Group Talent Management Lead

XD Connects; Rijswijk; Hybrid; EUR 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Build from ground up

Direct exposure to executive team

Cross-country collaboration

European-scale impact

Job summary

Solo is building Europe’s leading one-stop shop for custom branded merchandise. Solo, midocean and XD Connects are coming together as one European company, with offices across Europe, design and sourcing in Asia, and production and printing facilities.

You will own the talent acquisition engine, shape performance management, build leadership academies, and map the capabilities our business will need tomorrow. You will leverage AI to support talent reviews, mapping, sourcing and screening.

Qualifications

• Built talent management frameworks for performance, succession and leadership development.
• Owned recruitment at scale, ideally in a growing or post-merger environment.
• Worked with executive leadership and brought stakeholders along.
• Used AI tools to support talent reviews, succession mapping and candidate sourcing.

Responsibilities

• Own recruitment at scale across multi-entity organization and drive end-to-end hiring.
• Develop and implement a future-ready talent framework including leadership development and succession planning.
• Lead and grow the talent function, initially hands-on, then by building a team.
• Collaborate with executive leaders across France and the Netherlands to align priorities.

Skills

Talent management frameworks

Recruitment at scale

Leadership development

Executive collaboration

AI in talent

Cross-cultural teams

Team building

Tools

AI tools

Job description

Solo is building Europe’s leading one-stop shop for custom branded merchandise. By bringing together Solo, midocean and XD Connects, three strong, well-established companies, we are creating one European powerhouse. And powerhouses are built by people.

That is where you come in. A high-performing, engaged team is one of the key enablers of our strategy, and you will lay its foundation. You will grow performance, secure succession, build functional academies and develop the leaders who will take us forward. You will also own the talent acquisition engine that brings in the people our growth demands.

We DARE to rethink how talent is found and grown. We CARE about people reaching their full potential. And we GO FAST, because our ambition doesn’t wait.

Why this role exists

You make sure Solo always has the talent, leaders and capabilities to outperform the market and deliver on our growth ambition. You shape a high-performance culture where expectations are clear, performance is differentiated, leaders grow, and top talent is spotted, kept and moved forward.

Talent management: building a future-ready organization

This is not about running talent processes. It is about building an organization that never stands still. Markets, customers, technology and AI keep changing the game, and you make sure we keep up by constantly challenging whether we have the right structure, skills, leaders and people in place.

You own performance management, talent reviews, succession planning and leadership development, and bring them together into one integrated talent strategy. You build functional academies that grow the expertise our business runs on. You use data and business insight to help leaders see their talent today and the capabilities they will need tomorrow, including how automation and AI will reshape roles and teams.

You lead the engine that brings exceptional people into Solo. You build a strong employer brand and open the door to new talent through campus recruitment, internships and trainee programs. You also challenge every hiring need: should we hire, develop, automate or redesign? Every hiring decision serves the bigger picture.

What success looks like

Not the number of programs, but real results: stronger leadership pipelines, successful succession, better retention of critical talent, capabilities in place faster, and an organization that adapts as the business changes.

You are the architect of our talent ecosystem. You DARE to challenge the status quo, CARE about every person’s growth, and GO FAST to keep Solo ahead.

What we are looking for:

Who you are?

• You have built talent management frameworks (performance, succession, leadership development) in a multi-entity or post-merger environment
• You have owned recruitment at scale, ideally in a growing or newly merged organization
• You are happy to roll up your sleeves as an individual contributor first, and ready to build and lead a team as the function grows
• You work confidently with executive leadership and know how to bring stakeholders along
• You use AI tools as a natural part of your work, from preparing talent reviews and mapping succession to sourcing and screening candidates
• You thrive across cultures and languages, working with both our French and Dutch teams
• You are a builder, not a maintainer

What we offer:

• A rare chance to build. Three companies are becoming one, and you get to shape how talent works in the new Solo from the ground up.
• Real impact, close to the top. You work directly with the executive team, and your work shows up in how the business performs.
• Room to grow with the function. Start hands-on, then build and lead your own team as we scale.
• A truly European playground. Work across France, the Netherlands and our other countries, with colleagues who bring different cultures, languages and perspectives.
• Pace and ambition. A company on a clear growth path that DAREs, CAREs and GOes FAST.

About us

Solo is building Europe’s leading one-stop shop for custom branded merchandise. Solo, midocean and XD Connects, three well-established names in our industry, are coming together as one European company, with sales offices across Europe, design and sourcing in Asia, and our own production and printing facilities.

We help businesses connect with their employees and customers through products people actually want to keep, while working hard to reduce our impact on the environment. We DARE to challenge the way things have always been done. We CARE about our people, our customers and our planet. And we GO FAST, working together across borders to turn ambition into results.

Joining Solo now means joining a company in the middle of building something big. You will be challenged, you will be inspired, and you will be proud of what we create together. 2500+ colleagues across Europe are looking forward to welcoming you.