Lead - Talent Acquisition & Centre Of Excellence - BFSI

Position Title: Lead Talent Acquisition & COE

Team Size: Individual Contributor role (mandated to build and lead the COE team)

Role Summary:

The Lead Talent Acquisition & COE will own the design, build-out, and stabilization of a dedicated Talent Acquisition Centre of Excellence (COE) for the bank. This is currently an individual contributor role with a clear mandate to establish the COE charter, hire and mentor a team over time, and personally drive leadership and niche/specialist hiring across the organization. The role requires a hands-on operator who can simultaneously build process, technology, and governance frameworks while closing high-stakes, hard-to-fill positions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Set up the Talent Acquisition Centre of Excellence (COE) from the ground up define charter, operating model, governance structure, and success metrics in alignment with business and HR leadership.
• Design end-to-end COE processes: sourcing strategy, market mapping, assessment frameworks, interview governance, offer management, and reporting/dashboards.
• Build the future COE team define roles (sourcers, TA specialists, market intelligence analysts), create hiring plans, and recruit, onboard, and mentor team members as the function scales.
• Personally drive leadership hiring (CXO-1/CXO-2, business heads, function heads) manage confidential, high-touch search processes including stakeholder management, market mapping, and closure.
• Lead niche and specialist hiring for hard-to-fill mandates such as Risk, Treasury, Compliance, Data & Analytics, Technology, Digital Banking, and other specialized banking domains.
• Build and continuously refresh talent maps, competitor benchmarking, and industry mapping for critical and niche roles across the banking/BFSI landscape.
• Partner with business leaders, HRBPs, and senior stakeholders to understand workforce plans and translate them into proactive, pipeline-driven hiring strategies.
• Establish vendor and RPO management frameworks, executive search partnerships, and premium sourcing channels (LinkedIn Recruiter, niche job boards, headhunting) as required.
• Define and track COE metrics time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, quality-of-hire, offer-to-join ratio, diversity metrics and present insights to senior leadership.
• Ensure a strong candidate and hiring-manager experience across all senior and specialist hiring processes, maintaining confidentiality and discretion at all times.
• Drive employer branding and talent engagement initiatives to strengthen the bank's positioning for leadership and niche talent.
• Stay current on compensation benchmarks, industry trends, and regulatory/compliance considerations relevant to banking talent acquisition.

Candidate Profile Education & Experience:

• MBA / PGDM in Human Resources or equivalent from a reputed institute.
• 1015 years of progressive experience in Talent Acquisition, with a significant portion in the banking/BFSI or financial services sector.
• Proven, hands-on experience in leadership hiring (CXO/senior management) and niche/specialist hiring (Risk, Treasury, Technology, Analytics, Compliance, etc.).
• Prior experience setting up, scaling, or working within a Talent Acquisition COE, specialist hiring pod, or executive search function is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working independently as an individual contributor while influencing and building future team structures.

Skills & Competencies:

• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to engage confidently with CXOs and senior business leaders.
• Deep expertise in market mapping, headhunting, and Boolean/advanced sourcing techniques.
• Sound understanding of banking industry structures, functions, and talent landscape.
• Ability to design and implement scalable TA processes, frameworks, and governance from scratch.
• High degree of ownership, discretion, and confidentiality in handling sensitive leadership mandates.
• Strong analytical ability to build dashboards, track metrics, and present data-backed insights.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building structure in a nascent/evolving function.

What Success Looks Like:

• A fully operational Talent Acquisition COE with defined processes, governance, and an initial team in place within the first 1218 months.
• Consistent, high-quality closures on leadership and niche mandates within agreed timelines.
• Robust talent pipelines and market intelligence available on demand for critical roles.
• Strong stakeholder satisfaction scores from business leaders and hiring managers.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the role and is not exhaustive. Responsibilities may evolve as the COE matures.