Strategy

Location: India
Function: Group Human Resources / Talent Acquisition
Role Type: Senior Individual Contributor (Strategic Leadership Role)
Geographical Scope: India, Europe and other global delivery locations as required
Reporting To: Group HR Leadership / Designated Group HR Leader

1. Role Purpose

To shape and execute a future-ready talent acquisition strategy that enables Zalaris to build the workforce capabilities required to meet the evolving needs of its European and global customers.

The role will anticipate future business and talent demands, identify emerging skills and talent markets, and develop scalable talent pipelines to support Zalaris's growth across HR and payroll outsourcing, global HR transformation, SAP and other HCM technologies, digital solutions, AI-enabled operations, and multi-country service delivery.

Operating as a senior individual contributor, the role will partner with Group HR, business leaders, delivery leaders and customer-facing stakeholders to transform talent acquisition from a predominantly requisition-driven recruitment function into a strategic capability-building and workforce advisory partner.

The successful candidate will connect future business demand with talent availability, capability development, strategic sourcing, workforce planning and cost-effective global delivery.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Future Workforce and Capability Strategy

• Translate Zalaris's business strategy, customer growth plans and service expansion priorities into forward-looking talent acquisition and workforce capability plans.

• Anticipate emerging workforce requirements across European markets, including Germany, the Nordics, the UK and Ireland, and other relevant European geographies.

• Partner with business and delivery leaders to understand future demand arising from new customer wins, service expansions, technology transformations and multi-country implementations.

• Identify critical, scarce and emerging skills across SAP HCM, SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, Oracle HCM, payroll transformation, HR shared services, data analytics, automation, AI and digital consulting.

• Develop a forward-looking capability map that connects current workforce strengths, future skill requirements, talent gaps and recruitment priorities.

• Establish a proactive talent intelligence framework to identify where capabilities should be built in India, sourced from European markets, developed internally or accessed through strategic partners.

• Recommend talent strategies that balance speed, quality, cost, scalability and long-term capability sustainability.

B. European Talent Market Intelligence and Strategic Sourcing

• Build deep understanding of European talent markets, talent availability, compensation benchmarks, competitor hiring activity and emerging skill shortages.

• Develop country- and skill-specific talent market maps for critical capabilities supporting Zalaris's European customers.

• Establish strategic sourcing channels across India, Europe and other relevant talent markets, including specialist communities, professional networks, universities and niche technology ecosystems.

• Develop sustainable pipelines for scarce and business-critical talent rather than relying exclusively on reactive external recruitment.

• Identify opportunities to leverage India-based talent for global delivery while recognising customer proximity, language, local regulatory knowledge and country-specific expertise requirements.

• Create talent intelligence reports that inform business decisions on location strategy, recruitment feasibility, time-to-fill, compensation and workforce availability.

• Build a practical understanding of language requirements, including German and other European languages, where relevant to customer delivery and role requirements.

C. Strategic Talent Acquisition and Capability Pipelines

• Design and implement a capability-led recruitment model that anticipates future business needs and supports planned workforce expansion.

• Build talent pipelines for priority roles across HR and payroll services, technology consulting, implementation, managed services, automation and digital transformation.

• Establish targeted sourcing strategies for experienced specialists, emerging technology professionals, leadership talent and high-potential early-career talent.

• Develop evergreen talent communities and pre-qualified candidate pools for recurring or hard-to-fill positions.

• Partner with business stakeholders to improve role definition, competency frameworks, selection criteria and assessment methods.

• Introduce skills-based hiring approaches that evaluate transferable skills, learning agility, problem-solving, digital aptitude and potential alongside relevant experience.

• Develop recruitment strategies that complement internal mobility, reskilling, upskilling and succession planning.

• Support new customer transitions and service launches through structured talent mobilisation plans.

D. AI-Enabled and Data-Driven Talent Acquisition

• Identify opportunities to deploy AI, automation and recruitment analytics across sourcing, screening, market mapping, candidate engagement and talent pipeline management.

