is straightforward: master the details of how we hire and develop people so you can improve them. That means constantly asking how a process could be faster, simpler, or more scalable, and whether what we're building actually helps people do better work. By leaning into AI tools and modernizing workflows, you will automate the routine work so you can free up time for the higher-level, strategic work that moves the business. You will report to the Head of People and lead the Talent Acquisition and Development team. You will own recruiting and development for our U.S.-based staff and leadership, and you will partner with HR and operational leaders across India, Greece, and Europe to keep hiring and development practices aligned across a globally connected workforce. We care as much about how the work gets done as what gets done. The right person brings the skills and experience to run recruiting and development well, and brings the judgment, presence, and relationships to do it in a way people trust. Both matter here. One without the other will not succeed in this role.

Requirements

8+ years across talent acquisition, talent management, L&D, or organizational development, with progressive scope, or transferable experience that clearly maps.
A track record of designing and running successful recruiting and development programs, not just one side.
Direct people-leadership experience: you've managed and developed a recruiting or talent team, not just projects.
A track record of building and scaling talent programs, not just inheriting and maintaining them.
Experience in high-growth, technology-enabled businesses, ideally some mix of consumer tech, market research, data services, media, advertising, or SaaS.
Experience supporting a global or multi-country workforce.
Strong analytical skills: you can pull, work with, and interpret data, and you know which numbers matter.
Experience using technology to manage workflow and improve process, and metrics to improve performance.
Hands-on Workday experience; involvement in an implementation or optimization is a plus.
The ability to operate in a fast-moving environment and run several things at once without dropping the important one.
Able to make tough calls and comfortable sharing a differing perspective without scorching the relationship.
A self-starter who brings emotional intelligence and problem-solving to ambiguity rather than waiting for it to resolve.
Sound judgment. You navigate ambiguity and high-stakes situations, including executive searches and sensitive talent decisions, without needing a playbook for every one, and you know when to decide and when to escalate.
Trust and credibility. You build trust quickly across leaders, managers, and employees, including with senior leaders who are experts in their own domains and the candidates you're trying to win.
Strategic and hands-on. You operate as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and you roll up your sleeves to source candidates and design programs yourself. This role requires both.
Clear under pressure. You communicate in a clear, calm, and credible way, especially in difficult, sensitive, or high-stakes conversations, whether that's a counteroffer, a hard hiring call, or a performance conversation.
Advocate and partner. You hold the balance between being an advocate for candidates and employees and a partner to the business without collapsing into either one.
Steady in change. You stay effective when things are shifting, and you bring structure rather than waiting for it.

Responsibilities

Build and run talent acquisition and development for Prodege: own full-cycle recruiting for critical hires and the programs that grow people once they're here.
Build the function: design and improve the systems, processes, and workflows across sourcing, hiring, onboarding, performance, and development so the function scales cleanly as the company grows.
Lead and develop the Talent Acquisition and Development team: set clear priorities, remove blockers, and grow the people who report to you.
Full-cycle recruiting for critical hires across the business, including product, engineering, data and analytics, market research operations, sales, and media, with personal ownership of executive and critical leadership searches end to end.
Talent acquisition strategy, sourcing systems, and assessment frameworks aligned to growth plans and real workforce needs.
Direct sourcing of top candidates from target companies and industry verticals across consumer tech, market research, ad tech, and digital media; this is hands-on, not just oversight.
Recruiting dashboards, funnel metrics, and KPIs for speed and quality that leadership actually uses.
A talent brand that reflects Prodege's mission and ambition and tells the truth about what working here is like.
Compelling job descriptions, outbound messaging, and recruiting campaigns.
Prodege's presence across industry events and talent networks relevant to our space.
Own performance review programs that tie outcomes to compensation and advancement, with every team clear on what success looks like, how it's measured, and how they can grow.
Scalable people programs: onboarding, a manager and leadership development program with multiple tracks, and one-on-one coaching where it counts.
An evolved new-hire experience, including the first week and the first 90 days.
Curriculum and high-performer programs that support growth and retention, plus learning paths that close capability gaps and build succession depth.
Real development plans for high-potential employees and critical roles, built with department leaders and the broader People team.
Prodege's approach to talent management and succession planning, and the adoption of the programs that come out of it.
Org structure, headcount plans, and the sequencing of critical roles, in partnership with the Head of People and ELT.
Competency frameworks that fit Prodege's actual functions, not generic ones.
Workday optimization for recruiting and development: data, reporting, and workflows.
Sourcing tools and assessment technology, selected and implemented where they earn their cost.
Talent and development analytics that support real decisions, not dashboards no one opens.
Automation and standardization across recruiting and development processes, where it actually saves time.
Recruiting and development practices that stay compliant with employment law and internal governance, without letting compliance become the reason nothing moves.
Partner with HR and operational leaders across India, Greece, and Europe to keep hiring, performance, and development practices aligned across a globally connected workforce, and adapt programs to the markets and teams that use them.