Talent & Performance Lead (12 Month Fixed Term Contract)

About Us

Artificial Intelligence could be one of humanity’s most useful inventions. At Google DeepMind, we’re a team of scientists, engineers, machine learning experts and more, working together to advance the state of the art in artificial intelligence. We use our technologies for widespread public benefit and scientific discovery, and collaborate with others on critical challenges, ensuring safety and ethics are the highest priority.

Snapshot

Google DeepMind has a remarkable track record of building and delivering AI and scientific breakthroughs, a direct result of the world-class talent we bring together. We are seeking an experienced Talent Management Lead, to drive our talent agenda and manage a team responsible for designing and delivering organizational-wide talent & performance management practices. This role is a 12-month fixed term contract, with an ideal start date of August 2025. This high-impact role involves talent planning, promotion, evaluation, and empowering senior leaders, requiring experience in building and scaling talent initiatives aligned within a global environment.

The role

This role is part of the broader People and Culture (P&C) team that works together to maintain, optimize, and nurture our culture to create the best environment for advancing AI research. You will closely partner with the global P&C team, wider Google partners, and senior leaders to understand current and future talent needs. By building upon and delivering on our talent strategy across the organization, you will also lead a strong team responsible for our core global cyclical people processes. You will manage a team of 3-4 and report to the Global Talent Director.

Key responsibilities:

• Strategy: Build upon and implement talent management strategies aligned with business objectives to boost talent engagement, career progression and performance (incl. evaluation & promotion). Design and enhance exec talent management and performance management frameworks that cultivate continuous feedback and high performance.
• Partnership: Collaborate closely across P&C, with Google counterparts, and senior leaders to assess talent needs and develop innovative, scalable talent solutions that deliver value without adding complexity. Function as a trusted thought partner, sharing industry insights to guide strategic focus and decisions across our talent and performance portfolio.
• Management & Leadership: Lead and empower a team to advance our talent and performance goals. Offer expert advice on talent management strategies, drawing on a strong awareness of the talent landscape in EMEA and the Americas.
• Data Insights: Leverage data and analytics to assess the impact of talent initiatives and make data-driven improvements.
• Change Management: Drive change management efforts related to talent initiatives, ensuring smooth adoption and integration into the organization.

About You

In order to set you up for success at Google DeepMind, we look for the following skills and experience:

• Extensive experience in talent management, organizational development, or HR, ideally in both scaling startups and larger, matrixed organizations.
• Strategic mindset with a track record of aligning talent programs to broader business goals.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, including experience collaborating with senior leadership.
• Data-driven approach to talent management, using insights to inform decisions and measure impact.
• Ability to navigate organizational complexity effectively and thrive in dynamic environments, adaptable and flexible to changing situations.
• As a resourceful and creative thinker, you implement innovative solutions to challenging problems.
• Previous management experience with a passion for coaching and developing individuals to achieve their best and fostering a supportive environment.

In addition, the following would be an advantage:

• You ideally have deep working knowledge across multiple HR functions, including organisational design, learning and development, and reward and performance, and are able to employ this effectively when designing and delivering org-wide solutions.
• Experience working within AI, a product organisation and/or working within Alphabet.
• Experience in consulting, project management, strategy realisation and planning.
• Strategic thought partner; offering a highly collaborative and consultative approach with the ability to think systemically.
• Trustworthy, discreet and impartial, with a high level of integrity and excellent sense of judgement.
• Skilled in stakeholder management and communication, influencing, anticipating and balancing needs of senior stakeholders and key partners.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to conduct analysis and make recommendations.
• You balance the strategic and operational mindset, looking at the bigger picture to connect the dots and consider how your work affects others.
• You build impactful relationships with others and are collaborative and work best as part of a team.
• You navigate change and ambiguity effectively, handling unexpected challenges and complexity with composure.

At Google DeepMind, we value diversity of experience, knowledge, backgrounds and perspectives and harness these qualities to create extraordinary impact. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law. If you have a disability or additional need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us know.