Senior Director, Talent Acquisition

Avantor•Radnor Township, PA

4d•$167,500 - $282,325•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director, Talent Acquisition owns Avantor’s global talent acquisition strategy, operating model, metrics, and teams, and personally leads executive searches for VP-and-above positions as well as key value-creating roles below the VP level. The role leads recruiting across regions and business units, establishes clear performance expectations, uses metrics to drive results, and manages external partners to deliver quality and speed. The position connects recruiting with talent-management outcomes, including quality of hires, leadership bench strength, internal mobility, and capabilities required for Avantor’s Revival transformation. It oversees recruiting operations and technology, improves enterprise assessment and selection practices, and aligns workforce planning, hiring priorities, and recruiting resources with business needs. The role is based within same-day driving distance of both Radnor, Pennsylvania, and Bridgewater, New Jersey. Regular onsite work at these locations is expected to connect with the SVP, HR leadership, and business stakeholders. Travel beyond headquarters visits is estimated at up to 10%. Early morning or evening calls are expected to support work with Europe and AMEA teams.

Requirements

At least 12 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, sound judgment, and discretion in 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.

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+ in revenue.
Experience leading talent acquisition 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 talent acquisition strategy and operating model across the Americas, Europe, AMEA, and business units, balancing global standards with regional and business needs.
Lead, coach, and develop TA leaders and teams; establish goals, accountability, succession plans, and career paths within TA.
Partner with the ELT, business leaders, HR Business Partners, and Finance on workforce planning, hiring forecasts, the TA budget, and resource allocation.
Define targets and monitor a TA scorecard covering recruiting speed, quality, cost, pipeline health, and slate quality.
Review performance with regional and business-unit leaders, diagnose 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 and improve end-to-end recruiting processes to increase quality, speed, candidate experience, and compliance across regions.
Oversee TA operations, including the applicant tracking system, candidate CRM, recruiting analytics, reporting, and shared-service-center support.
Establish standards for AI and automation in recruiting, including written usage standards, human review of decisions, fairness monitoring, and safeguards 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 external pipelines and market maps for critical and succession-sensitive roles, and benchmark external talent against internal successors.
Advance 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.
Set enterprise selection standards, including structured, competency- and skills-based interviews, 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 methods 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 ELT members 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 line with global data privacy requirements.
Manage search-firm and contingent-workforce partner portfolios, including sourcing, fee negotiation, contract terms, performance reviews, and renewal decisions.
Lead contingent-workforce strategy in coordination 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 high-impact sources and tools.

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 PTO days accrued 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.