Director, Talent Acquisition - India

EdCast; India; On-site; INR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Cornerstone is seeking a Director of Talent Acquisition for India to lead the recruiting organization regionally and shape the India talent strategy. This role goes beyond operations to transform TA into a strategic, tech-enabled function that informs business decisions and scales with demand.

You will guide a team of recruiters supporting technical and non-technical hiring, partnering with senior leaders across India and globally.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of TA leadership in India, ideally in tech or multinational org.
• Experience leading recruiters for technical and non-technical hiring.
• Strategic TA leader who links recruitment to business decisions.
• Strong knowledge of India tech and professional markets.

Responsibilities

• Lead TA across India, executing a recruiting strategy for a large, strategic market.
• Develop and inspire a high-performing team across functions and levels.
• Evolve TA into a strategic advisory function with market intelligence and data.
• Partner with executives and HR leaders to translate workforce priorities into talent strategies.
• Build relationships with India leadership and act as a trusted advisor.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Talent analytics

Executive search

Stakeholder management

AI & recruiting tech

Change management

Collaboration

Job description

India is Cornerstone’s largest and fastest-growing talent market and has become a critical talent hub for our global business. With offices in Pune, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, and teams representing every area of the company, India plays an increasingly important role in how we build the capabilities needed to grow and evolve our business.

We are looking for a Director, Talent Acquisition – India to lead our recruiting organization across the region and help shape the next chapter of our India talent strategy.

This is much more than a recruiting operations role. We are looking for a leader who can transform Talent Acquisition into a highly strategic, technology-enabled function that helps the business make better talent decisions, access new talent pools, scale quickly when demand increases, and consistently attract exceptional talent.

You will lead a talented team of recruiters supporting both technical and non-technical hiring while serving as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across India and globally. The right person will combine strategic thinking with a strong bias for action — someone who is comfortable challenging conventional thinking while also rolling up their sleeves to find practical ways to make things happen.

In this role you will....

• Lead Talent Acquisition across India, developing and executing a recruiting strategy that supports one of Cornerstone's largest and most strategically important talent markets.
• Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing team of recruiters supporting a diverse portfolio of technical and non-technical hiring across multiple functions and levels.
• Evolve the India TA organization from a primarily transactional recruiting function into a strategic talent advisory team that brings market intelligence, data, insights, and creative solutions to business leaders.
• Partner closely with executives, business leaders, People Business Partners, and other HR leaders to understand workforce priorities and translate them into effective talent strategies.
• Build strong relationships with India leadership and become a trusted advisor who can challenge assumptions, push back constructively, and offer alternative solutions while maintaining a collaborative, solutions-oriented approach.
• Develop flexible recruiting models that allow Cornerstone to scale hiring capacity up or down quickly during periods of increased demand without sacrificing candidate quality or experience.
• Use technology, automation, AI, data, and analytics to improve recruiting processes and create better experiences for candidates, hiring managers, and recruiters.
• Identify opportunities to simplify recruiting processes, eliminate unnecessary administrative work, and allow recruiters to spend more time advising the business and engaging talent.
• Build recruiting strategies that improve time to hire and quality of hire while maintaining a high bar for candidate and hiring-manager experience.
• Bring deep knowledge of the India talent market and use external market intelligence to help leaders understand talent availability, competitive dynamics, compensation trends, location strategies, and alternative talent pools.
• Lead and personally support executive and senior-level searches in India when needed, including talent mapping, market outreach, candidate assessment, and executive stakeholder management.
• Establish meaningful recruiting metrics and operating rhythms that provide visibility into performance, identify challenges early, and drive continuous improvement.
• Partner across HR to improve broader people processes and ensure recruiting connects effectively with workforce planning, onboarding, internal mobility, talent management, and the overall employee experience.
• Experiment with new recruiting approaches, technologies, partnerships, and talent sources that can help Cornerstone compete more effectively for talent across India.
• Build a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the India Talent Acquisition team.

You've got what it takes if you have...

• 8+ years of Talent Acquisition leadership experience within India, ideally supporting a large, global technology or multinational organization.
• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing recruiting teams across both technical and non-technical functions.
• A strategic talent leader who understands that great recruiting goes beyond filling requisitions and can demonstrate how TA can influence workforce and business decisions.
• Strong knowledge of the India technology and professional talent markets, including experience recruiting across major talent hubs.
• Demonstrated ability to build recruiting models and strategies that can scale rapidly during periods of high hiring demand.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior leaders, navigate competing priorities, and constructively challenge stakeholders when appropriate.
• A highly collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset — someone who doesn't stop at identifying why something cannot be done but works with partners to determine how we can make it work.
• Strong technical aptitude and genuine curiosity about how AI, automation, recruiting technology, and data can improve the way talent organizations operate.
• Experience using recruiting analytics and market intelligence to identify opportunities, influence decisions, and improve recruiting outcomes.
• Experience leading or personally executing executive-level searches in the India market.
• Strong understanding of recruiting operations, processes, systems, and candidate experience.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through change and transform recruiting teams, processes, or operating models.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder-management, and relationship-building skills with the ability to work effectively across India and global teams.