TA lead

Caterpillar Signs; Gandhinagar; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Caterpillar Signs is seeking a highly experienced Talent Acquisition Lead to drive end-to-end recruitment for global manufacturing operations. You will design and execute strategies to attract, assess, and hire top talent across manufacturing plants, engineering, supply chain, and leadership roles, spanning domestic and international markets.

The ideal candidate brings extensive global manufacturing recruitment experience, workforce planning, stakeholder management, and a track record of

Qualifications

• Experience in global manufacturing talent acquisition, workforce planning, and leadership hiring.
• Strong stakeholder management and data-driven recruitment.
• Experience with ATS, LinkedIn Recruiter, and global hiring.
• MBA/PGDM in HR preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute global talent acquisition strategies for manufacturing, engineering, operations, and leadership roles.
• Lead end-to-end recruitment across domestic and international locations.
• Build proactive talent pipelines and employer branding initiatives.
• Lead recruitment operations, governance, and dashboards.
• Mentor and develop TA team; drive continuous improvement.

Skills

Talent Acquisition Strategy

Workforce Planning

Global Recruitment

Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Recruitment Analytics

ATS & LinkedIn Recruiter

People Management

Communication

Education

MBA / PGDM in HR or related

Tools

LinkedIn Recruiter

Job Portals

Job description

Role & responsibilities

We are seeking a highly experienced and strategic Talent Acquisition Lead to lead end-to-end recruitment initiatives for global manufacturing operations. The incumbent will be responsible for developing and executing talent acquisition strategies to attract, assess, and hire high-caliber talent across manufacturing plants, engineering functions, supply chain, operations, quality, projects, R&D, corporate functions, and leadership positions across domestic and international markets.

The ideal candidate should possess extensive experience in hiring for global manufacturing organizations and demonstrate expertise in workforce planning, stakeholder management, talent mapping, employer branding, recruitment analytics, and building high-performing recruitment teams. Exposure to multi-country hiring and global talent acquisition practices will be a significant advantage.

Key Responsibilities

Talent Acquisition Strategy & Workforce Planning

• Develop and execute talent acquisition strategies aligned with organizational growth plans and global manufacturing expansion.
• Partner with business leaders, plant heads, and functional leaders to forecast workforce requirements and create hiring roadmaps.
• Drive workforce planning, succession pipelines, and talent mapping for critical manufacturing and leadership roles.
• Build proactive talent pipelines for niche engineering, technical, operational, and leadership positions.

Global Manufacturing Recruitment

• Lead end-to-end recruitment for manufacturing, operations, engineering, maintenance, projects, quality, procurement, supply chain, EHS, R&D, and corporate functions.
• Manage hiring requirements across domestic and international locations.
• Develop sourcing strategies for hard-to-fill and niche manufacturing roles.
• Ensure quality hiring while meeting recruitment timelines and business expectations.
• Support greenfield, brownfield, and capacity expansion hiring projects.

Leadership Hiring & Talent Mapping

• Lead recruitment for senior management and leadership positions across manufacturing and corporate functions.
• Conduct market intelligence, competitor mapping, and talent benchmarking exercises.
• Build relationships with industry professionals, consultants, and executive search partners.
• Maintain talent pipelines for succession and future business requirements.

Stakeholder Management

• Partner closely with business leaders to understand organizational talent needs.
• Provide market insights on talent availability, compensation trends, and competitor hiring activities.
• Conduct periodic hiring reviews with leadership teams and present recruitment dashboards.
• Influence hiring decisions through data-driven recommendations and talent market intelligence.

Recruitment Operations & Process Excellence

• Establish robust recruitment processes, governance frameworks, and SOPs.
• Drive ATS adoption, recruitment automation, and process optimization initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with recruitment policies, diversity goals, and hiring standards.
• Monitor and improve key recruitment metrics including:
  • Time to Hire
  • Cost per Hire
  • Offer Acceptance Ratio
  • Source Effectiveness
  • Quality of Hire
  • Hiring Manager Satisfaction

Employer Branding & Talent Engagement

• Strengthen the organization's employer brand across manufacturing and engineering talent markets.
• Drive employer branding initiatives through social media, industry forums, professional networks, and campus engagement.
• Build strategic partnerships with engineering institutes, technical universities, and industry associations.
• Ensure an exceptional candidate experience throughout the recruitment lifecycle.

Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Talent Acquisition team.
• Establish performance metrics and accountability frameworks.
• Build sourcing and assessment capabilities through coaching and training.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and high-performance recruiting.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Strong expertise in Talent Acquisition Strategy and Workforce Planning.
• Proven experience in hiring for manufacturing, engineering, operations, supply chain, and leadership functions.
• Strong understanding of global talent markets and international recruitment practices.
• Expertise in talent mapping, executive search, and passive candidate engagement.
• Excellent stakeholder management and business partnering skills.
• Strong recruitment analytics and data-driven decision-making capabilities.
• Hands-on experience with ATS platforms, LinkedIn Recruiter, job portals, and social recruiting.
• Strong negotiation, influencing, and communication skills.
• Ability to manage large-scale hiring projects and multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred candidate profile

• MBA / PGDM in Human Resources or related discipline.
• 1218 years of progressive Talent Acquisition experience.
• Minimum 5 years of experience leading recruitment teams.
• Mandatory experience in global manufacturing, industrial, engineering, EPC, automotive, renewable energy, heavy engineering, chemicals, metals, or process industries.
• Exposure to international hiring across regions such as Middle East, Europe, APAC, Africa, or North America will be preferred.