Vice President of Talent in City of London

Exciting opportunity with our client to help build global infrastructure and teams from the ground up. What makes this especially compelling is that you’re not just stepping into a role—you’re helping shape how the business operates moving forward, with real visibility and impact. It’s a chance to be part of a well-known global brand at a pivotal moment of transformation and growth.

Role Overview

The Vice President of Talent is responsible for leading and executing the comprehensive talent strategy, ensuring the attraction, development, engagement, and retention of a high-performing workforce to support business growth and long-term success. The role will design and run the core talent agenda for the company, covering workforce planning, talent acquisition, succession, leadership development, and performance management. This leader will work closely with the VP P&C, HR Business Partners, and business leaders to translate strategy into practical talent priorities. In a complex carve-out environment, the role will also help stitch together talent processes, insights, and stakeholder needs into a coherent enterprise approach for leaders and employees.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and own the enterprise talent strategy, culture agenda, and workforce planning approach, ensuring alignment to business goals, growth priorities, and the needs of the standalone organization.
• Own talent acquisition, including sourcing strategy, recruitment, assessment, and onboarding, to attract high-caliber talent across all levels of the organization.
• Lead succession planning for critical leadership and specialist roles, identifying, assessing, and developing future leaders to ensure a strong and diverse pipeline of internal talent.
• Own the definition, amplification, and deployment of the standalone company culture, translating desired behaviors and values into practical initiatives, communications, and leadership expectations.
• Design and oversee talent development programs, including leadership development, manager capability building, training initiatives, and career pathing, to foster continuous learning and long-term capability growth.
• Establish and manage performance management processes, including goal setting, performance reviews, calibration, and feedback mechanisms, to drive accountability, clarity, and high performance.
• Develop and execute employee engagement strategies, including recognition programs, culture initiatives, and communication plans, to support a positive, productive, and high-performing work environment.
• Lead talent analytics and reporting, providing data-driven insights on workforce trends, pipeline health, engagement, retention, and talent risks, and using those insights to improve the effectiveness of talent initiatives.
• Partner with the People Data & Workforce Insights Manager and HRIS Lead to strengthen how talent data is stitched together across systems and sources, and to improve visualization of talent insights for the VP P&C, ELT, and business leaders.
• Act as a strategic advisor to the VP P&C and senior leadership on talent-related matters, including workforce planning, organizational design, leadership capability, and change management.
• Ensure compliance with all employment laws and regulations across the geographies in which the organization operates, particularly in talent-related areas such as background checks and right-to-work requirements.
• Build and lead a high-performing Talent team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in Human Resources or Talent Management, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record of developing and implementing successful talent strategies in a dynamic business environment.
• Strong understanding of core talent disciplines, including talent acquisition, talent development, performance management, employee engagement, succession planning, and workforce planning.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and build strong relationships at all levels of the organization.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.
• In-depth knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practices, particularly in areas relevant to hiring and talent processes.
• Experience in manufacturing, industrial, or other operationally complex environments is highly desirable.
• Strategic, pragmatic, and results-oriented, with a strong passion for talent and organizational performance.

Goals

• First 30 days: Build an understanding of the organization's current talent priorities, organization structure, critical roles, and immediate hiring and succession risks. Meet key stakeholders across the P&C team, ELT, HRBPs, Talent Acquisition, HRIS, and People Data to understand current processes, pain points, and opportunities. Review existing talent programs, hiring activity, workforce plans, performance processes, and engagement approaches to identify immediate gaps and Day 1 priorities.
• First 60 days: Define the initial standalone talent agenda, including priorities across hiring, succession, culture, development, and performance management. Assess the effectiveness of current talent acquisition and onboarding processes and identify actions to improve quality, speed, and candidate experience. Stand up an initial talent dashboard and governance cadence for the VP P&C and ELT, covering key metrics, risks, and actions.
• First 90 days: Deliver a clear roadmap for the Year 1 talent strategy, including critical roles, succession priorities, culture actions, development initiatives, and key talent metrics. Launch or refine at least one priority intervention in each of the following areas: talent acquisition, succession/development, and employee engagement. Provide the VP P&C and ELT with a consolidated view of current talent risks, pipeline strength, and recommended actions to support business performance and growth.

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

• Stand-alone build: Play a defining role in shaping the talent strategy, culture, and leadership pipeline of a new standalone company.
• Enterprise impact: Influence how the organization attracts, develops, and retains talent across all major functions and geographies.
• Leadership visibility: Operate as a close advisor to the VP P&C and senior leadership team on high-priority organizational and workforce decisions.
• Cross-functional scope: Work across talent, culture, people analytics, HR operations, and business leadership to build an integrated approach to workforce performance.
• Platform for value creation: Help create the people and leadership foundation needed to support transformation, operational performance, and long-term growth in a complex industrial environment.