Director, Talent Science

Director, Talent Science

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. Canonical is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1,200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office‑based roles.

Teams meet two to four times yearly in person in interesting locations around the world to align on strategy and execution.

Our Talent Science team’s mission is to ensure that we follow objective, scientifically rigorous and efficient processes to select the very best new colleagues regardless of location, culture or background. We work closely with key stakeholders to ensure that decisions are made in the right way and that our hiring model supports the selection of world‑class talent. We lead an effective hiring ecosystem to deliver talent acquisition excellence, using data to enable evidence‑based decisions and weaving behavioural science throughout our selection process.

Due to the growth of our team we are now hiring into four new leadership roles in our Talent Science team to lead on delivery excellence. The successful candidate will work directly with the Global Head of Talent Science to plan and drive work within the team against our strategic objectives, with overall accountability for project delivery relating to hiring outcomes.

You will drive efficiencies and create new processes while coaching and developing team members to grow their careers.

You will bring an analytical and objective approach to work and be seasoned in making data‑driven decisions relating to talent outcomes. Your experience will include driving complete project roadmaps, interacting with senior leadership on talent‑related topics, leveraging your thought leadership experience and influencing talent agendas internally. You will be capable of stepping up to lead the function when required. Experience of working with career frameworks and hiring outcomes is an essential requirement of this role.

Location
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This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.

Role entitles to:

• Leading and delivering the strategic Talent Science project roadmap using exceptional project management capability and influencing skills to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• 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 to allow efficient delivery of our agenda.
• Coaching and mentoring team members to grow and develop 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.

• Exceptional academic track record with an undergraduate degree in psychology or a people‑based subject.
• Track record of team leadership within the technology or consulting industry, with exceptional project management skills to lead roadmap execution and delivery.
• Proven ability to coach and mentor a team to deliver exceptional results.
• Deep understanding of selection, career frameworks and building internal products to ensure talent selection criteria match desired outcomes.
• Advanced analytical ability to dissect and analyse data using SQL, Python and/or statistical analysis.
• Exceptional written and spoken English with strong presentation skills for a senior audience.
• Ability to travel internationally four times a year for company events.

• Advanced psychometric assessments with an excellent understanding of the marketplace and vendors.
• A deep…