Head of Talent Acquisition

First Focus; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remuneration & incentives

Hybrid work

Flexible leave

Study days + exam fees

Mentoring program

Travel program

MAD Council

Team culture

Job summary

First Focus is seeking a Head of Talent Acquisition to own recruitment across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. You’ll shape the TA strategy, lead a geographically distributed team and stay hands-on for senior and hard-to-fill roles, partnering with executives to deliver growth.

You’ll drive processes, tech, sourcing, employer brand and data-driven recruiting, building pipelines and improving metrics across markets while maintaining a strong culture and values.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading an internal Talent Acquisition function, ideally within technology.
• Experience developing and executing a company-wide TA strategy.
• Strong leadership skills with geographically dispersed teams.
• Track record of finding and recruiting complex, specialist talent.
• Excellent stakeholder management and partnering with senior executives.
• Strong direct sourcing capability.
• Commercial, data-driven approach to recruitment.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end Talent Acquisition function and be accountable for attracting, engaging and hiring.
• Develop and implement our Talent Acquisition strategy and oversee processes and tech.
• Lead, coach and develop the TA team across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
• Partner with executives and hiring managers to define needs and align on priorities.
• Stay hands-on with senior technical, specialist and hard-to-fill roles.
• Build sustainable talent pipelines and improve sourcing channels and data.
• Trial and adopt AI and automation where it improves speed and quality.
• Create consistency across markets and improve Employer Value Proposition.
• Establish TA metrics and use them to drive quality, speed and effectiveness.
• Collaborate with the Talent Director and US-based parent company.

Skills

Senior TA leadership

TA strategy development

Geographically distributed teams

Executive stakeholder management

Talent sourcing

Data-driven recruitment

Technical recruitment experience

Job description

Australia’s Leading Managed Service Provider | Strategic Leadership + Hands-On Recruitment | AU, NZ & Philippines

We’re looking for an exceptional Head of Talent Acquisition to take ownership of recruitment across First Focus.

And when we say ownership, we mean it.

You’ll have the freedom to shape our TA strategy, improve how we recruit, lead and develop a geographically distributed team, and help us build the talent capability we need for our next stage of growth.

But this isn’t a role where you create a strategy deck, admire it occasionally and leave everyone else to do the recruiting.

You’ll still recruit.

Particularly when the role is senior, technical, specialist, commercially important or just annoyingly difficult to fill.

If you like the idea of building and leading a high-performing TA function without giving up the part where you actually find great people, keep reading.

The Role

Reporting directly to our Chief People Officer, you’ll own the end-to-end Talent Acquisition function and be accountable for making sure we attract, engage and hire the people we need to support our growth.

That means you’ll:

• Develop and implement our Talent Acquisition strategy.
• Own our recruitment processes, technology, reporting, candidate experience, employer brand and overall recruitment performance.
• Lead, coach and develop our technology-focused TA team across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
• Partner with executives and hiring managers to understand what they really need — which, occasionally, may require helping them work that out.
• Stay hands-on with senior technical, specialist, sales and difficult-to-fill roles.
• Build sustainable talent pipelines so every vacancy doesn’t start with a mild panic and a LinkedIn search.
• Review and improve our sourcing channels, recruitment technology, processes and data.
• Trial, adopt and actually use AI and automation where it makes us better and faster.
• Create consistency across multiple countries without pretending every market is exactly the same.
• Improve our Employer Value Proposition and how we tell the First Focus story to candidates.
• Establish useful TA metrics — not metrics for the sake of having a colourful dashboard — and use them to improve quality, speed and effectiveness.
• Challenge hiring processes when they become unclear, unrealistic or unnecessarily complicated.
• Collaborate with the Talent Director and hiring managers in our US-based parent company.

What matters to us

We’re a values-based organisation. Experience matters, obviously, but attitude, judgement and values alignment matter even more.

Ownership matters. We have ambitious growth plans and need someone who takes responsibility for outcomes rather than simply running a process.

People matter. We care deeply about our teams, and we want a supportive and empathetic leader who will go into bat for theirs — and, when necessary, run through the occasional metaphorical wall.

Curiosity matters. We don’t want someone to inherit the way we do things and preserve it in amber. We want someone constantly asking, “Could we do this better?”

Usually, the answer is yes.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an experienced Talent Acquisition leader who can move comfortably between strategy, leadership and execution.

You know what a high-performing TA function looks like, but you’re not interested in simply copying what worked somewhere else. You’ll have the energy, commercial mindset and confidence to challenge existing approaches and build something better for First Focus.

What you’ll bring

• Significant experience leading an internal Talent Acquisition or recruitment function, ideally within technology.
• Experience developing and executing a company-wide TA strategy.
• Strong leadership skills, including managing geographically dispersed teams.
• A track record of finding and recruiting complex, specialist and genuinely hard-to-find talent.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and the confidence to partner with senior executives.
• Strong direct sourcing capability.
• A commercial, data-driven approach to recruitment.

Highly regarded

• Experience in technology, IT services, MSP, professional services or another fast-paced environment.
• Strong technical knowledge and AI capability.
• Experience working across different countries and cultures.
• A track record of building strong relationships with hiring managers and executives.

Why First Focus?

We’re a highly awarded IT services business supporting clients across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

We’re big enough to offer structure, opportunity and serious career challenges, but still human enough that your work matters and people know your name.

And we have fairly modest ambitions.

We’re aiming to become the #1 MSP in the world.

So, basically, world domination.

We just need to recruit a few people along the way.

What you’ll get

• Attractive remuneration and long-term incentives for the right combination of values, skills and experience.
• Hybrid and flexible working.
• Flexible leave options.
• Never Stop Growing: 10 paid study days per year plus exam fees paid (conditions apply).
• FastTrack mentoring program.
• Inter-office travel program.
• MAD (Making a Difference) Council supporting equality, charity and environmental initiatives.
• Regular social events and a genuinely great team culture.

Our values

This role needs someone who genuinely lives our values, particularly Live Curiously and Always Communicate.

The best leaders take initiative, keep looking for a better way and make sure people know what’s going on.

If that sounds like you — and the idea of building a world-class TA function while still getting your hands dirty sounds more exciting than terrifying — we’d love to hear from you.