Senior Director, Talent Acquisition

Avantor•Radnor, PA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director, Talent Acquisition owns Avantor's global talent acquisition strategy, operating model, metrics, and team. The role leads recruiting across regions and business units, personally directs VP-and-above searches and searches for key value-creating roles below VP, and connects recruiting outcomes to talent management priorities, including leadership bench strength, internal mobility, critical capabilities, and the company's Revival transformation. This leader sets performance expectations and uses data to manage recruiting quality, speed, cost, pipeline health, and selection outcomes. The role oversees recruiting processes and operations, including applicant tracking and candidate relationship systems, analytics, reporting, and shared-service support. It establishes responsible standards for AI and automation, assessment and selection, and candidate privacy and fairness. The role partners with the Executive Leadership Team, business leaders, HR Business Partners, Finance, Talent Management, and Total Rewards on workforce planning, hiring, executive assessment and offers, and talent strategy. It manages search firm and contingent workforce relationships, the TA budget, and cost avoidance. The position is based within same-day driving distance of both Radnor, Pennsylvania, and Bridgewater, New Jersey, and is expected to be onsite regularly at those locations. Travel outside headquarters visits is estimated at up to 10%. Early morning or evening calls are expected to support teams in Europe and AMEA.

Requirements

12 or more years of experience in talent acquisition, including at least 5 years leading managers or multi-region TA teams in a global, matrixed organization.
At least 5 years of experience leading VP-and-above searches in a retained search firm or internal executive recruiting function.
Demonstrated experience setting and managing TA metrics and using data to improve performance, process quality, and hiring outcomes.
Bachelor's degree in Business, Human Resources, Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Executive presence, credibility, and sound judgment when advising ELT members and handling confidential matters.
Strong leadership and coaching skills, including leading leaders across regions and cultures and holding teams accountable.
Strong analytical skills, including setting metrics, interpreting recruiting and workforce data, and turning insights into action.
Strong process improvement and change management skills, including standardizing practices across regions and business units.
Deep knowledge of assessment and selection methods, including structured interviewing, skills-based hiring, and validated psychometric tools.
Strong vendor management and negotiation skills, including executive search, RPO, and contingent labor partners.
Working knowledge of executive compensation, equity, and offer structuring.
Ability to work onsite regularly at locations within same-day driving distance of both Radnor, PA, and Bridgewater, NJ; travel beyond headquarters visits may be up to 10%, and early morning or evening calls should be expected for Europe and AMEA teams.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or MBA.
Experience in life sciences, healthcare, distribution, or another regulated or industrial environment, in a company with $1B or more in revenue.
Experience leading TA through significant organizational change or a business turnaround.
Hogan certification (HPI, HDS, MVPI) or equivalent certification in validated assessment tools.
Experience implementing or optimizing an ATS and candidate CRM, such as Workday, Avature, or Invenias, and applying AI-enabled recruiting tools responsibly.
Experience managing search firm and RPO relationships, including fee negotiation, and building a record of cost avoidance.
Experience hiring across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, with working knowledge of regional employment and data privacy requirements.
Experience building skills-based hiring or internal mobility programs.

Responsibilities

Set the global TA strategy and operating model across the Americas, Europe, and AMEA, balancing global standards with regional and business needs.
Lead, coach, and develop TA leaders and teams; set goals, hold teams accountable, and build succession plans and career paths within TA.
Partner with the ELT, business leaders, HR Business Partners, and Finance on workforce planning, hiring forecasts, and TA budget and resource allocation.
Define, set targets for, and monitor a TA scorecard covering recruiting speed, quality, cost, pipeline health, and slate quality.
Review results with regional and business-unit leaders, diagnose performance gaps, and drive corrective action and accountability.
Report TA results, insights, and risks to leadership and use workforce and market data to inform business decisions.
Review, standardize, simplify, and improve end-to-end recruiting processes to strengthen quality, speed, candidate experience, and compliance.
Oversee TA operations, including the applicant tracking system, candidate CRM, recruiting analytics, reporting, and shared-service-center support.
Set written standards and safeguards for AI and automation in recruiting, including human review, fairness monitoring, and controls against candidate fraud and identity misrepresentation.
Align TA priorities with talent management priorities, including succession plans, leadership bench strength, critical capabilities, and Revival transformation needs.
Build proactive external pipelines and market maps for critical and succession-sensitive roles, and benchmark external talent against internal successors.
Drive an internal-first approach with Talent Management, including internal mobility, boomerang and alumni hiring, and referral programs.
Partner with Talent Management and Total Rewards on competency models and success profiles so hiring criteria reflect performance drivers at Avantor.
Set enterprise selection standards, including structured, competency- and skills-based interviewing, interview guides, scorecards, and hiring-manager training.
Select, validate, and govern assessment tools, including Hogan (HPI, HDS, MVPI), ensuring consistent, fair, and legally compliant use.
Conduct or oversee executive assessments for external finalists and provide evidence-based hiring recommendations.
Measure how well selection methods predict success using quality-of-hire data and refine them over time.
Personally lead full-cycle global searches for VP-and-above roles and key value-creating roles below VP, from role definition and market mapping through offer and close.
Advise the ELT and business leaders on executive talent markets, compensation expectations, and hiring decisions, handling confidential and replacement searches with discretion.
Structure and negotiate complex executive offers with Total Rewards, including sign-on, equity, buyouts, and relocation.
Maintain the executive candidate CRM and alumni network in accordance with global data privacy requirements.
Manage the search firm and contingent workforce partner portfolio, including sourcing, fee negotiation, contract terms, performance reviews, and renewal decisions.
Lead the contingent workforce strategy, coordinate it with permanent hiring plans, and track agency spend and cost avoidance against standard retained and contingent fees.
Manage the TA budget and prioritize spending on sources and tools with the greatest impact.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Wellness programs.
Health savings and flexible spending accounts.
401(k) plan with company match.
Employee stock purchase program.
11 paid holidays.
18 accrued PTO days annually.
Volunteer time off.
Six weeks of 100% paid parental leave, except in states that offer paid family leave.
Learning experiences to support career growth and success.