Global Senior Manager, Early Talent Programs

SharkNinja•Needham, MA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

SharkNinja is a global product design and technology company. The Early Talent function is in build mode — fast moving, dynamic, and full of opportunities to create and shape programs from the ground up. The Early Talent at SharkNinja has become a CEO-sponsored growth engine, with programs spanning AI, robotics, social, affiliates, and web development. The role offers hands-on ownership of that engine — requiring adaptability, creativity, and a willingness to jump in and refine and scale what's working. The opportunity involves running a hyper-growth, executive-visible portfolio at an inflection point — gaining rare experience in program design and expansion, and growing your career while making a meaningful, measurable impact. The Global Senior Manager, Early Talent Programs will own the strategy, operations, and growth of SharkNinja's Shark Programs and broader Early Edge experience — positioning SharkNinja as an employer of choice for early career talent. Operating with significant autonomy and executive visibility, you will serve as a strategic advisor to Talent Access leadership, P&C Business Partners, executive sponsors, and business leaders — shaping where the portfolio expands next, standing up new cohorts against defined launch conditions, and building the team and infrastructure the program needs to scale, including into new international markets. You are the enterprise subject matter expert on university relations, internship and co-op program design, and cohort operations, carrying forward a proven playbook: high-touch selection, hands-on daily coordination, defined scope frameworks, and performance scorecards that give every Shark a clear definition of success.

Requirements

Proven experience in early talent recruiting and university relations, with a track record of designing and scaling early career programs at global scale
Demonstrated program leadership of internship or co-op cohorts — design, recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and conversion — ideally across multiple concurrent programs
Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of progressive experience working with hiring managers, talent acquisition partners, D&I partners, recruiters, and senior leaders; demonstrated people leadership, including building and scaling a team
Strong program and project management skills: planning, organizing, and prioritizing multiple cohorts, timelines, budgets, and stakeholders at once
Experience owning a P&L or program budget of $1M+
Comfort with AI-enabled ways of working — using AI tools to scale sourcing, communications, and program reporting — and enthusiasm for leading AI-forward talent programs
Passion for developing early talent and creating positive learning experiences; flexibility to adapt in a fast-paced, changing environment

Responsibilities

Portfolio strategy and expansion: assess where the Shark and Early Edge model goes next, build the business case with executive sponsors, and stand up new cohorts against the program's launch conditions — sponsorship, assessment rigor, daily coordination, and performance frameworks
Team and infrastructure: hire, build, and lead the Early Talent recruiting and program team (recruiters, coordinators, program specialists) — hands-on in year one, transitioning to team-led execution as the portfolio scales — including program budget, vendor, and platform ownership
Global program operations across the Shark portfolio — AI Sharks/SharkByte, Robot Sharks, Social Sharks, and the newest cohorts in Affiliates and Web Development — including cohort calendars, onboarding, scope charters, stand-up cadences, and 30/45-day scorecard reviews
Recruiting oversight: set intake standards with business sponsors, own sourcing strategy and assessment design, and ensure a high-touch, 5-star candidate experience — including executive-level referrals — executed day-to-day through the recruiting team you build and lead
University relations: campus partnerships, co-op program relationships, career fairs, and employer brand activation that keeps SharkNinja's pipeline diverse and full — across our U.S. hubs and expansion markets
Early Edge programming: mentorship, community events, cross-cohort experiences, and weekly Innovation Pod programming in partnership with program sponsors
Executive partnership: operate as the connective tissue between executive sponsors, hands-on delivery leaders, and P&C — keeping every cohort healthy and every sponsor informed with executive-ready readouts
The conversion engine: tracking performance through each term and managing the intern-to-co-op-to-full-time pathway, including return offers and flip-to-permanent recommendations
Data & storytelling: program metrics, conversion and quality-of-hire trends, and executive-ready readouts that tell the story behind the data