Talent Delivery & Workforce Programs Mgr

Position Summary

The Talent Delivery & Workforce Programs Manager leads vendor relationship management and program governance for the US organization’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) model, with primary responsibility for manufacturing and high-volume hiring delivery. This role serves as the central connection among the RPO provider, Talent Acquisition, plant People & Culture teams, Talent Operations, hiring leaders, and other external recruiting partners.

The Manager ensures that hiring demand, recruiting capacity, delivery priorities, service-level expectations, and workforce readiness are aligned across locations. The role establishes disciplined governance, monitors vendor performance and hiring outcomes, resolves escalations, and drives consistent, scalable recruiting practices that support production and business needs.

This is a hands-on program management role requiring strong staffing industry knowledge, vendor management capability, recruiting experience (ideally manufacturing), and the ability to influence across a complex, matrixed organization.

What you will do

RPO Program Management and Governance

• Lead day-to-day program management and governance of the RPO partnership, with an emphasis on manufacturing and high-volume recruitment.
• Establish operating rhythms, roles, responsibilities, decision rights, service expectations, and escalation pathways across the RPO provider and internal stakeholders.
• Facilitate regular operating reviews and business reviews focused on demand, delivery, risks, performance, and improvement priorities.
• Maintain program documentation, action logs, governance routines, and follow-through on commitments.
• Ensure the RPO model operates consistently with company policies, approved processes, contractual expectations, and applicable compliance requirements.

Vendor Relationship and Performance Management

• Serve as the primary relationship manager for the RPO provider and coordinate additional staffing or recruiting vendors as needed.
• Monitor service-level agreements, staffing commitments, recruiter capacity, candidate flow, quality, responsiveness, and delivery against hiring plans.
• Use data and stakeholder feedback to identify performance gaps, establish corrective actions, and track improvement.
• Manage operational escalations promptly and objectively, engaging appropriate internal and vendor leaders when issues require resolution.
• Build a collaborative, accountable vendor relationship that balances partnership with clear performance expectations.

Manufacturing Talent Delivery and Workforce Readiness

• Coordinate manufacturing hiring delivery across plants and other assigned locations in close partnership with Talent Acquisition and the RPO provider.
• Connect workforce forecasts, production plans, hiring demand, start-date requirements, and recruiting capacity to improve workforce readiness.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, site-plant People & Culture teams, and hiring leaders to clarify demand, sequencing, role requirements, and location-specific recruiting challenges.
• Provide visibility to hiring risks, capacity constraints, labor market conditions, and required interventions, and support high-volume, surge, start-up, expansion, and hard-to-fill needs through coordinated internal and RPO delivery plans.

Internal Stakeholder Coordination

• Partner closely with Talent Advisors, Talent Acquisition leadership, Talent Operations, plant People & Culture teams, procurement, legal, and business leaders to support effective program delivery.
• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition to establish role ownership and determine whether positions will be sourced and managed internally or through the RPO provider.
• Clarify ownership and handoffs across workforce planning, requisition intake, sourcing, selection, offers, pre-employment activities, onboarding coordination, and reporting.
• Align internal Talent Acquisition teams and the RPO provider on priorities, role assignments, service standards, candidate experience, and communication expectations.

Duties and Responsibilities Continued:

Data, Reporting, and Financial Stewardship

• Monitor requisition activity, hiring progress, aging, funnel conversion, time-to-fill, offer acceptance, vendor quality, candidate experience, compliance readiness, and other agreed measures.
• Develop practical dashboards and executive reporting that translate recruiting activity into business and workforce-readiness insights.
• Validate data quality and ensure consistent definitions and reporting across internal teams and vendor partners.
• Monitor program costs, cost per hire, invoicing trends, and use of supplemental vendors in partnership with appropriate internal functions.
• Use data to support prioritization, capacity planning, vendor accountability, and continuous improvement.

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement

• Standardize processes and reduce unnecessary variation across locations while allowing for legitimate business or market needs.
• Identify process breakdowns, recurring issues, and opportunities to improve speed, quality, consistency, candidate experience, and hiring manager experience.
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives and support implementation of recruiting technology, automation, and reporting enhancements.
• Promote scalable practices that strengthen the RPO program and the broader Talent Acquisition operating model.

Who are you?

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Ideally 7+ years of progressive experience in staffing, recruitment, Talent Acquisition operations, vendor management, or workforce program management.
• Experience in at least one of the following: recruiting within a staffing firm; managing staffing or recruiting vendors in a corporate environment; or leading large-scale manufacturing or high-volume recruitment.
• Experience managing service delivery, performance measures, stakeholder expectations, and operational escalations.
• Experience using recruiting data, dashboards, and funnel metrics to evaluate performance and guide action.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex programs and influence cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, and relationship-management skills.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Knowledge

• RPO, staffing, contingent labor, and recruitment delivery models.
• High-volume and manufacturing recruiting processes, and labor market considerations.
• Vendor governance, service-level management, business reviews, escalation management, and performance improvement.
• Recruiting operations, candidate experience, compliance, workforce planning, and reporting practices.

Skills

• Program management and cross-functional coordination.
• Vendor relationship.
• Manufacturing and high-volume recruiting delivery.
• Operational problem solving, process improvement, and change implementation.
• Stakeholder communication, facilitation, and conflict resolution.
• Prioritization and management of multiple locations, workstreams, and deadlines.

Abilities

• Build productive partnerships while maintaining clear accountability for results.
• Translate workforce demand into practical recruiting capacity and delivery plans.
• Identify risks early, resolve escalations, and drive action across organizational boundaries.
• Balance enterprise consistency with plant and location-specific needs.
• Communicate complex operational information clearly to frontline, functional, and executive audiences.
• Work effectively in a fast-paced, matrixed, and geographically dispersed environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience working for a staffing firm or RPO provider.
• Corporate experience managing RPO, staffing, or recruiting vendor relationships.
• Experience supporting large-scale manufacturing, production, skilled trades, warehouse, logistics, or industrial hiring.
• Experience with enterprise applicant tracking systems, vendor management systems, recruiting analytics, and dashboard tools.
• Experience supporting multi-site or geographically dispersed recruiting programs.

Key Competencies

• Vendor Relationship Management
• Project Management
• Operational Excellence
• Data-Driven Decision Making
• Stakeholder Partnership
• Influencing Without Authority
• Accountability
• Customer Focus
• Problem Solving
• Communication
• Collaboration
•  Adaptability
• Continuous Improvement
• Business Acumen
• Results Orientation
• Influence without Authority

Ready for the next move?

Working Conditions

• Travel requirement: Periodic travel to plant and business locations based on program needs (20-30%).
• Work environment: Primarily office-based, with regular interaction with manufacturing and operational locations.
• Work schedule expectations: Standard full-time schedule with flexibility to support plant operations, hiring events, escalations, and vendor or stakeholder meetings.