US Talent Lead

Milltown Partners

Our clients operate at the frontiers of innovation — we advise technology companies driving change, global investors funding the future, the giants of sport and entertainment, and influential individuals on the communications and policy challenges that define their reputations. Our work spans corporate and financial communications, policy and public affairs to engage regulators and policymakers, policy communications and leadership communications. We underpin the full breadth of our capabilities with research‑driven insights and campaigns.

We’re also pioneering AI‑enhanced advisory work for both our clients and internal innovation, using technology to unlock insights from data at unprecedented scale and speed.

This is a hand‑on recruiting role, leading recruitment efforts in the US across New York, San Francisco, and expanding into Washington, D.C. this year. We are a US team of 60 people, and growing ’ll be responsible for ensuring we hire brilliant talent in real time and getting ahead of future needs. You’ll report to the Global Head of Talent who sits in London and manage the US Talent Acquisition Manager who sits in New York.

Vous are motivated when recruiting at a seriously high bar and building a recruiting engine to drive quality and growth. You can sit with leaders in the business and talk requirements, deeply understanding the skills and expertise we need across the business. This is a role for someone who wants to be an expert recruiter in a high‑performing, fast‑scaling, intellectually demanding professional services environment.

You will draw on your prior experience recruiting for corporate communications and/or corporate public relations roles.

You’re already using LLMs to enhance and support your work, and are ideally experimenting with how recruitment‑centric AI tools and automation can be additive. You are excited at the prospect of joining an agency that has placed a huge bet on how AI is going to transform the advisory world of comms, policy and research.

Recruitment delivery: Oversee end‑to‑end US hiring, drawing on prior experience to manage a world‑class candidate experience and be hands‑on in all aspects of delivery.

• Work with US COO, Global Head of Talent, and People team to ensure alignment on recruitment priorities for the US team
• Manage, and collaborate with, the US Talent Acquisition Manager in order to best divide and conquer live briefs as well as driving long‑term improvements to our approach to the US talent market
• Manage and execute a world‑class candidate experience from first contact to close
• Run a comprehensive kick‑off process to align on profile and process for each role, and prepare the interview team accordingly
• Oversee and deliver sourcing strategy from advertising to outreach to managing recruiter agency relationships
• Ensure deliberate attention is paid to diversifying our candidate pipeline
• Lead the practical execution of recruitment activity for the roles you’re owning e.g. candidate liaison, calendar management, running introductory calls
• Deliver internal US interviewer training

Pipeline development: Take the long‑term view to building a sustainable pipeline of brilliant communications and policy talent in the US.

• Develop a deep understanding of Milltown's work and talent strategy
• Build and maintain an active network of candidates, market contacts, and peers across the US communications and policy advisory landscape
• Use market intelligence to inform sourcing strategy: where the best talent is, what they are looking for, and how Milltown competes
• Contribute insights on compensation, talent availability, and competitor activity internally to the Global People & Talent function

Internal collaboration: Build and maintain trusted relationships with leaders across the US business as well as the wider People & Talent team.

• Ensure consistent, high quality and advisory‑led communications with US leaders about recruitment activity
• Escalate risks, delays, or misalignments to relevant leadership early and with a proposed solution
• Act as a close collaborator to the Head of Talent to continuously spot opportunities for improvement,…