Head of Talent Acquisition

Position Title: Head of Talent Acquisition

Industry / Sector: FMCG - Consumer Brand (Non-Food: Home Care / Personal Care / Contextual Durable)

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Reports To: Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) / HR Director

1. Role Overview

The Head of Talent Acquisition will lead the end-to-end recruitment strategy and execution for our fast-growing non-food FMCG consumer brand business. Based out of Chennai, this pivotal leadership role is designed for a dynamic TA professional with a proven track record of managing high-volume field-force hiring alongside critical strategic hiring for new business channels. The incumbent will be fully responsible for scaling our Field & Territory level sales force across geographies and attracting top-tier talent for our New Channel Development teams (including Modern Trade, E-commerce, Quick Commerce, Institutional Sales, and new alternate route-to-market channels).

2. Key Responsibilities

2.1 Field & Territory Sales Force Recruitment (High Volume)

- Mass Sourcing Architecture: Design, implement, and optimize scalable hiring models to efficiently recruit Territory Sales Incharges (TSIs), Field Sales Executives (FSEs), and Area Sales Managers (ASMs) across multiple regions.

- Geo-Targeted Recruitment: Deploy hyper-local sourcing methodologies utilizing regional job boards, field-level activations, employee referrals, and specialized frontline agencies.

- Turnaround Time (TAT) Management: Establish robust pipelines to maintain sub-15-day TAT for critical front-line field vacancies, minimizing territory vacancy days and commercial loss.

- Assessment Frameworks: Implement optimized, mobile-friendly screening and basic evaluation tools tailored for assessing sales acumen, territory knowledge, and high-energy attributes in field candidates.

2.2 New Channel Development & Strategic Hiring

- Channel Capability Mapping: Partner directly with the National Sales Head and Channel Chiefs to understand organizational structure needs for E-commerce, D2C, Quick Commerce, Modern Trade, and B2B/Institutional channels.

- Niche Sourcing: Proactively headhunt, map, and network with top talent from digital-first brands, large retail setups, and advanced non-food FMCG competitors to build agile, modern channel teams.

- Leadership & Specialized Roles: Directly manage the recruitment lifecycle for mid-to-senior level roles including Channel Managers, Key Account Managers (KAMs), and Digital Growth Leads.

2.3 Strategic TA Operations & Vendor Management

- Vendor Ecosystem Optimization: Identify, empanel, and manage pan-India and regional recruitment partners, specialized frontline RPO vendors, and consultants, enforcing strict SLA and quality benchmarks.

- TA Technology Stack: Drive maximum utilization and optimization of the internal Applicant Tracking System (ATS), AI-sourcing tools, and predictive hiring analytics.

- Employer Branding: Collaborate with Corporate Marketing to build a strong employer brand presence that positions the company as an employer of choice for both ground-level sales professionals and high-caliber corporate leaders.

- Metrics & Dashboarding: Define and track key performance indices including Source Mix, Cost per Hire, Quality of Hire, 90-day Early Attrition, and Offer-to-Join ratios, presenting insights directly to executive leadership.

3. Candidate Profile & Requirements

- Education: Full-time Master's in Business Administration (MBA) or Post Graduate Diploma in HR / Business Management from a premier business school.

- Experience Range: 10 to 15 years of progressive experience in Talent Acquisition, with at least 5 years leading a TA function or a substantial regional/national hiring vertical within the FMCG (preferably non-food like Personal Care, Home Care, Cosmetics, or Consumer Goods) or FMCD space.

- Domain Expertise: Deep, practical experience in high-volume/mass hiring frameworks for distributed field workforces, as well as executive search capabilities for modern trade/digital commerce verticals.

- Geographical Nuance & Languages: Based in or willing to relocate permanently to Chennai. Professional proficiency in English is mandatory. Working knowledge or fluency in South Indian languages (especially Tamil) is highly advantageous given the close proximity to regional field sales leaders.

- Behavioral Attributes: Strong business acumen, data-driven analytical capability, high emotional intelligence, excellent stakeholder negotiation skills, and a resilient, execution-focused mindset.