Northwestern Mutual

Assistant Director, Talent Selection Design

Northwestern Mutual$108K — $162K *
Business Services
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field; a graduate degree is strongly preferred.
  • 6-8 years of experience in talent management or related HR fields, focusing on enterprise talent processes.
  • Proven experience leading organization-wide talent acquisition and selection processes.
  • Strong partnership skills with Talent Acquisition and HR Business Partners.
  • Experience leveraging Workday to enhance talent selection processes.

Responsibilities

  • Design the end-to-end enterprise selection philosophy and governance is grounded in skills enhancement.
  • Ensure talent selection practices are user-friendly, aligned with business and cultural needs.
  • Provide comprehensive support materials and guidance for recruiters, HR partners, and hiring managers.
  • Manage day-to-day talent selection processes and address technical inquiries and issues.
  • Use talent analytics to measure the effectiveness and gather insights for continuous improvement.
  • Lead discussions to gather feedback for refining selection practices and translating it into actionable recommendations.
  • Establish automated self-service support through AI tools to streamline guidance for talent selection.

Benefits

  • Access to professional development and opportunities for growth.
  • Collaboration with various teams and exposure to enterprise-level processes.
  • Ability to modernize selection processes using technology and data insights.
  • Engagement with a strong focus on candidate experience and organizational culture.
Full Job Description
About the Job:

The Assistant Director, Talent Selection Design is responsible for the end-to-end design, governance, and continuous improvement of how the enterprise identifies and selects talent that drives business growth, ensuring practices are consistent, skills-based, and deliver strong candidate-centric hiring experiences.

This role modernizes how the organization identifies and selects talent, strengthening internal and external selection practices. The focus is on improving quality of hire and enabling faster, more equitable decisions through data, technology, and AI-enabled tools. The role ensures the talent selection process is effective, scalable, and aligned with business priorities, talent strategy, skills, and organizational culture and behaviors.

The Assistant Director partners with Talent Acquisition, HR Business Partners, HR Service Delivery, and hiring managers to bring new perspectives and consultation to selection challenges, ensuring data-informed hiring decisions that strengthen organizational capability and directly support the achievement of operational and strategic business objectives.

What You'll Do:

Enterprise Talent Process Ownership
  • Own the end-to-end design of the enterprise selection philosophy, processes, and governance anchored in skills to improve quality of hire, candidate experience, and business outcomes.
  • Ensure talent selection practices are pragmatic, hiring manager and candidate-friendly, and aligned with enterprise talent philosophy, business needs, and culture.
  • Accountable for supporting delivery of the talent selection processes through developing clear guidance, materials, draft communications, and readiness support for recruiters, HR Business Partners, hiring managers, and employees.
  • Providing day-to-day support and management of processes, including escalated technical inquiries, issue coordination, and follow-through with HR stakeholders.
  • Utilize talent analytics and relevant success metrics to assess the effectiveness of initiatives, monitor adoption, gather insights for continuous improvement, and track progress and outcomes.
  • Partners with the HR Advisory team to brainstorm and enable Career Center consultations related to talent selection, including resume support, and interview preparation.

Continuous Improvement
  • Lead retrospectives and synthesize quantitative and qualitative feedback to identify opportunities to simplify and strengthen talent selection practices.
  • Translate insights into clear recommendations and design enhancements that improve clarity, consistency, impact, and the candidate, hiring manager, and recruiter experience.

Stakeholder Partnership & Enablement
  • Serve as a primary point of contact for the talent acquisition team on enterprise talent selection processes. Strengthens knowledge management for recruiters, hiring managers, HR Services, HR business partners.
  • Provide consultation, guidance, and problem-solving support related to process execution, interpretation, and application.
  • Partner with Enterprise Risk and Legal to support audits, compliance reporting, and risk-based inquiries related to enterprise talent selection processes.
  • Develop, deliver, and scale enablement materials (e.g., toolkits, job aids, FAQs, talk tracks, training, etc.) to support consistent enterprise adoption.
  • Creates automated and scalable self-service support through AI tools to quickly surface accurate guidance for hiring managers, recruiters and HR, reducing the day-to-day support requests (i.e. strengthen interviewing and selection practices for hiring teams).
  • Partners with HR Technology, Talent analytics, and Talent Acquisition to modernize and scale selection through fit-for-purpose tools, digital workflows, and data-informed capabilities. Support evaluation and adoption of AI-enabled solutions in ways that strengthen consistency, efficiency, and candidate and hiring-team experience.


What Experience You'll Bring:

Education
  • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field
  • Graduate degree strongly preferred

Experience
  • 6-8 years of experience in talent management, Talent Acquisition, or related HR disciplines with a focus on high-impact, enterprise talent processes
  • Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide talent acquisition and selection processes (e.g., requisition-to-offer workflows, structured interviewing and assessment, selection governance, and skills-based hiring)
  • Experience partnering with Talent Acquisition and HR Business Partners
  • Experience leveraging Workday as a process owner to drive mature, scalable talent selection processes and insights.

