Early & Emerging Talent Program Recruiter

Vertex Pharmaceuticals LLC; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is actively building leadership pipelines through its Early & Emerging Talent programs, focusing on the MBA Associate Program. The MBA Associate Program Recruiter will own end-to-end recruitment, engage with universities, and partner with HR and business leaders to ensure strong internship-to-full-time conversion.

This is a hybrid Boston-based role reporting to the Early & Emerging Talent team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 6+ years of experience in talent acquisition, campus recruiting, MBA or graduate recruiting, program management, or related function.
• Proven experience managing high-visibility talent programs and building partnerships with business leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience recruiting and assessing graduate-level or early-career talent.
• Excellent communication, presentation, relationship-building, and executive stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and seasonal deadlines.
• Experience using data and metrics to inform recruiting strategies and program decisions.
• Proficiency with applicant tracking systems, recruiting technologies, and Microsoft Office applications.
• Knowledge of applicable employment laws and recruiting practices.
• Ability to travel to target schools, conferences, and recruiting events as needed.
• Ability to commute to the Boston area as business and program needs require, including on-site support during peak recruitment and program periods.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end recruitment strategy and execution for the Vertex MBA Associate Program.
• Partner with executive sponsors, HR Business Partners, and hiring managers to understand workforce needs and develop targeted talent acquisition strategies.
• Drive annual headcount planning, project intake, role alignment, and conversion forecasting to support strong internship-to-full-time outcomes.
• Manage candidate attraction, screening, assessment, interview coordination, offer delivery, and acceptance strategy.
• Monitor and communicate recruiting progress, talent-market insights, pipeline health, and conversion forecasts to program stakeholders.
• Build broad, high-quality talent pipelines through university partnerships, conferences, referrals, networking events, and targeted engagement.
• Develop and maintain relationships with MBA programs and other universities that support recruitment for flagship programs, including career centers, faculty, student organizations, and external partners.
• Represent Vertex at campus events, conferences, treks, career fairs, and networking engagements.
• Identify emerging talent trends and recommend new sourcing channels, partnerships, and year-round engagement opportunities.
• Lead manager kickoff meetings and readiness activities, including buddy assignments, onboarding, orientation, first-day support, welcome materials, program communications, and offboarding support.
• Plan and execute manager and participant check-ins, capstone office hours, and presentations, including participation in early and emerging talent summer event planning.
• Serve as a point of contact for participants, managers, HR stakeholders, and executive sponsors throughout the program experience.
• Coordinate offboarding and communicate timelines early to prepare participants and business teams.
• Drive continuous improvement using participant, manager, and stakeholder feedback.
• Support recruitment and delivery for priority flagship programs, including PharmD Fellowships, Regulatory Affairs PhD Fellowships, and other strategic graduate-talent initiatives.
• Partner with academic institutions and internal steering committees to coordinate job postings, candidate review, screening, panel interviews, selection, offers, onboarding, and orientation.
• Guide eligible participants through internal networking and full-time recruitment processes.
• Build scalable and consistent processes across the Early & Emerging Talent portfolio while tailoring delivery to each program’s needs.
• Maintain program trackers and dashboards covering pipeline health, offer status, university contacts, recruitment events, participant milestones, and conversion outcomes.
• Analyze recruiting effectiveness, acceptance and conversion outcomes, participant feedback, and program performance.
• Produce executive-ready updates and recommendations for Early & Emerging Talent leaders, business stakeholders, steering committees, and executive sponsors.
• Use data and stakeholder feedback to improve recruitment strategies, program experiences, and operational effectiveness.

Skills

Campus recruiting

Talent acquisition

Stakeholder management

Candidate screening

Interview coordination

Conversion forecasting

Project management

Recruiting analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business administration or related field

Tools

Applicant tracking systems

Recruiting technologies

Microsoft Office

Job description

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is building future leadership pipelines through its Early & Emerging Talent portfolio, with a focus on the MBA Associate Program and priority flagship talent programs. As an Early & Emerging Talent Program Recruiter, you will own full-cycle recruitment and program support in a W2 hybrid role based in Boston, partnering across HR, hiring teams, and university stakeholders to strengthen talent flow, candidate experience, and internship-to-full-time conversion.

Role overview

This contract position supports end-to-end recruitment strategy and execution, university engagement, participant experience, conversion planning, executive communications, and program measurement. Reporting to the Early & Emerging Talent team, you will act as a trusted talent advisor to business leaders, HR Business Partners, executive sponsors, managers, and academic partners while helping shape Vertex’s long-term talent needs. The role requires hybrid work in the Boston area.

