Executive Search Lead

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the worlds leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing.

As a pioneer global remote-first tech company with a product that inspires people globally, we attract a huge number of applicants to our organisation. We have created a hiring process that is totally unique empowering our business based Hiring Leadership team to lead talent selection. Our Talent Science team ensures that our processes are effective and that the business is able to hire high performing talent. This is an exceptional opportunity to join a team that is changing the way an organisation hires connecting performance outcomes to hiring.

Our Talent Science team has a mission to ensure that we follow objective, scientifically rigorous and efficient processes to select the very best new colleagues regardless of location, culture or background. We work closely with our key stakeholders to ensure that decisions are being made in the right way and that our hiring model supports the section of world class talent.

Our team works closely with the business to oversee the hiring process and encourage best practice whilst offering an expert viewpoint on talent assessments. We are not recruiters; its about the science of talent and performance, raising awareness and offering deep analytical insights across the business to enable them to select the best talent available from our global talent pool.

We have a brand new opportunity for a seasoned search leader to set up a new team function. Your role will be to teach our senior executives how to source talent for the open senior leadership positions in their departments. Your key skills will be:

• Experience of identifying and approaching senior leadership talent from either a professional search firm or from an in-house search function, working within the Technology industry.
• Experience of training others on the art of headhunting.
• Excellent knowledge of tools used to identify future talent including market mapping.
• Ability to interview candidates using behavioural, competency based, interviewing techniques.
• An exceptional academic background including a Bachelors or Masters degree in a Psychology or people based subject, with a good level of Maths at High school.
  
  

Location: EMEA - Home based

The role entails

• Developing a search strategy for our business, ensuring processes enable headhunted talent to move smoothly through the pipeline.
• Coaching our senior leadership teams to drive hiring outcomes, enabling them to become expert at approaching and attracting exceptional talent for their management and leadership positions.
• Driving talent analytics to provide our business with real-time insight, partnering with the business to help them move through their hiring processes efficiently.
• Conducting in-depth behavioural talent interviews providing considerable insights into motivations and behaviours.
• Building key relationships with global stakeholders to ensure they deliver against their headcount plans, closely monitoring their hiring performance and outcomes.
• Seeking continuous improvement on hiring processes and outcomes.
• Bringing a passion for diversity and inclusion, ensuring we remove unconscious bias from our hiring process and ensuring our sourcing strategy underpins this.
  
  

What we are looking for in you

• Professional experience of headhunting senior talent in the Tech industry, either from a reputable executive search firm or in-house.
• An informed opinion of search and approach strategies that deliver results.
• Experience of training others to search for leadership level talent, with the ability to influence and lead senior stakeholders.
• Experience of conducting and training on behavioural, competency based interviewing.
• An exceptional academic background including a Bachelors or Masters degree in a Psychology or people based subject and a good level of Maths from High School.
• Strong appreciation of the talent tooling marketplace, including knowledge of changing AI lead platforms.
• A high level of personal organisation to work remotely and be effective.
• Willingness to travel to company events 2-4 times a year, for up to two weeks each.
  
  

Other Skills You May Bring

• SQL proficiency to interrogate data using superset.
• Knowledge of Greenhouse ATS, Thomas International and DISC profiling.
• Results that have focused on connecting candidate assessments to performance outcomes.
  
  

What we offer colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognise outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus. We provide all team members with additional benefits, which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass, and travel upgrades for long haul company events
  
  

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open source projects and the platform for AI, IoT and the cloud, we are changing the world on a daily basis. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence - in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Canonical has been a remote-first company since its inception in 2004. Working here is a step into the future, and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.

---