Talent Attraction, Acquisition & Onboarding Transformation Lead - 12 Month Fixed-term Contract

UK&I Talent Attraction, Acquisition & Onboarding Transformation Lead

Level 4 – Associate Director 

Secondment/FTC – 12 months

Location – UK Wide  

Hybrid working

The Opportunity

EY’s ambition is to create an exceptional experience for all our people and to ensure Talent is positioned as a true enabler of business success. The UKI Talent Team is entering a pivotal period of transformation – reshaping our operating model, strengthening performance and innovation, and driving cultural and behavioural change to meet the future needs of the Super Region.

As Transformation Lead for TA², you will play a critical role in enabling the success of this transformation and will be at the centre of shaping, coordinating and driving progress across TA²’s strategic priorities and initiatives. Reporting to the UKI Talent Transformation Leader, you will act as the lynchpin between transformation strategy and delivery, working in close collaboration with the TA² Leadership Team to ensure priority initiatives are clearly defined, effectively governed and progressed at pace.

This role is pivotal in ensuring TA² transformation activity is delivered with precision, agility and measurable impact. You will provide the programme discipline, governance and connectivity required to move initiatives forward — aligning stakeholders, tracking progress, surfacing risks and dependencies, and ensuring delivery remains focused on the outcomes that matter most. You will also support the shaping and evolution of key initiatives, helping translate strategic ambition into practical, deliverable change.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Act as the central lynchpin across TA²’s strategic priorities and transformation initiatives, creating the connectivity, momentum and discipline required to move activity forward in collaboration with the TA² Leadership Team.
• Develop, own and maintain an integrated TA² transformation roadmap, ensuring priorities, milestones, interdependencies and accountabilities are clearly defined, sequenced and tracked.
• Drive the execution of priority transformation initiatives, working through TA² leaders and SMEs to ensure agreed outcomes are achieved on time, within scope and to the required standard.
• Work in partnership with the SmartRecruiters implementation team to drive the successful implementation and adoption of new TA² technology; identify capability and process gaps, evaluate fit-for purpose technology solutions, and ensure they deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, experience and performance.
• Drive reporting and insight, providing senior leaders with clear, forward‑looking perspectives on progress, risks, trade‑offs, dependencies and strategic implications.
• Manage risk, issue and dependency, recommending mitigation strategies and ensuring accountability for resolution.
• Coordinate across TA² leadership, Talent SMEs and wider transformation stakeholders to ensure alignment, consistency, ownership and follow-through across all strategic initiatives.
• Monitor and measure programme success, tracking KPIs and outcomes to ensure progress is visible and benefits are realised.
• Partner with colleagues across UKI, Super Region and Global Talent to ensure alignment and share best practices.
• Partner with the Talent Transformation Leader and TA² Leadership Team to shape, prioritise and evolve the TA² transformation agenda, ensuring alignment with broader UKI and Super Region priorities.
• Act as a bridge between strategy and execution, ensuring strategic intent is translated into practical, deliverable change.
• Engage, influence and challenge senior stakeholders with confidence, acting as a trusted advisor. Able to translate complex change into compelling, audience‑appropriate messages.

Skills and Attributes for Success

• Proven transformation and programme leadership capability, with a track record of driving complex, cross-functional strategic initiatives from ambition through to delivery in large, matrixed organisations.
• Strong strategic prioritisation skills, with the ability to translate business, Talent and TA² priorities into a clear, integrated roadmap with defined milestones, dependencies, accountabilities and measurable outcomes.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, influencing and collaboration skills, with the confidence to work through senior leaders, SMEs and cross-functional teams to create alignment, momentum and follow-through.
• Strong programme governance and delivery discipline, with the ability to track progress, manage risks, issues and dependencies, and ensure initiatives remain focused on agreed outcomes and benefits.
• Data-led and insight-driven, with the ability to develop clear reporting, interpret performance indicators, surface risks and trade-offs, and provide senior leaders with forward-looking recommendations.
• Confident change leader with the ability to translate strategic intent into practical, deliverable change, supporting adoption and enabling colleagues to understand the purpose, progress and impact of transformation activity.
• Highly organised, proactive and resilient, with the ability to operate at pace, manage ambiguity and competing priorities, and bring structure and clarity to complex transformation activity.
• Clear, credible and executive-ready communicator, with the ability to engage, influence and challenge senior stakeholders while translating complex change into compelling, audience-appropriate messages.

To Qualify for the Role, You Will Have

• A strong track record of leading transformation and driving measurable performance improvement within complex, matrixed environments.
• Deep experience within Talent Attraction and Acquisition, with a strong understanding of end-to-end recruitment operations, candidate experience, process optimisation and technology-enabled change.
• Proven ability to translate strategic priorities into clear, executable plans, ensuring initiatives are structured, sequenced, governed and delivered against agreed outcomes.
• Demonstrated success partnering with senior leaders and executive stakeholders to shape priorities, influence decision-making and maintain alignment across strategic initiatives.
• Strong change leadership capability, with the confidence to create momentum, navigate ambiguity, manage resistance and support adoption across diverse stakeholder groups.
• A strong understanding of current Talent and HR trends, including workforce transformation, skills evolution, employee experience, recruitment innovation, automation and AI-enabled ways of working.
• Advanced influencing, facilitation and stakeholder engagement expertise, with the credibility to challenge constructively, build consensus and drive action through senior, cross-functional teams.
• A collaborative, client-focused mindset, with strong relationship-building skills and the ability to leverage networks across EY to share insight, connect priorities and accelerate delivery.