Sr Director, Talent Acquisition

Position Overview

The Senior Director, Talent Acquisition will lead the strategy, design, and execution of Cengage's enterprise talent acquisition function. This role is responsible for building and scaling a recruiting organization that enables the business to attract, assess, and hire high-impact talent across a dynamic and evolving workforce landscape.

As Cengage continues its evolution as a digital-first, technology-enabled learning company, this leader will ensure talent acquisition strategies support the organization's growth in product, technology, data, AI, and customer-centric capabilities required to challenge and scale in a SaaS-driven environment.

The role requires a strategic operator who can evolve recruiting practices through data, AI-enabled capabilities, enterprise skills frameworks, talent intelligence, and scalable processes that improve hiring outcomes. This leader will leverage Cengage's skills-first talent strategy to enhance talent identification, workforce planning, internal mobility, and hiring effectiveness while ensuring the organization attracts talent capable of succeeding in an increasingly AI-enabled, digital-first environment.

• Develop and execute an enterprise talent acquisition strategy aligned to organizational growth priorities, workforce plans, and evolving business capabilities.
• Build and scale a high-performing recruiting team with deep functional expertise and the flexibility to support changing organizational priorities.
• Lead the transformation of recruiting practices through AI-enabled tools, automation, talent intelligence, and data-driven decision making.
• Partner with HR Talent Strategy Partners, Talent COE leaders, and business leaders to operationalize Cengage's skills-first talent strategy and leverage enterprise skills frameworks to improve talent identification, workforce planning, internal mobility, and hiring effectiveness.
• Leverage enterprise skills data, workforce insights, and talent intelligence to identify talent gaps, advise recruiting strategies, and support hiring for emerging capabilities critical to Cengage's growth, digital transformation, and AI-enabled future.
• Partner with business leaders to define hiring profiles and assessment approaches that reflect evolving workforce requirements, including AI fluency, digital adaptability, continuous learning, and technology-enabled ways of working.
• Establish dedicated recruiting strategies and proactive talent pipelines for critical capabilities across product, technology, data, AI, customer success, commercial, and leadership functions.
• Define and supervise recruiting metrics, workforce analytics, and market insights to drive accountability, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement.
• 12+ years of dynamic talent acquisition experience, including 5+ years in leadership roles within sophisticated, matrixed organizations.
• Proven success building and scaling enterprise talent acquisition functions in dynamic, technology-enabled, or high-growth environments.
• Experience implementing and using Eightfold is highly desirable
• Experience demonstrating skills-based hiring frameworks, talent intelligence, or workforce capability models to improve recruiting outcomes.
• Understanding of talent requirements within digital, SaaS, technology-enabled, or AI-enabled organizations.
• Consistent record to use workforce data, recruiting analytics, and talent insights to influence business decisions and improve hiring outcomes.
• Expertise with ATS platforms and recruiting technologies, including Workday Recruiting preferred.
• Exceptional relationship-building, executive influencing, and strategic advisory skills.

Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to…