Search Jobs

DIRECTOR, TALENT ACQUISITION

Confidential Search | Prepared by HireNexus

The Opportunity

Our client, a private equity-backed, multi-brand vacation rental platform built through an active acquisition strategy, is seeking a Director of Talent Acquisition to build its recruiting function from the ground up. This is a founding, hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to design a Talent Acquisition capability rather than inherit one — with a clear runway to VP of Talent Acquisition, HR, or Strategic Initiatives, and ultimately CHRO, for the right person.

This is not a traditional recruiting-operations role. Our client's leadership is specifically looking for a structured, high-caliber problem solver — someone who has operated at the Engagement Manager / Project Leader / Senior Manager level (or equivalent) inside a top-tier management consulting firm (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, or similar) and has made — or is actively seeking to make — a deliberate pivot from consulting into an operating, people-leadership seat. Direct Talent Acquisition or HR experience is a plus but is explicitly not required; what matters is the ability to walk into an ambiguous, under-built function and architect it from first principles.

Why This Role Is Different

•     Genuine 0-to-1 build: no legacy systems, no existing team structure to inherit — the mandate is to design the operating model, not optimize an existing one.

•     Direct, high-visibility partnership with the VP of Talent and executive leadership from day one, including overlapping early-stage work with the incoming Senior Manager, HR Strategic Initiatives hire on standing up the function together.

•     A defined path forward: this role is explicitly viewed as a stepping stone toward VP-level HR leadership (Talent Acquisition, Strategic Initiatives, or broader HR) and, longer-term, CHRO — for someone who demonstrates the ability to build, scale, and lead at that level.

•     A PE-backed, acquisition-driven environment that rewards structured thinking, systems design, and the ability to bring order to fast-moving complexity.

What You'll Do

Build the Function

•     Design the company's Talent Acquisition operating model from scratch — sourcing strategy, interview architecture, hiring manager enablement, ATS/technology stack, and reporting infrastructure.

•     Apply structured problem-solving and process design — the same rigor used to architect a consulting engagement — to build a scalable, repeatable hiring system rather than a collection of ad hoc practices.

•     Establish clear metrics, dashboards, and a funnel/pipeline view of hiring performance (time-to-fill, conversion by stage, source effectiveness, quality of hire) to give leadership real visibility into the function.

Lead & Influence

•     Partner directly with the VP of Talent, HR leadership, and business-unit executives to translate workforce and growth priorities into a coherent talent strategy.

•     Coordinate closely with the Senior Manager, HR Strategic Initiatives on the earliest phase of standing up TA, given explicit overlap between the two mandates.

•     Act as a credible, structured thought partner to executives who are used to working with high-caliber outside advisors — bringing that same level of rigor in-house.

Scale for Growth

•     Build a hiring infrastructure that can flex with the company's acquisition-driven growth model, supporting integration of newly acquired brands and their talent needs.

•     Lay the groundwork for a broader Talent Acquisition team as volume and complexity grow, with a clear point of view on when and how to add headcount.

What We're Looking For

The Core Profile

•     Former Engagement Manager, Project Leader, Senior Manager, or equivalent at a top-tier strategy consulting firm (McKinsey, BCG, Bain) — Tier 2 firms (Deloitte S&O, Kearney, LEK, Oliver Wyman, Strategy&) considered for exceptionally strong candidates.

•     A demonstrated, deliberate decision to pivot out of consulting into an internal, operating people-leadership role — not someone who recruited or staffed for a consulting firm, but someone who was the consultant.

•     Top-tier MBA or equivalent advanced degree strongly preferred (M7 or comparable).

•     A genuine builder's mentality: comfortable with ambiguity, energized by designing systems and processes from nothing, and able to translate structured problem-solving into durable operating infrastructure.

Also Valued

•     Some exposure to HR, Talent Acquisition, or organizational design — through client work, a prior rotation, or direct experience — though not required.

•     A sales-ops or funnel-design mentality: experience thinking in terms of pipeline conversion, stage-based metrics, and systemized decision-making, whether from a consulting, revenue operations, or comparable background.

•     Prior exposure to private equity-backed or high-growth, acquisition-driven environments.

•     Explicit, stated interest in a long-term path toward VP-level HR leadership and eventually CHRO — this role is a deliberate first step in that arc, not a lateral recruiting job.

A Note on Fit

This search has been deliberately recalibrated away from traditional Talent Acquisition operators. Candidates with deep, hands-on TA/recruiting backgrounds but without the consulting pedigree described above are not a fit for this specific mandate, regardless of how strong their operational track record is. Our client's leadership is looking for someone who did the consulting — not someone who recruited for a consulting firm, and not someone who has simply worked in a process-heavy TA role. The touchstone profile: a McKinsey Business Services (or equivalent internal-HR) professional who was on the client-facing consulting track before making the switch.