Talent Acquisition Director, Microsoft AI

Microsoft AI (MAI)'s Mission is to use AI responsibly to make everyone more informed, capable, and supported.  We are creating unique, beautiful and powerful products that will change lives.  We are proud of what we build, how we build it and that our products will define the AI era. It’s a time of huge change in the AI landscape, and this role will put you right in the heart of it.  In Microsoft’s Global Talent Acquisition (GTA) organization, our mission is to engage and hire the people who empower the planet. We believe that when recruiting experiences reflect the value and diversity of talented people, everyone can achieve more.

We are seeking a highly motivated, agile Talent Acquisition Director, Microsoft AI to lead the Microsoft AI Copilot GTA squad.  We’re looking for someone with an abundance of positive energy and thrive in a fast-paced environment.  The successful candidate excels at multitasking and pays unwavering attention to detail.  You are self-motivated and can adapt to ambiguity and can demonstrate success in agile ways of working. If you can make informed decisions, remove roadblocks, collaborate across executive office staff to meet objectives, along with thrive in this environment, we invite you to join us. 

This leader will lead managers and empower a team of recruiters to accelerate the growth of the MAI division through the talent we identify and recruit. They will forge deep partnerships and collaborate with business leaders to drive recruitment initiatives. We are looking for someone who isn’t afraid to fail fast, leads with care, and gets energy from coaching, developing, and contributing towards the success of others.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees, we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years talent acquisition experience (e.g., recruiting, sourcing), HR experience, or industry experience related to role
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years formal leadership/managerial experience managing recruiting teams.
• 3+ years of AI recruiting and/or sourcing experience OR leading a team of AI recruiters/sourcers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree AND 15+ years talent acquisition experience (e.g., recruiting, sourcing), HR experience, or industry experience related to role
  • OR Master's Degree AND 12+ years talent acquisition experience (e.g., recruiting, sourcing), HR experience, or industry experience related to role
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years people management experience.

Talent Acquisition M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $129,200 - $273,400 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $162,000 - $299,400 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until January 9, 2025.

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn.
• Care - Attract and retain people; Know each individual’s capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others.

Stakeholder/Client Engagement

• Consults closely with the leadership stakeholders outside of Global Talent Acquisition (GTA) and synthesizes business strategy and priorities to the rest of GTA organization and beyond. Applies broad knowledge of the strategic direction across Microsoft businesses to develop and advise business groups on long-term, cross-company recruiting strategies focused on critical talent needs. Partners with stakeholders to identify future talent needs and priorities and consult on Talent Acquisition matters. Influences HR and Finance to align on workforce planning initiatives that enable the optimization of demand and priorities for GTA to deliver against.
• Applies deep specialized knowledge of factors impacting current and future business state and talent needs, recognizes how factors interact with other business areas, and uses this knowledge to develop and implement long-term strategies and guide the development of hiring plans aligned to business needs and company-wide Talent Acquisition objectives. Works with team managers to allocate resources and strategically design proactive team engagement and delivery motions for the hiring plans, in alignment with forecast. Engages with leadership stakeholders and partners to develop and consult on hiring plans.
• Partners across business areas, organizations, and global regions to uncover patterns of talent (e.g., compete, diverse, nontraditional, unconsumed or runner-up candidates from previous searches) that are not typically considered. Meets differentiated talent needs and develops plans to promote and influence the company-wide adoption of differentiated talent. Understands the alternative talent pools available and leveraged by the team and continues to influence stakeholders and create buy-in with the business to support the team.

Data Analysis & Hiring Plans

• Proactively engages the business to share data analytics and insights to influence for improved hiring outcomes or optimization. Leads conversations with leaders across the company to address broad hiring issues, trends, and market insights. Works with technical and executive-level business leaders and draws on multiple sources, such as Competitive Intelligence or People Review, to provide perspective and makes decisions on critical company talent gaps for a business group or area’s long-term needs (beyond 12 months).

Candidate Attraction

• Ensures team is working with client leaders to develop a compelling, consistent message on the Microsoft story and the opportunity it represents to prospective talent. Secures additional funding if required for enhanced and/or centralized advertising storytelling and messaging.
• Acts as a subject matter lead and guides/coaches others across the discipline in sourcing, recruiting, and/or closing hires by conveying compelling Microsoft value propositions. Highlights and/or leverages learnings in use to drive improved outcomes and create recognition for the team.
• Coaches the business to leverage the message of the Microsoft story and the opportunity it represents during the hiring process. Uses their understanding of the business and market to influence how the business thinks about their hiring strategy to further create unique opportunities.

Candidate Experience

• Ensures team is enhancing the candidate experience at all stages of the process by proactively identifying company-wide trends that may impact groups of candidates and partnering with hiring managers/business leaders across regions/organizations to develop appropriate acquisition or mitigation strategies. Creates the expectation of a positive candidate experience and is accountable for the candidate experience driven through their team. Works with team managers to interpret candidate experience reports in the organization, identifying trends and opportunities for improvement or optimization. Drives activity aligned to candidate experience strategy.

Talent Sourcing

• Structures talent sourcing framework. Creates and drives multi-year sourcing strategies for a division, set of countries, or subsidiaries in alignment with business hiring goals and objectives. Translates the work of the team to consult and advise business group or area and create buy-in.
• Collaborates with internal and external networks to improve the diversity and differentiation of the talent pool across the industry, business group, or area. Consults with Global Talent Acquisition (GTA) teams and the business to consume developed pipeline strategy. Identifies areas of strength and opportunities to help accelerate consumption of talent.

Candidate Assessment & Screening

• Accountable for systemic talent issues and resolution and partners with talent leadership groups to ensure the right frameworks are available and being leveraged consistently. Drives the identification of opportunities for improvement or optimization with the organization and leads their team to create new or changes to existing assessment materials. Influences for inclusive hiring capabilities and ensures business adheres to a fair and equitable process.
• Leads larger team to identify systemic talent issues and partners with talent leadership groups to ensure the right screening tools are being used and relevant factors are being considered. Leads initial screening/assessment improvement or optimization efforts.

Operational Compliance & Excellence

• Empowers and drives accountability with team members to incorporate requirements (business system or regulatory) into policy, process, or system changes and optimizations. Empowers and drives accountability with team members to drive implementation across all staffing organizations and ensures that standard procedures are being followed throughout the company. Monitors team metrics, amplifying progress and implementing mitigation solutions as appropriate.
• Holds the organization accountable for maintaining current documentation/information on candidates’ qualifications and status in the appropriate staffing or tracking system, within compliance guidelines (e.g., Office of Federal Compliance Programs, General Data Protection Regulation). Drives team to capture relevant data in recruiting platform and monitors and oversees quality of data capture. Monitors team metrics, amplifying progress and implementing mitigation solutions as appropriate.

Other

• Embody our and