Sr. Director, Talent

MSC Industrial Supply Co.; Davidson (NC); On-site; USD 155,000 - 243,000; Full time

Job summary

MSC Industrial Supply Co. in Davidson, NC, seeks a Senior Director, Talent to lead MSC's enterprise talent strategy across acquisition, development, and leadership readiness.

You will partner with HR and business leaders to translate priorities into practical talent plans, drive governance, and build a high‑performing Talent organization that strengthens long‑term organizational capability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Industrial‑Organizational Psychology, or a related field required.
• Ten or more years of progressive Human Resources experience, including significant leadership responsibility across talent management, talent acquisition, succession planning, workforce planning, organizational development, or related disciplines required.
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading enterprise talent management, succession planning, talent review, or strategic workforce planning practices required.
• Demonstrated experience leading teams and influencing senior leaders in a complex, multi‑functional organization required.
• Experience establishing performance expectations and governance for external recruiting, staffing, or professional‑services partners required.

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes MSC's enterprise talent strategy, integrating talent acquisition, talent management, succession planning, strategic workforce planning, leadership development, internal mobility, career development, and talent analytics.
• Builds and governs enterprise talent management processes, including talent reviews, succession planning, critical‑role identification, leadership readiness, high‑potential talent identification, and development planning.
• Establishes Talent Management as an enterprise leadership discipline by defining clear roles, operating rhythms, decision rights, tools, measures, and accountability for leaders, HR Business Partners, and HR Centers of Excellence.
• Leads the enterprise strategic workforce planning methodology and annual planning process, helping leaders anticipate future workforce demand, identify capability and skill gaps, assess talent supply, and develop practical mitigation strategies.
• Owns MSC's enterprise Talent Acquisition strategy and operating model, ensuring hiring priorities, sourcing approaches, employer brand, candidate experience, and recruiting investments align with workforce plans and business needs.
• Provides strategic oversight of third‑party recruiting partners, establishes service‑level and quality expectations, evaluates performance, manages escalations, and ensures partners deliver consistent, compliant, and candidate‑centered outcomes.
• Partners with business and HR leaders to improve quality of hire, time to fill, pipeline strength, hiring‑manager experience, candidate experience, and recruiting efficiency while maintaining appropriate cost and governance controls.
• Creates enterprise approaches to internal mobility, career pathways, talent marketplaces, rotational experiences, mentoring, sponsorship, and development planning that expand opportunity and strengthen retention.
• Partners with Learning and Development to translate talent reviews, succession priorities, skills gaps, and leadership‑readiness needs into targeted development solutions and measurable capability‑building plans.
• Leads executive talent reviews and provides clear insights regarding leadership pipeline health, succession depth, critical talent risks, workforce capability, and required talent investments.
• Establishes talent metrics, dashboards, and reporting standards that connect acquisition, retention, mobility, succession readiness, leadership development, skills, and workforce health to business outcomes.
• Builds and leads a high‑performing Talent organization, developing team capability, clarifying accountability, enabling collaboration, and fostering disciplined execution, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Partners across Human Resources and with business leaders to ensure talent strategies are practical, scalable, consistently adopted, and responsive to the needs of MSC's associates, customers, and business.
• Fosters the MSC Culture in the department and throughout the company to ensure fulfillment of MSC's vision and unity of purpose.
• Participation in special projects and performs additional duties as required

Skills

Leadership

Strategic workforce planning

Talent management

Succession planning

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR or related field

Advanced degree preferred (SPHR/SHRM-SCP)

Job description

BUILD A BETTER CAREER WITH MSC Serving customers and our community starts with the best people doing their best work. That is precisely what we have created at MSC Industrial Supply Co. We are a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO), products and services. We offer more than 2 million products and have over 80 years of experience across dozens of industries. We aim to execute our Built to Make You Better brand promise for all our stakeholders, including our associates.

Requisition ID : 21762

Employment Type : Full Time

Job Category : Human Resources

Work Location : Davidson, NC (CSC)

