Head of Talent Acquisition

Job Summary:

Mercer Advisors is a leading wealth management platform on a mission to create the context where leading fiduciary professionals can do the best work of their careers.  Our M&A and organic growth strategies have fueled 35%+ annual growth, and we’re committed to building the industry standard of integrated wealth management. We are seeking a forward-thinking and data-driven Head of Talent Acquisition to lead the company’s talent attraction efforts across all levels. This role will focus on building a high-performing, world class workforce aligned with Mercer’s values and long-term growth objectives. The ideal candidate will have deep experience working with growing professional services firms, Greenhouse ATS, recruiting analytics, and emerging technologies that elevate the talent acquisition function.

Essential Job Functions for this role include:

Strategic Leadership

·       Develop and implement a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy aligned with business goals and workforce planning.

·       Partner with senior leadership to anticipate talent needs and build proactive pipelines for critical client facing roles.

·       Lead workforce planning and talent forecasting in collaboration with Finance, people team, and business leaders.

Team Management

·       Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of ~10 talent acquisition professionals and contractors.

·       Promote a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Recruitment Operations

·       Oversee full-cycle recruiting for all roles, including (but not limited to) financial advisors, client development professionals, client service specialists, and corporate staff.

·       Establish protocols for when to engage external partners vs. internal search capabilities, ensuring cost-effectiveness and quality outcomes.

·       Ensure a world-class candidate experience from sourcing through onboarding.

·       Create consistent practices for communication with hiring managers, People team business partners, and other internal stakeholders to create clear visibility into the recruiting process steps, stages, and status.

·       Secure and leverage feedback from candidates, hiring managers and business stakeholders to continually improve the speed and effectiveness of our processes.

·       Own and drive success of talent acquisition-related programs such as Talent Referral, Internal Mobility, and Onboarding.

Senior and Executive Hiring

·       Lead and manage higher-touch senior search processes for senior advisors, business and field leadership roles, and C-suite roles.

·       Build and maintain strong relationships with executive search firms; negotiate contracts, define search scopes, and ensure delivery to expectations.

·       Oversee confidential searches and succession-related hiring with discretion and strategic insight.

Employer Branding

·       Strengthen the firm’s employer brand in the wealth management industry.

·       Launch strategic campus partnerships and local candidate pipeline building efforts in collaboration with select local office teams. 

Recruiting Optimization

·       Complete the successful implementation and integration of Greenhouse ATS across the organization.

·       Ensure recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers are trained in best practices for using Greenhouse effectively.

·       Customize workflows, interview kits, and reporting dashboards to meet the needs of various departments.

·       Continuously evaluate new recruiting technology applications, particularly AI enablement, to find further efficiencies in improvements and improve system usage to ensure efficiency, compliance, and data integrity.

·       Judiciously build and manage budget for the TA function.

Talent Acquisition Metrics & Analytics

·       Establish and monitor key recruiting metrics and targets (e.g., time-to-fill, candidate quality, pipeline conversion rates, recruiter capacity, etc).

·       Build and maintain dashboards to provide visibility into recruiting performance and trends.

·       Use data-driven insights to identify bottlenecks, improve processes, reduce time-to-fill, and improve quality-of-hire metrics.

·       Assess longer-term results in employee attrition and role success to further inform recruiting strategy and assessment practices.

Compliance & Risk Management

·       Ensure recruiting practices comply with labor laws, industry regulations, and internal policies - from job postings to background check requirements.

·       Maintain confidentiality and integrity in all hiring processes.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

·       Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

·       15+ years of progressive experience in talent acquisition, including 5+ years in a talent acquisition leadership role.

·       Experience in professional services, financial services, or wealth management strongly preferred.

·       Proven success in building and scaling recruiting functions in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

·       Strong knowledge of recruiting best practices, recruiting technology and employment law.

·       Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.

·       Certifications such as SPHR, SHRM-SCP, or CIPD are a plus.

Work Schedule:

This professional role requires availability Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

Working Conditions:

Professional office environment, daytime hours, working inside, standing, and sitting, will be assigned to a workstation, no heavy lifting over 20 lbs.