Director, International Executive Practice in London

YOUR MISSION

This strategic leader will take the helm of our international (EMEA/APAC) executive recruitment practice. This leader will serve as a trusted advisor and partner to senior executives, driving the successful identification, engagement, and acquisition of Director level+ leadership talent. In this high-impact role, you will oversee a high-performing team, as well as offer mentorship and support from your SME perspective, to support the learning journeys of others across the US-based executive team, Xbox/MSFT executive team, and wider International TA team. You will provide strategic direction for the growth and efficacy of the international executive practice, and partner/collaborate closely with the International Executive Practice Operations leader to ensure operational excellence across multiple concurrent executive search processes.

This role is tailored for a visionary leader who combines strategic insight, operational rigor, and a people-first approach to transforming the way we recruit, engage, and acquire leadership talent. The Executive Practice is considered a "jewel in the crown" of the TA organisation globally, hence this is a role for a leader who recognises the business-critical and high-profile nature of it. They will uphold quality standards yet also bend to accommodate our "fast and fluid" value when required. They will practice acutely honed listening skills, read the room for verbal and non-verbal signals and practice "servant leadership" as partnerships are built, especially in sometimes "pressure cooker" high stakes environments.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategic Partnering with senior executives: Build and maintain trusted advisory relationships, up to and including C‑Suite executives - all senior stakeholders across the organization. Act as a strategic consultant to business leaders on talent needs, providing data-driven insights and recommendations for leadership hires.
• Team Leadership and Management: Lead and mentor a high-performance team, specifically; developing collaboration and highly effective communication; fostering knowledge sharing; taking full accountability and leading by example to deliver exceptional results. Strongly partner with the operations and cross functional CoE colleagues to manage and optimize executive search workflows, ensuring efficiency, transparency, and successful outcomes across multiple simultaneous searches.
• Executive Search Execution: Partner with stakeholders across Legal, HR, Comp/Benefits and Business Units to identify, assess, and secure top leadership talent across domains, including game design and development, engineering, analytics, corporate functions, and more. Drive diversity-focused strategies, ensuring an inclusive approach in sourcing, engagement, and candidate selection. Oversee rigorous candidate assessments to ensure alignment with organizational culture, values, and strategic goals. Ensure AI is employed appropriately, in compliance and where appropriate - to help reduce team time taken by low level repetitive tasks, therefore freeing up bandwidth for higher value thinking, ideas, service and partnerships. Always in support of our journey to being one business-minded international team.
• Compensation Development & Negotiation: Leverage deep expertise in complex compensation strategies, to partner with Rewards colleagues to structure competitive and compelling offers at the executive level. Skillfully lead approvals and negotiations to secure candidate acceptances, balancing business priorities with candidate expectations.
• Market Expertise & Networking: Cultivate and leverage a robust network within the consumer gaming and digital entertainment industries. Stay abreast of market trends and competitive intelligence to proactively position the company as an employer of choice. Network effectively with high quality and trustworthy potential external executive search agency partners to call upon for external resource (mapping or full search) when needed, to augment in-house capacity/capability/confidentiality. Develop an ambassadorial "go to" leadership/SME position for colleagues in the global ABK and Xbox ecosystems, to help build the profile/reputation of ABK’s executive practice; build your own learning journey of continuous improvement - staying ahead of trends and developing your perspectives by learning from peers and practices outside our own.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Operate effectively in a cross-functional capacity, partnering closely with teams across Legal, HR, Centers of Excellence, business divisions. Demonstrate boardroom gravitas and consultancy expertise in presenting and defending recommendations and strategies.
• Values-Driven Leadership: Exhibit authentic objectivity, integrity, empathy, and confidentiality in all interactions and decisions. Act as a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering an environment that values diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

PLAYER PROFILE

• Extensive experience leading executive recruitment with a proven track record of securing top-tier leadership talent.
• Industry knowledge in gaming, consumer technology or digital entertainment.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to engage effectively with diverse audiences, including board-level stakeholders.
• A natural collaborator with the ability to connect dots across functions, demonstrating strategic vision and business acumen.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and delivering results in a high-confidentiality environment.
• A passion for building inclusive teams and advancing diversity in leadership.
• Experience of working with psychometrics (Hogan Assessment Tests are applied by the in-house ABK executive practice at VP+) is ideal, not mandatory.

OUR WORLD

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet! Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.