• Explore the responsible use of AI-enabled recruitment tools to improve recruiter productivity, candidate matching and decision support while maintaining human oversight.

• Develop a talent acquisition dashboard that provides visibility into future capability demand, pipeline health, sourcing effectiveness, hiring outcomes and recruitment costs.

• Use data to identify bottlenecks, forecast hiring risks and recommend corrective actions before they affect customer commitments.

• Standardise recruitment processes, assessment approaches and reporting to support consistent execution across geographies.

• Establish appropriate safeguards for candidate data privacy, information security, fairness, transparency and applicable employment and data protection requirements.

• Continuously evaluate recruitment technology and market innovations that could improve the scalability and effectiveness of talent acquisition.

E. Strategic Business Partnership and Customer Readiness

• Act as a trusted talent advisor to Group HR, business leaders, delivery heads and customer-facing teams.

• Participate in strategic workforce discussions relating to customer acquisition, new service offerings, operating model changes and geographic expansion.

• Translate business opportunities into talent scenarios, including required skills, potential sourcing locations, recruitment lead times, cost implications and capability risks.

• Partner with commercial and delivery stakeholders, where appropriate, to assess talent feasibility during new customer proposals, transitions and service expansions.

• Develop talent readiness assessments for strategic opportunities and identify critical gaps that may affect delivery commitments.

• Support the evolution of India into a strategic global talent and capability hub that contributes to European customer outcomes.

• Build strong working relationships across India and Europe to ensure talent decisions reflect global priorities rather than isolated local recruitment requirements.

F. Employer Value Proposition and Global Talent Attraction

• Strengthen Zalaris's employer value proposition for critical technology, consulting, payroll and digital talent.

• Develop differentiated talent attraction strategies for scarce and future-oriented capabilities.

• Position Zalaris as an employer offering international exposure, cross-border collaboration, technology-enabled work and opportunities to contribute to global customer transformations.

• Partner with relevant stakeholders to improve candidate experience, recruitment communications and talent community engagement.

• Use market insights and candidate feedback to refine attraction strategies and strengthen Zalaris's competitiveness in priority talent markets.

G. Governance, Standards and Continuous Improvement

• Establish common talent acquisition frameworks, capability taxonomies, market intelligence practices and performance metrics across relevant locations.

• Promote consistency in hiring quality, assessment standards, recruitment governance and candidate experience while respecting local requirements.

• Monitor hiring outcomes against business priorities and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality and scalability.

• Share talent intelligence and recruitment best practices across Group HR and regional stakeholders.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of sourcing channels, assessment methodologies, recruitment technology and external partners.

• Operate with a continuous improvement mindset, identifying new approaches that strengthen Zalaris's ability to respond to future workforce demands.

3. Key Deliverables and Success Measures

Success will be assessed through measurable business outcomes rather than recruitment volumes alone.

• Future capability readiness: A regularly refreshed view of critical future skills, projected demand and capability gaps.

• Strategic talent pipelines: Sustainable, qualified talent pools for agreed critical roles and priority capabilities.

• Talent market intelligence: Actionable insights into talent availability, skills scarcity, compensation and sourcing feasibility across priority markets.

• Recruitment effectiveness: Improved time-to-fill, hiring quality, offer acceptance and candidate experience, measured against agreed baselines.

• Customer readiness: Demonstrable improvement in the organisation's ability to mobilise suitable talent for new customers, projects and service expansions.

• Global talent leverage: Increased ability to identify and deploy India-based talent for appropriate global roles, alongside local and nearshore talent where required.

• AI and automation impact: Measurable improvements in recruiter productivity, sourcing effectiveness and recruitment cycle efficiency.

• Cost effectiveness: Improved cost-per-hire and sourcing-channel effectiveness without compromising quality or compliance.

• Stakeholder value: Stronger business satisfaction with talent advisory, workforce forecasting and recruitment outcomes.

• Capability sustainability: Improved alignment between external hiring, internal mobility, reskilling and long-term workforce requirements.

