Company Overview

Robots & Pencils is a digital innovation consulting firm that partners with organizations to solve meaningful, complex problems through technology, design, and engineering. We move fast, work at the edge of what’s possible, and rely on exceptional people to deliver for our clients.

As we scale across geographies, clients, and delivery models, we are investing in a single executive owner for the entire talent ecosystem — someone who can bring clarity, cohesion, and strategy to how we attract, grow, deploy, and support our people.

Position Overview

Reporting to the COO and overseeing a team of 10+ talent attraction/talent engagement/HR professionals at various levels, the VP, Talent owns all of the talent attraction and engagement functions globally and serves as a core business leader.

For the role, we’re looking for a senior leader who can design and implement a best-in-class recruiting function — one that brings clarity, discipline, and foresight while still supporting a fast-moving consulting business while also leading the talent engagement systems that allow a highly distributed, remote-first consulting workforce to scale sustainably while delivering exceptional client outcomes.

This is a build-and-lead role for a seasoned executive who understands that in consulting, talent strategy is business strategy.

Scope of Ownership

Talent Attraction
Talent Experience & Engagement
HR Operations & Compliance (multi-state and international)
Performance, Development & Career Pathing
Compensation & Total Rewards
Leadership Development & Succession
People Technology & Data
Culture, Values & Change Leadership

Key Responsibilities:

Talent Strategy & Executive Partnership

Define and execute a multi-year talent strategy aligned to company growth, delivery models, and financial goals.
Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team on workforce risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities.
Translate business strategy into talent decisions that support scalability, margin, and client satisfaction.

Build the Talent Attraction Operating Model

Design and implement an end-to-end recruiting model that moves the organization from reactive to planned and predictable.
Establish clear roles, ownership, and expectations across recruiting, hiring managers, and business leaders.
Build a cohesive recruiting model in partnership with Resource Management that is tightly integrated and complementary to the employee lifecycle, ultimately supporting smooth talent deployment.

Workforce Planning Operating Model

Introduce structure, prioritization, and decision frameworks to replace ad-hoc, just-in-time hiring that include standardization of demand intake and quarterly planning.
Establish in partnership with Resource Management an approach on how build vs. buy decisions are made to meet workforce planning needs.
Develop a framework that prioritizes hiring needs that compliments the workforce planning model.

Strategic Workforce & Capacity Planning

Partner with Delivery, Sales, and Finance to forecast talent needs based on pipeline, client demand, and delivery capacity.
Translate business demand into realistic hiring plans that balance speed, quality, and cost.
Help leadership navigate bench vs. hire-ahead tradeoffs with data and insight.

Talent Experience, Culture & Engagement

Design a cohesive talent experience across the employee lifecycle — from onboarding through growth and retention – that can scale across multiple locations.
Strengthen culture in a remote hybrid and distributed fast-growing organization.
Lead engagement, listening, and action planning efforts that result in real change.

HR Operations & Global People Infrastructure

Oversee all HR operations across multiple states and countries, ensuring compliance, consistency, and scalability.
Set an employee relations and policy framework that enables performance management and compliance across a distributed workforce.
Scale talent systems and processes that support remote, global teams while maintaining clarity and fairness.

Performance, Development & Leadership

Design and scale performance management systems that enable a high performance team, aligning individual and team outcomes with overall company strategy.
Establish and develop clear career frameworks and development pathways that support retention and internal mobility.
Own leadership development and succession planning ensuring organizational readiness for a scaling organization.

Partnership with Practice and Vertical Leadership

Define and build skill definitions across roles and levels that support a scaling organization.
Create hiring profiles that lead to employee success and retention.
Identify capability gaps within the organization and develop appropriate strategies to address.

Compensation, Rewards & Equity

Own compensation strategy, leveling, and pay practices across geographies.
Ensure total rewards programs are competitive, equitable, and aligned with business priorities.
Partner closely with Finance on cost modeling and workforce economics.

People Data, Systems & Insight

Lead people analytics and technology strategy (ATS, HRIS, performance tools).
Bring clear, actionable insights to leadership — not just reports.
Use data to inform decisions, anticipate risks, and drive continuous improvement.

Candidate Qualifications:

Experience & Background:

Degree in Business, Human Resources or a related field.
15+ years in talent acquisition and HR leadership with senior executive responsibility.
Proven experience supporting multi-state and international and fully remote workforces.
Strong understanding of employment law, compliance, and global people operations.
Experience with scaling global talent strategies.
Experience partnering closely with Delivery, Sales, and Finance leaders.
Prior experience in client delivery environments is strongly preferred.
Technically savvy, including experience with communications systems such (ex. Slack and SharePoint).
Excellent leadership, coaching, and communication skills.

You are someone who:

Is a business leader first, with deep talent expertise.
Has built or significantly transformed a recruiting function before — ideally in consulting, professional services, or a delivery-based environment.
Has led end-to-end talent and HR functions at scale, ideally in consulting, professional services, or project-based delivery environments.
Can balance strategy with hands-on execution, especially in the early phases.
Understands how workforce decisions directly impact delivery quality, utilization, and margin.
Are comfortable operating across ambiguity, growth, and complexity — including global, remote teams.
Can build systems from scratch while stabilizing what exists.
Influence senior leaders with credibility, data, and calm judgment.
Balance empathy with accountability and clarity.
Is comfortable with up to 25% travel to our various office hubs.

Robots & Pencils

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