Key responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end recruitment strategy and execution for the Vertex MBA Associate Program.
• Partner with executive sponsors, HR Business Partners, and hiring managers to understand workforce needs and develop targeted talent acquisition strategies.
• Drive annual headcount planning, project intake, role alignment, and conversion forecasting to support strong internship-to-full-time outcomes.
• Manage candidate attraction, screening, assessment, interview coordination, offer delivery, and acceptance strategy.
• Monitor and communicate recruiting progress, talent-market insights, pipeline health, and conversion forecasts to program stakeholders.
• Build broad, high-quality talent pipelines through university partnerships, conferences, referrals, networking events, and targeted engagement.
• Develop and maintain relationships with MBA programs and other universities that support recruitment for flagship programs, including career centers, faculty, student organizations, and external partners.
• Represent Vertex at campus events, conferences, treks, career fairs, and networking engagements.
• Identify emerging talent trends and recommend new sourcing channels, partnerships, and year-round engagement opportunities.
• Lead manager kickoff meetings and readiness activities, including buddy assignments, onboarding, orientation, first-day support, welcome materials, program communications, and offboarding support.
• Plan and execute manager and participant check-ins, capstone office hours, and presentations, including participation in early and emerging talent summer event planning.
• Serve as a point of contact for participants, managers, HR stakeholders, and executive sponsors throughout the program experience.
• Coordinate offboarding and communicate timelines early to prepare participants and business teams.
• Drive continuous improvement using participant, manager, and stakeholder feedback.
• Support recruitment and delivery for priority flagship programs, including PharmD Fellowships, Regulatory Affairs PhD Fellowships, and other strategic graduate-talent initiatives.
• Partner with academic institutions and internal steering committees to coordinate job postings, candidate review, screening, panel interviews, selection, offers, onboarding, and orientation.
• Guide eligible participants through internal networking and full-time recruitment processes.
• Build scalable and consistent processes across the Early & Emerging Talent portfolio while tailoring delivery to each program’s needs.
• Maintain program trackers and dashboards covering pipeline health, offer status, university contacts, recruitment events, participant milestones, and conversion outcomes.
• Analyze recruiting effectiveness, acceptance and conversion outcomes, participant feedback, and program performance.
• Produce executive-ready updates and recommendations for Early & Emerging Talent leaders, business stakeholders, steering committees, and executive sponsors.
• Use data and stakeholder feedback to improve recruitment strategies, program experiences, and operational effectiveness.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 6+ years of experience in talent acquisition, campus recruiting, MBA or graduate recruiting, program management, or a related function.
• Proven experience managing high-visibility talent programs and building partnerships with business leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience recruiting and assessing graduate-level or early-career talent.
• Excellent communication, presentation, relationship-building, and executive stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and seasonal deadlines.
• Experience using data and metrics to inform recruiting strategies and program decisions.
• Proficiency with applicant tracking systems, recruiting technologies, and Microsoft Office applications.
• Knowledge of applicable employment laws and recruiting practices.
• Ability to travel to target schools, conferences, and recruiting events as needed.
• Ability to commute to the Boston area as business and program needs require, including on-site support during peak recruitment and program periods.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience supporting MBA, fellowship, leadership development, rotational, or other flagship talent programs.
• Experience partnering with executive sponsors, steering committees, and senior business leaders.
• Knowledge of workforce planning, talent-pipeline development, and conversion-focused recruiting strategies.
• Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or life sciences industry experience.
• Experience developing university partnerships, campus engagement, and employer-brand strategies.

What success looks like

• Build sustainable pipelines of future talent and leaders for Vertex.
• Deliver a high-quality, consistent experience for MBA Associates, Fellows, managers, and program stakeholders.
• Strengthen relationships with priority academic institutions and strategic external partners.
• Improve candidate acceptance, participant engagement, and full-time conversion outcomes.
• Create clear operating rhythms, scalable processes, and actionable reporting across priority programs.
• Serve as a strategic connector across the business, HR, Talent Acquisition, academia, and program participants.
• Position Early & Emerging Talent as a meaningful driver of Vertex’s long-term talent and workforce strategy.

Technologies

Applicant tracking systems, recruiting technologies, and Microsoft Office.

Pay range

TBD

Additional notes

• This is an evergreen posting, meaning there is no current open role, but applicants are being gathered for future openings.
• This job posting is for a temporary role with a third-party agency partner on assignment at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Vertex). The selected individual will be employed by the third-party agency partner, and compensation and benefits will be provided by that partner upon offer.
• No C2C or Third-Party Vendors.