Director, Talent Science

Summary

Join Canonical's Talent Science team as a senior leader, driving project delivery excellence and strategic objectives. You will work directly with the Global Head of Talent Science and people managers, ensuring all talent selection initiatives align with high-performance outcomes and career frameworks. Leverage your analytical and objective approach to make data-driven decisions, design solutions to complex problems, and coach team members. This remote EMEA-based role requires significant experience with talent outcomes, advanced analytical skills (SQL, R, or Python), and strong project management capabilities. You will also represent the team in the absence of the Head of Talent Science, acting as a trusted advisor and inspiring leader. The role involves working closely with company leaders to communicate Canonical's vision for talent.

Requirements

• Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university, with an undergraduate degree in a psychology or people based subject
• Significant experience working with talent outcomes in the corporate space, ideally in the technology or consulting industry
• Deep understanding of career frameworks and how to ensure that talent selection criteria matches desired outcomes
• Advanced analytical ability to dissect and analyse data using SQL, R and/or Python
• Results driven with the ability to work at pace, with strong project management skills to roadmap, plan and deliver objectives working with the team
• A track record of leadership and commitment to delivering strategic objectives and developing team members, delivering outstanding results
• Professional written and spoken English with excellent presentation skills
• Ability to travel internationally twice a year, for company events up to two weeks long

Responsibilities

• Leading and delivering the strategic Talent Science project roadmap using exceptional project management capability and influencing skills to manage multiple projects at any given time
• Leveraging expertise from your career to date to design and implement solutions to complex problems that ultimately ensure we hire exceptional talent
• Ensuring all talent selection initiatives map to high performance outcomes and career frameworks
• Designing professional processes and frameworks while working closely with our management, allowing efficient delivery of our agenda
• Coaching and mentoring team members to grow and develop skill sets specifically around analytical capabilities and thought leadership, developing training materials and documentation to support team members
• Driving and representing the team in the absence of the Head of, acting as a credible and trusted adviser and an inspiring leader
• Working closely with company leaders to understand, appreciate and communicate our vision for talent at Canonical

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with or understanding of advanced psychometric assessments with an excellent understanding of the marketplace and vendors
• A deep understanding of human behaviour and what drives intrinsic motivation
• An expert view on the ATS market including previous experience of building automations to create hiring process efficiencies

Benefits

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long haul company events