Senior Manager/ Associate Director Talent Acquisition

Affle; Gurugram District; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Affle is seeking a Senior Manager Talent Acquisition to lead strategic hiring across Affle’s diverse businesses. This hands-on role requires owning complex senior searches, engaging business leaders, and shaping recruitment strategy across functions and geographies.

You will drive executive search, build long-term talent pipelines, and partner with stakeholders to deliver a high-quality candidate experience in a fast-paced AdTech environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of progressive Talent Acquisition experience, including leadership hiring.
• Experience leading senior, niche and business-critical hires.
• Strong background in executive search and strategic recruitment across tech or AdTech industries.
• Proven ability to manage complex searches from market mapping to candidate closure.

Responsibilities

• Independently lead the full recruitment lifecycle for senior and critical roles.
• Partner with senior leaders to define search strategies and challenge briefs as needed.
• Lead multiple complex searches across functions, businesses and geographies.
• Drive high-quality assessment and ensure strong candidate experiences.
• Mentor junior recruiters and build sourcing and stakeholder-management capability.

Skills

Executive search

Leadership hiring

Talent mapping

Boolean search

Stakeholder management

Market intelligence

End-to-end recruitment

Product/technology hiring

Job description

Job Purpose

We are looking for a Senior Manager Talent Acquisition to join our growing Talent Acquisition team and lead strategic hiring across Affles diverse businesses. This is not a coordination-heavy recruitment role. We are looking for a seasoned talent leader and recruitment partner who can independently own complex and senior-level searches, engage business leaders, build market intelligence and solve difficult hiring problems. The ideal candidate will bring strong experience in executive search, leadership hiring, product/technology hiring, AdTech or other fast-paced digital businesses, with the ability to work across multiple functions, business units and geographies. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who enjoys the challenge of solving difficult hiring problems while also helping shape recruitment strategy, processes and capability within the function.

End-to-End Talent Acquisition & Leadership Hiring

• Independently lead the full recruitment lifecycle for senior, niche and business-critical roles, from role intake and market mapping through sourcing, assessment, stakeholder management, offer closure and joining.
• Partner closely with senior business leaders and hiring managers to understand business requirements, challenge hiring briefs where required and define effective search strategies.
• Lead multiple complex searches simultaneously across functions, businesses and geographies.
• Drive high-quality candidate assessment and ensure only relevant, well-evaluated profiles are presented to stakeholders.
• Manage candidate experience throughout the hiring journey and ensure clear, timely and professional communication.
• Act as a senior escalation point for complex hiring challenges and difficult searches.

Executive Search & Strategic Talent Acquisition

• Lead targeted searches for leadership, senior, niche and specialised talent.
• Develop creative and sophisticated sourcing strategies beyond traditional job portals and inbound applications.
• Use advanced sourcing techniques, Boolean search, talent mapping, market research and competitive intelligence to identify and engage passive candidates.
• Build long-term talent pipelines for critical functions and recurring leadership requirements.
• Conduct market mapping to understand competitor talent, organisation structures, compensation trends and talent availability.
• Build strong relationships with senior talent and develop long-term candidate networks within relevant industries.

Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a trusted talent partner to senior business leaders and hiring managers.
• Bring market intelligence and external talent insights to help shape realistic hiring strategies and candidate expectations.
• Challenge hiring briefs and search assumptions where required, while remaining focused on solving the underlying business problem.
• Provide regular updates on search progress, market challenges, candidate feedback and competitive intelligence.
• Manage senior stakeholder expectations while maintaining ownership of the recruitment process and candidate experience.
• Build credibility with the business through strong judgement, commercial understanding and consistent delivery.

TA Strategy, Process & Capability Building

• Contribute to the development and execution of Talent Acquisition strategy across the organisation.
• Support the development and implementation of TA policies, SOPs, governance frameworks and recruitment best practices.
• Drive improvements across recruitment processes, systems, candidate assessment and stakeholder experience.
• Track key recruitment metrics, pipeline health and hiring progress to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities.
• Contribute to broader TA initiatives including talent intelligence, employer branding, workforce planning and process transformation.
• Mentor and support junior recruiters, helping build stronger sourcing, assessment and stakeholder management capability within the team.

What We’re Looking For

• 1016 years of progressive experience in Talent Acquisition, Executive Search or Strategic Recruitment.
• Strong experience managing senior, leadership, niche and business-critical hiring mandates.
• Experience working in an executive search firm, product/technology company, AdTech, digital media or other fast-paced technology-led environment would be strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage complex searches from market mapping through candidate closure.
• Strong sourcing capability with extensive experience identifying and engaging passive talent.
• Advanced knowledge of LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean search, talent mapping and modern sourcing techniques.
• Strong experience in market intelligence, competitor mapping and talent research.
• Excellent candidate assessment and screening ability, with strong judgement on both technical and cultural fit.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to work directly with senior business .