Senior Director, Talent Acquisition

The Opportunity:
This role owns Avantor's global talent acquisition function: the strategy, operating model, metrics, and people that bring leaders and talent into the company. It is also Avantor's executive recruiter, personally leading VP and above searches and searches for key value creating roles below the VP level.
The person in this role leads a global team that delivers recruiting across regions and business units. Success depends on setting clear performance expectations, utilizing metrics, and managing partners to deliver with quality and speed.
This role connects TA activity to talent management outcomes: the quality of hires, the strength of the leadership bench, internal mobility, and the capabilities Avantor needs for Revival, its company-wide transformation. It also raises the quality of assessment and selection across the enterprise.
Key Responsibilities:
TA strategy, operating model, and leadership
Set the global TA strategy and operating model across the Americas, Europe, and AMEA and across business units, balancing global standards with regional and business needs.
Lead, coach, and develop the TA leaders and their teams; set clear goals, hold the team accountable for results, and build a succession plan 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.
TA metrics and performance management
Define, set targets for, and monitor a TA scorecard covering speed (time to fill, time to offer), quality (quality of hire, hiring manager and candidate satisfaction, new hire retention and early performance), cost (cost per hire, agency spend, cost avoidance), pipeline health, and quality of slates.
Review results with regional and business unit leaders on a regular cadence, diagnose gaps, and drive corrective action and accountability.
Report TA results, insights, and risks to the leadership, and use workforce and market data to inform business decisions.
Process improvement and TA operations
Review end-to-end recruiting processes and standardize, simplify, and improve them 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.
Set the approach to AI and automation in recruiting, including written usage standards, human review of decisions, fairness monitoring, and safeguards against candidate fraud and identity misrepresentation.
Connecting TA to talent management outcomes
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 what drives performance at Avantor.
Assessment and selection quality
Set enterprise standards for selection, 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), and ensure they are used consistently, fairly, and in line with legal requirements.
Conduct or oversee executive assessments for external finalists and deliver clear, evidence based hiring recommendations to hiring leaders.
Measure how well selection methods predict success, using quality of hire data, and refine them over time.
Executive recruiting
Personally lead full cycle searches for VP and above roles globally, and for key value creating roles below VP (such as commercial, operations, technical, and transformation leaders), 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, with absolute discretion on confidential and replacement searches.
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.
Vendor management and cost avoidance
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 and ensure it is coordinated with permanent hiring plans, and track agency spend and cost avoidance against standard retained and contingent fees.
Manage the TA budget and prioritize spend on the sources and tools with the most impact.
Qualifications:
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 an 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.
Preferred qualifications
Master's degree or MBA.
Experience in life sciences, healthcare, distribution, or another regulated or industrial environment, in a company of $1B+ 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.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Executive presence, credibility, and sound judgment in advising ELT members and handling confidential matters with discretion.
Strong leadership and coaching skills, including leading leaders across regions and cultures and holding teams accountable for results.
Strong analytical skills, including setting metrics, interpreting recruiting and workforce data, and turning insights into action.
Strong process improvement and change management skills, with the ability to standardize 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.
This role is based within same day driving distance of both Radnor, PA and Bridgewater, NJ, to enable a strong connection to Avantor's headquarters and key locations. The role is expected to be onsite regularly at these locations to work with the SVP, HR leadership, and business stakeholders. Travel outside of headquarters visits is estimated at up to 10%, for regional team visits, candidate meetings, and industry events. Early morning or evening calls should be expected to work with the Europe and AMEA teams.
Disclaimer:
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position. Avantor is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
Why Avantor?
Dare to go further in your career. Join our global team of 14,000+ associates whose passion for discovery and determination to overcome challenges relentlessly advances life-changing science.
The work we do changes people's lives for the better. It brings new patient treatments and therapies to market, giving a cancer survivor the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle. It enables medical devices that help a little boy hear his mom's voice for the first time. Outcomes such as