Specific targets should be established during the first 90 days using current performance baselines and agreed business priorities.

4. Required Experience and Expertise

• Significant experience in talent acquisition, strategic recruitment, workforce planning or talent advisory, preferably in a multinational or global services organisation.

• Demonstrated experience recruiting for specialist technology, consulting, HR operations, payroll, shared services or digital transformation capabilities.

• Strong understanding of European talent markets and the challenges of recruiting across multiple countries.

• Experience developing proactive talent pipelines and market-mapping strategies for scarce and business-critical skills.

• Proven ability to translate business strategy into practical talent acquisition and workforce capability plans.

• Experience partnering with senior business and HR stakeholders across geographies and cultures.

• Working knowledge of recruitment technology, applicant tracking systems, talent analytics and AI-enabled sourcing solutions.

• Experience using data and market intelligence to influence talent decisions, sourcing strategy and recruitment investments.

• Strong understanding of recruitment governance, candidate data privacy, fair selection and relevant employment compliance considerations.

• Demonstrated ability to lead strategic initiatives independently without relying on formal people-management authority.

5. Preferred Domain and Capability Knowledge

• SAP HCM and SAP SuccessFactors, including relevant implementation and support talent markets.

• Workday, Oracle HCM and other enterprise HCM technologies.

• Multi-country payroll, HR outsourcing, HR shared services and global service delivery models.

• HR transformation, digital consulting, process automation, analytics and AI-enabled business services.

• Global Capability Centres, right-shoring, nearshore and offshore delivery strategies.

• European language-based hiring and specialist country-level talent requirements.

• Skills-based workforce planning, talent intelligence and strategic sourcing.

Direct expertise in every technology or European market is not essential. The candidate should demonstrate the ability to learn rapidly, connect specialist stakeholders and develop credible talent strategies across diverse capability areas.

6. Critical Competencies

• Strategic and forward-looking thinking.

• Commercial acumen and customer-centricity.

• Strong analytical and talent market research capability.

• Consultative influencing and stakeholder management.

• Global mindset and cross-cultural effectiveness.

• Innovation, digital fluency and AI awareness.

• Ability to operate with ambiguity and manage competing priorities.

• Excellent communication, storytelling and executive presentation skills.

• Ownership, execution discipline and measurable outcome orientation.

• Ability to influence without authority in a matrix organisation.

7. First-Year Priorities

First 90 days

• Understand Zalaris's business priorities, European customer demands and future growth plans.

• Map critical capabilities, current talent acquisition performance and priority talent markets.

• Identify immediate recruitment risks and propose a future capability acquisition roadmap.

Months 4–6

• Launch priority talent pipelines and market intelligence dashboards.

• Introduce a structured workforce demand-planning process with relevant business stakeholders.

• Identify opportunities for AI-enabled recruitment and stronger India-to-global talent deployment.

Months 7–12

• Demonstrate measurable improvements in talent readiness for priority capabilities.

• Establish repeatable sourcing models for critical European and global requirements.

• Present evidence of improved recruitment predictability, stakeholder value, sourcing effectiveness and workforce capability alignment.

8. Role Design and Operating Model

This is a senior individual contributor position with strategic ownership, broad stakeholder influence and responsibility for delivering measurable talent acquisition outcomes.

The role does not require direct line management of a recruitment team. It is expected to influence through expertise, data, frameworks, partnerships and the successful execution of cross-functional initiatives.

The role will work closely with Group HR, regional HR, business and delivery leaders, recruitment colleagues and relevant external partners. Operational recruitment execution and administrative support may be delivered through existing teams or shared services, allowing the role to focus on future capabilities, talent intelligence and strategic business outcomes.

9. Overall Role Outcome

Build a proactive, intelligence-led and globally connected talent acquisition capability that enables Zalaris to anticipate European customer needs, secure critical skills ahead of demand and develop India as a strategic contributor to the Group's future workforce and service delivery ambitions.