Skills & Capabilities
  • User-Centered Design Process: Designs products, services, and experiences that are tailored to the needs, preferences, and behaviors of the end-user.
  • Customer Centricity: Applies a customer first mindset to design and continuously improve solutions, systems, processes, and services that support enterprise strategy, impact critical business outcomes, and drive organizational success.
  • Stakeholder Relationship: Organizes, influences, monitors, and improves relationships with key stakeholders; systematically identifies stakeholders and analyzes their needs and expectations to support in planning and decision making while implementing various tasks to engage with them.
  • Cross Functional Partnering & Planning: Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.
  • Consulting: Connects with stakeholders to understand and gain specific information to help resolve customer problems in a given domain. Communicates effectively intent to customers, solicits customer requirements, utilizes domain knowledge and collaborates with the right stakeholders.
  • Executive Presence: Builds and maintains an authentic personal brand, inspiring and motivating people to pursue a desired outcome by sharing a clear vision and demonstrating confidence, professionalism, self-awareness and trust with business stakeholders.
  • Business Influence: Collaborates, communicates and influences direct reports, stakeholders, and other business functions based on understanding of the marketplace, organizational needs, and the client as a people manager.
  • Change Management: Acts as an advocate for change as well as identifying gaps/issues that should be addressed to deliver optimal client/field experiences. Leads change management, when driving technology or process improvements, applying relevant change acceleration, risk mitigation, and stakeholder management methodologies and best practices. Analyzes business trends and current state to develop a case for change that aligns with business strategy. Implements plans and strategies to manage organizational and behavioral changes by aligning leaders and engaging impacted stakeholders.
  • Adaptive Communication: Formulates strategies to be used to convey complex information about services, products, systems, or processes to targeted audiences; communicates and liaises between technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Learning Agility & Critical Thinking: Pursues learning and obtains knowledge continuously in relevant fields, methods, or technologies in current and future practices; continuously utilizes critical thinking to identify opportunities, execute solutions, and measure impact to constantly improve existing practices and processes based on feedback, lessons learned, and market trends.
  • Strategic Thinking: Uses critical thinking and knowledge of business demand to plan, design, prioritize and execute high impact initiatives and programs.
  • Analytical Thinking: Organizes and compares various aspects of a situation to comprehend and identify key or underlying complex issues through the use of quantitative data and analysis; leverages strong business acumen, problem solving, and interpersonal skills to think critically about situations from multiple perspectives and consistently seeks ways to improve processes.


#LI-Hybrid, #LI-remote

Compensation Range:

Pay Range - Start:
$108,160.00

Pay Range - End:
$162,240.00

Geographic Specific Pay Structure:

Structure 110:
$118,960.00 USD - $178,440.00 USD

Structure 115:

$124,400.00 USD - $186,600.00 USD

We believe in fairness and transparency. It's why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you're living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable, click here to learn more.

Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do. Get started now!

About Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a holistic planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to millions with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. The company manages billion of dollars of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses. Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company® (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance).

Northwestern Mutual Careers

Joining Northwestern Mutual presents a unique opportunity to be part of a team that is dedicated to empowering personal and professional growth, innovation, and leadership in the financial services industry. As a company renowned for its commitment to excellence and a culture that values diversity and inclusion, Northwestern Mutual offers unparalleled job opportunities for both seasoned professionals and those at the start of their careers.

Work You’ll Do

At Northwestern Mutual, we believe in building strong relationships not only with our clients but also among our team members. By joining our team, you will collaborate with some of the most talented professionals in the industry, all united in their commitment to leadership and innovation. Our employees are equipped with top-tier benefits and diversity training that ensure their career journey is both rewarding and inclusive.

Explore Professional Growth and Development

Northwestern Mutual is committed to fostering an environment where career growth is not just a possibility but a priority. With a variety of positions available, from financial representatives to internships for budding professionals, our company is a place where your skills and passion can thrive. We provide extensive training programs and leadership development opportunities that prepare you for success in your current role and beyond.

Innovative Work Environment

Our team at Northwestern Mutual is at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge technology and innovative financial strategies to provide exceptional service to our clients. This focus on innovation is not just about staying current; it's about leading the way in the financial sector. Employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute ideas and take initiative, driving the company forward as a leader in the financial industry.

Be Part of Our Diverse and Inclusive Team

Diversity and inclusion are more than just buzzwords at Northwestern Mutual; they are integral to our company culture and business strategy. We are committed to creating a workplace where all employees can flourish. Our diversity training programs are designed to enhance understanding and foster an inclusive environment for all team members.

Networking and Career Advancement

Networking within Northwestern Mutual opens doors to expansive career advancement opportunities. We encourage our employees to engage in internal networking events, which often lead to mentorship and further career development. Whether you are looking to enhance your resume, prepare for an interview, or step into a leadership role, Northwestern Mutual provides the resources and support to help you achieve your professional goals.

Join Our Team

Search open positions that match your skills and interests. We are looking for passionate, curious, and solution-driven team players who are ready to take their career to the next level. Explore the job opportunities and internships available at Northwestern Mutual and find out how you can contribute to our legacy of innovation and leadership.

Stay Connected

Keep up to date with career tips, insider perspectives, and industry-leading insights you can put to use today—all from the people who work here. Personalize your subscription to receive job alerts, latest news, and insider tips tailored to your preferences. Discover the exciting and rewarding career opportunities that await at Northwestern Mutual.

SEARCH NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL JOBS

Join us and start your journey at Northwestern Mutual today, where your career is nurtured, your skills are honed, and your achievements are celebrated.
Learn more about Northwestern Mutual
Size
7,000 employees
Industry

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