Talent Acquisition/Recruitment Lead AI-Led, Technology-First Hiring Position: Talent Acquisition Lead Job Grade: 5 Department: HR & Recruitment
Ref Code: REF-HR-TAL-092026
Location: Remote Working Hours: 40 hours per weekReports To: Global HR Manager
Job Summary Mercans is not looking for a traditional recruitment manager who scales by adding headcount. We are looking for a Talent Acquisition Lead who takes candidate quality to the next level and fills roles fast by running a lean, technology-first hiring engine — AI sourcing and screening, automation, social and community channels, and other innovative methods — rather than building and managing a large recruitment team.The role owns end-to-end delivery of the recruitment portfolio — role scoping, sourcing, screening, and closure — with a single named owner and a clear recovery plan on every open requisition. It pairs hands-on delivery discipline with strategic direction: raising the caliber of hires, compressing time-to-fill, and keeping every requisition on track to target while escalating risk before the business has to raise it.
Duties and Responsibilities Candidate Quality — Take Hires to the Next LevelSpecific: Audit all open requisitions and assign an owner and recovery plan to every stalled role.
Measurable: % of backlog cleared or re-baselined; average requisition age, tracked weekly.
Achievable: Triage by age and criticality in week one, prioritizing the oldest and highest-impact roles.
Relevant: Clearing the backlog is the precondition for every other goal landing credibly.
Time-bound: Ownership assigned within 2 weeks; backlog resolved or re-baselined by day 60.
2. Average time-to-fill under 30 days across priority requisitions within one quarter, sustained thereafter.
Specific: Bring time-to-fill below 30 days through AI-assisted sourcing, screening, and scheduling and multi-channel pipelines.
Measurable: Time-to-fill by role and tier, tracked against the 30-day target.
Achievable: Apply automation first to the highest-volume tier, then extend to specialist roles.
Relevant: Sub-30-day fill is a best-in-class benchmark and reduces business disruption from open roles.
Time-bound: Priority tier at target within one quarter; full portfolio within two.
3. Raise quality-of-hire: hiring-manager satisfaction ≥ 90% and shortlist-to-interview conversion improved by 25% within two quarters.
Specific: Lift the caliber of shortlists through structured, AI-assisted screening and calibrated scorecards.
Measurable: Hiring-manager satisfaction, shortlist-to-interview and interview-to-offer conversion, and early retention.
Achievable: Standardize screening criteria with hiring managers at the scoping stage.
Relevant: Quality of hire is the core mandate — speed without quality creates rework.
Time-bound: Targets achieved within two quarters, sustained monthly thereafter.
4. Offer-acceptance rate of at least 90% within two quarters.
Specific: Improve acceptance through stronger role scoping and market-aligned offers.
Measurable: Offer-acceptance rate tracked monthly.
Achievable: Partner with compensation benchmarking at the scoping stage.
Relevant: A low acceptance rate wastes pipeline effort already invested.
Time-bound: 90% achieved within two quarters, sustained monthly thereafter.
5. Increase recruiter productivity by 25% within two quarters, with the full team certified on core AI tools within 90 days.
Specific: Lift requisitions per recruiter by embedding AI tools and a shared playbook.
Measurable: Requisitions per recruiter vs. baseline; % of team certified.
Achievable: Sequence training and certification alongside live requisitions.
Relevant: Sustained gains depend on capability sitting in the team, not the Lead alone.
Time-bound: Certification within 90 days; productivity gain within two quarters.
6. Reduce cost-per-hire by 20–30% within 12 months through sourcing and screening automation.
Specific: Lower cost-per-hire by automating repetitive steps and reducing paid-channel and agency reliance.
Measurable: Cost-per-hire tracked quarterly against baseline.
Achievable: Sequence automation by requisition volume, starting with the highest-cost channels.
Relevant: Sustainable cost reduction depends on automation and lean operating model, not just faster hiring.
Time-bound: Measured quarterly over 12 months.