The Talent Lead role

This is a hand-on recruiting role, leading recruitment efforts in the US across New York and San Francisco. We are a US team of about 60 people, and growing at pace. You’ll be responsible for ensuring we hire brilliant talent in real time and getting ahead of future needs. You’ll report to the Global Head of Talent who sits in London and manage the US Talent Acquisition Manager who sits in New York.

You’re motivated when recruiting at a seriously high bar and building a recruiting engine to drive quality and growth. You can sit with leaders in the business and talk requirements, deeply understanding the skills and expertise we need across the business. This is a role for someone who wants to be an expert recruiter in a high-performing, fast-scaling, intellectually demanding professional services environment. You will draw on your prior experience recruiting for corporate communications and/or corporate public relations roles.

You’re already using LLMs to enhance and support your work, and are ideally experimenting with how recruitment-centric AI tools and automation can be additive. You are excited at the prospect of joining an agency that has placed a huge bet on how AI is going to transform the advisory world of comms, policy and research.

Milltown Partners

Our clients operate at the frontiers of innovation - we advise technology companies driving change, global investors funding the future, the giants of sport and entertainment, and influential individuals on the communications and policy challenges that define their reputations. Our work spans corporate and financial communications, policy and public affairs to engage regulators and policymakers, policy communications and leadership communications. We underpin the full breadth of our capabilities with research-driven insights and campaigns. We're also pioneering AI-enhanced advisory work for both our clients and internal innovation, using technology to unlock insights from data at unprecedented scale and speed.

What you'll do

Recruitment delivery: Oversee end-to-end US hiring, drawing on prior experience to manage a world-class candidate experience and be hands-on in all aspects of delivery.

• Work with US COO, Global Head of Talent, and People team to ensure alignment on recruitment priorities for the US team
• Manage, and collaborate with, the US Talent Acquisition Manager in order to best divide and conquer live briefs as well as driving long-term improvements to our approach to the US talent market
• Manage and execute a world-class candidate experience from first contact to close
• Run a comprehensive kick off process to align on profile and process for each role, and prepare the interview team accordingly
• Oversee and deliver sourcing strategy from advertising to outreach to managing recruiter agency relationships
• Ensure deliberate attention is paid to diversifying our candidate pipeline
• Lead the practical execution of recruitment activity for the roles you’re owning e.g. candidate liaison, calendar management, running introductory calls
• Deliver internal US interviewer training

Pipeline development: Take the long-term view to building a sustainable pipeline of brilliant communications and policy talent in the US.

• Develop a deep understanding of Milltown's work and talent strategy
• Build and maintain an active network of candidates, market contacts, and peers across the US communications and policy advisory landscape
• Use market intelligence to inform sourcing strategy: where the best talent is, what they are looking for, and how Milltown competes
• Contribute insights on compensation, talent availability, and competitor activity internally to the Global People & Talent function

Internal collaboration: Build and maintain trusted relationships with leaders across the US business as well as the wider People & Talent team.

• Ensure consistent, high quality and advisory-led communications with US leaders about recruitment activity
• Escalate risks, delays, or misalignments to relevant leadership early and with a proposed solution
• Act as a close collaborator to the Head of Talent to continuously spot opportunities for improvement, refinement and creativity across recruitment activity
• Collaborate with the wider People & Talent team to ensure seamless integration between recruitment activity and company DEI efforts, marketing activity and employee experience

Insights and tools: Underpin all your work with an insight-led approach, drawing on both evidence and experience.

• Use data and insight to drive continuous improvement in hiring quality: tracking pipeline conversion, assessing the quality of assessment at each stage, and identifying patterns that can inform better decisions
• Use AI tools and efficient workflows to improve the quality and efficiency of the Talent teams’ delivery
• Contribute to the development of our Talent toolkit: team materials and templates
• Maintain clean and accurate records in Lever (or any future ATS platform) at all times, and coach interviewers to use the tool effectively

Contribute to collegiate development

• Manage the US Talent Acquisition Manager’s day-to-day work; acting as their first port of call for questions, feedback and collaboration
• Act as the US Talent Acquisition Manager’s Development Coach; providing developmental support, identifying stretch opportunities, and providing clear performance feedback
• Spot opportunities to contribute and collaborate with the wider People & Talent team, sharing in the responsibility to hold yourself and others to high standards as well as fostering a culture where exceptional advice, continuous learning and collaboration are the norm.

What we're looking for

We're looking for someone who combines recruitment expertise with the energy and vision to contribute to the continued growth and success of the US business.

Essential skills and experience

• Minimum 8 years' recruitment experience, in the communications/ PR/ public affairs space (e.g., in-house with a consultancy, RPO, or specialist recruitment agency)
• Strong track record of running end-to-end processes in a fast-paced high-quality environment, including managing multiple live roles
• Confident stakeholder manager: able to push back, set expectations, and build credibility quickly with senior people
• Solid understanding of the US communications, public affairs, or professional services talent market
• Proficient with LinkedIn Recruiter and an ATS (Lever experience advantageous)
• Experience using LLMs (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini) effectively, safely and critically in a work setting
• Strong communication skills: able to write compelling job adverts and clear candidate-facing materials, run prioritisation exercises with senior team members, facilitate kick-off sessions
• Intellectual curiosity to develop subject matter expertise in new topics and share that knowledge with colleagues
• Collaborative instincts and a genuine commitment to contributing to an inclusive culture

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience experimenting with AI tools that are specifically designed to support people and talent functions
• Experience working in a scaling environment

Why join us

We're an independent, employee-owned firm, which means the people who work here share in our collective success. We operate across London, Brussels, San Francisco and New York, advising technology companies, global investors, iconic brands and influential individuals on the communications and policy challenges that define their reputations.

Our culture is built on five values: brilliance, restlessness, comradeship, inclusivity and integrity. We expect a lot from each other, but we also invest in each other—through honest feedback, shared learning and genuine care that goes beyond the work itself.

We're also serious about building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. We have measurable commitments around representation, inclusion, and supporting underrepresented communities through pro bono work. Creating an environment where everyone can thrive is central to how we operate.

By joining us, you’ll have access to:

• Competitive, transparent pay with open salary bands, plus twice-yearly bonuses
• 401(k) with company match, eligible from day one
• Robust healthcare options, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus dedicated mental health support
• 26 days PTO, 10 sick days, and 10 public holidays
• Two-week company-wide winter break
• Paid parental leave
• Sabbatical leave
• $100/month commuter benefit
• Hybrid working model with three days in office (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)
• Structured career development with clear progression pathways and a defined career framework

Ready to apply?

If this sounds like the right place to progress your career, we'd love to hear from you. If the role or salary expectations do not align with your expectations, please don't hesitate to reach out to talk about it more.