Global Head of R&D Talent Acquisition

Axon; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 164,000 - 262,000; Full time

Job summary

Axon is seeking a Senior Director of Talent Acquisition to lead and scale Axon’s global R&D recruiting organization. You will partner with R&D executives to translate business strategy into workforce plans, drive proactive hiring, and build a high-performing global recruiting function across software, hardware, AI, data, and security.

You will own talent strategy, workforce planning, and capacity modeling, while advancing an AI-forward, data-driven approach to recruiting.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive Talent Acquisition experience with deep expertise in technical recruiting.
• Significant experience leading recruiting organizations in high growth technology environments.
• Proven experience leading managers and leaders, not only individual contributors.
• Demonstrated success building and scaling Engineering, Product, AI, Data, Hardware, Security, or similarly complex technical organizations.
• Experience partnering directly with VP, SVP, CTO, CPO, or equivalent technical executives on talent strategy and workforce decisions.
• A track record of turning aggressive workforce plans into predictable hiring outcomes.
• Deep understanding of technical recruiting mechanics including talent mapping, sourcing strategy, funnel conversion, assessment, capacity planning, closing, recruiter productivity, and offer strategy.
• Strong business and financial acumen with the ability to understand headcount plans, capacity constraints, investment decisions, and organizational tradeoffs.
• Exceptional data fluency. You do not simply report metrics. You use data to diagnose problems, determine root causes, forecast outcomes, and change decisions.
• Deep knowledge of global technical talent markets and the ability to advise leaders on talent availability, competitive dynamics, location strategy, and emerging capabilities.
• Demonstrated experience building proactive talent pipelines for highly competitive and difficult to hire technical talent.
• Experience leading recruiting across multiple countries, cultures, and time zones.
• Experience designing or significantly evolving recruiting operating models, systems, processes, or organizations at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to use AI, automation, talent intelligence, and recruiting technology to materially improve how recruiting operates.
• Strong executive presence and the judgment to challenge senior leaders constructively while maintaining trusted relationships.
• High agency and comfort operating in ambiguity. You create clarity, make decisions, and move the organization forward without waiting for perfect information.
• A reputation for candor, accountability, curiosity, humility, and getting difficult things done.
• The ability to move fluidly between strategy and execution. You can operate at 30,000 feet and know when the business requires you to get into the details.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Responsibilities

• Own global Talent Acquisition strategy, execution, and outcomes for Axon R&D
• Translate R&D strategy and workforce plans into clear talent strategies, hiring priorities, capacity models, market plans, and execution roadmaps
• Anticipate future talent needs instead of waiting for requisitions to arrive, building proactive strategies around critical and emerging technical capabilities
• Develop a deep understanding of Axon’s technical roadmap and use it to influence where, when, and how we build talent
• Create clear prioritization and tradeoff frameworks when hiring demand exceeds capacity
• Operate as a trusted talent advisor to senior R&D executives, bringing data, external market intelligence, judgment, and a clear point of view
• Challenge assumptions and help leaders distinguish between a recruiting problem, talent market problem, assessment problem, compensation problem, or organizational problem
• Establish an executive operating rhythm that provides clear visibility into hiring delivery, pipeline health, forecast accuracy, capacity, market conditions, risks, and decisions required
• Hold leaders accountable for role clarity, assessment quality, interviewer discipline, candidate experience, and timely decision making
• Translate complex recruiting data into concise executive insights, recommendations, and action
• Lead and develop recruiting managers and senior recruiting talent across a global organization
• Build leaders who can independently run their businesses, diagnose problems, influence executives, and coach high performing teams
• Set a high bar for recruiter performance, business partnership, technical depth, problem solving, sourcing capability, and execution
• Establish clear expectations, inspect outcomes, recognize exceptional performance, and address performance gaps quickly
• Create an organization with the right structure, capabilities, and capacity to support Axon’s growth without simply adding headcount to solve every problem
• Own R&D recruiting performance across hiring delivery, funnel health, recruiter productivity, candidate conversion, aging, offer outcomes, and quality
• Use funnel analytics and capacity modeling to identify constraints early and improve hiring predictability
• Build durable sourcing strategies and proactive talent pipelines for difficult technical populations
• Develop talent intelligence capabilities that give R&D leaders visibility into talent availability, competitive markets, compensation, locations, and emerging skill sets
• Partner with R&D leadership to continuously raise the technical hiring bar through structured, job relevant assessments and strong interviewer calibration
• Ensure hiring processes move with urgency without sacrificing assessment rigor or candidate experience
• Build an AI forward recruiting organization that continuously evaluates how technology can improve sourcing, assessment, productivity, decision quality, and candidate experience
• Drive strong adoption of recruiting systems, automation, analytics, and talent intelligence rather than allowing technology to become shelfware
• Maintain rigorous ATS discipline, data quality, and operating standards so leaders can trust the information used to make decisions
• Apply a product mindset to recruiting by identifying problems, testing solutions, measuring outcomes, and continuously improving how the system operates
• Simplify processes and remove unnecessary friction wherever it slows teams or candidates down
• Serve as a senior leader across Global Talent Acquisition, helping shape recruiting strategy, standards, technology, operating mechanisms, and talent practices across Axon
• Partner across Talent Acquisition, HR, Finance, Compensation, People Operations, and business leadership to solve enterprise talent problems
• Scale what works beyond R&D and actively contribute to building one strong global recruiting organization

Skills

Technical recruiting

Lead managers

Executive partnering

Data-driven

Global recruiting

Workforce planning

Talent pipelines

AI in recruiting

Cross-cultural leadership

Funnel analytics

Sourcing strategy

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Job description

Axon is seeking a Senior Director of Talent Acquisition to lead and scale Axon’s global R&D recruiting organization. You will partner with R&D executives to translate business strategy into workforce plans, drive proactive hiring, and build a high-performing global recruiting function across software, hardware, AI, data, and security.

You will own talent strategy, workforce planning, and capacity modeling, while advancing an AI-forward, data-driven approach to recruiting.