Brief Position Summary

The Senior Director, Talent leads MSC's enterprise talent strategy across talent acquisition, talent management, succession planning, strategic workforce planning, leadership readiness, internal mobility, and career development. This role creates an integrated approach to attracting, developing, deploying, and retaining the talent required to deliver MSC's business strategy and strengthen long- term organizational capability. The Senior Director sets the strategy, governance, standards, and success measures for Talent Acquisition, including oversight and accountability for external recruiting partners, while establishing Talent Management as a disciplined enterprise capability. This leader partners closely with business leaders, Sr. Director of People Operations, HR Business Partners, Learning and Development, Total Rewards, Finance, and other HR functions to translate business priorities into practical talent plans, strong leadership pipelines, and measurable workforce outcomes.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Develops and executes MSC's enterprise talent strategy, integrating talent acquisition, talent management, succession planning, strategic workforce planning, leadership development, internal mobility, career development, and talent analytics.
• Builds and governs enterprise talent management processes, including talent reviews, succession planning, critical-role identification, leadership readiness, high-potential talent identification, and development planning.
• Establishes Talent Management as an enterprise leadership discipline by defining clear roles, operating rhythms, decision rights, tools, measures, and accountability for leaders, HR Business Partners, and HR Centers of Excellence.
• Leads the enterprise strategic workforce planning methodology and annual planning process, helping leaders anticipate future workforce demand, identify capability and skill gaps, assess talent supply, and develop practical mitigation strategies.
• Owns MSC's enterprise Talent Acquisition strategy and operating model, ensuring hiring priorities, sourcing approaches, employer brand, candidate experience, and recruiting investments align with workforce plans and business needs.
• Provides strategic oversight of third‑party recruiting partners, establishes service‑level and quality expectations, evaluates performance, manages escalations, and ensures partners deliver consistent, compliant, and candidate‑centered outcomes.
• Partners with business and HR leaders to improve quality of hire, time to fill, pipeline strength, hiring‑manager experience, candidate experience, and recruiting efficiency while maintaining appropriate cost and governance controls.
• Creates enterprise approaches to internal mobility, career pathways, talent marketplaces, rotational experiences, mentoring, sponsorship, and development planning that expand opportunity and strengthen retention.
• Partners with Learning and Development to translate talent reviews, succession priorities, skills gaps, and leadership‑readiness needs into targeted development solutions and measurable capability‑building plans.
• Leads executive talent reviews and provides clear insights regarding leadership pipeline health, succession depth, critical talent risks, workforce capability, and required talent investments.
• Establishes talent metrics, dashboards, and reporting standards that connect acquisition, retention, mobility, succession readiness, leadership development, skills, and workforce health to business outcomes.
• Builds and leads a high‑performing Talent organization, developing team capability, clarifying accountability, enabling collaboration, and fostering disciplined execution, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Partners across Human Resources and with business leaders to ensure talent strategies are practical, scalable, consistently adopted, and responsive to the needs of MSC's associates, customers, and business.
• Fosters the MSC Culture in the department and throughout the company to ensure fulfillment of MSC's vision and unity of purpose.
• Participation in special projects and performs additional duties as required

Qualifications

What You Need:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Industrial‑Organizational Psychology, or a related field required.
• Ten or more years of progressive Human Resources experience, including significant leadership responsibility across talent management, talent acquisition, succession planning, workforce planning, organizational development, or related disciplines required.
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading enterprise talent management, succession planning, talent review, or strategic workforce planning practices required.
• Demonstrated experience leading teams and influencing senior leaders in a complex, multi‑functional organization required.
• Experience establishing performance expectations and governance for external recruiting, staffing, or professional‑services partners required.

Bonus Points If You Have

• Advanced degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Industrial‑Organizational Psychology, or a related field.
• SPHR, SHRM‑SCP, or comparable professional certification.
• Experience building a Talent Management capability or materially evolving an enterprise talent operating model.
• Experience leading an outsourced or hybrid Talent Acquisition model, including vendor governance, service‑level management, and recruiting performance improvement.
• Experience with skills‑based talent practices, talent intelligence, internal talent marketplaces, or strategic workforce analytics.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect talent priorities to operational, financial, customer, and growth objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, influence across organizational boundaries, and convert strategy into disciplined execution.

Other Requirements

• Position requires up to 15% of travel

Compensation starting at $154600 - $242880 depending on candidate location and experience.

The salary range represented is based on similar roles in comparable industries, and the cost of labor in respective cities. Actual compensation is based on the candidate's relevant experience, education requirements and peer pay equity. The Company reserves the right to modify the range as market conditions change.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa for this position at this time.

This job posting will remain open for a minimum of 3 business days from the original posting date or longer as needed to fill the position.

WHY MSC?

People. Collaboration. Insight. That's how you build something that works. Built on a foundation of trust, MSC works side by side with our customers to help them drive business results. With more than one million product offerings and 80+ years of experience across industries, MSC strives to help our customers achieve greater productivity, profitability, and growth through inventory management and other innovative supply chain solutions. We care about our associates and have programs in place to help our 6,500+ team members achieve their potential.

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

Our associates are our top priority and investing in their well‑being is one way we execute our Built to Make You Better brand promise. Alongside competitive pay, we have a comprehensive benefits program to support you and your family's health, well‑being and financial future. We offer dynamic healthcare plans, generous 401K and stock purchasing programs, tuition reimbursement opportunities, and paid time away for holidays, vacations, and illness. Visit our page for a better look at our extensive benefits: Your Future Benefits.

You will also have the opportunity to join our Associate Inclusion Circles: Women, Pride, Black, Generational, Veterans, HOLA, and Able. These circles are open to all associates and are designed to promote awareness, collaboration, and respect.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

At MSC, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all qualified applicants and our associates without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation or any category protected by applicable law. Accommodation requests can be made at any stage of the recruitment process; applicants are asked to make their needs/requirements known.

Please note that MSC uses electronic monitoring and system logs in its workplace, including monitoring of Company‑provided systems and collaboration tools, as permitted by applicable law.