Senior Director of Delivery

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JOB DESCRIPTION

Robert Half Executive Search – US Operations

Senior Director of Delivery, Executive Search

Position Summary

The Senior Director of Delivery for Executive Search leads the end-to-end search delivery function for our Executive Search practice while serving as a strategic partner to clients through the execution of retained searches. This leader is responsible for driving delivery excellence, evolving our search methodology as we scale the business, and building on our strong client-first culture while driving consistency and excellence across the delivery organization. As a strategic leader with an enterprise-first perspective, this individual is expected to step back from day-to-day operations, think holistically, and make decisions that prioritize client outcomes and the long-term success of the organization.

Beyond delivery leadership, the Senior Director will personally lead and execute retained executive search engagements while strengthening the practice’s market presence through long-term, trust-based relationships with candidates and clients. Through direct search execution and ongoing market engagement, the Senior Director surfaces market insights, identifies emerging talent and organizational needs, and helps translate those insights into future opportunities. This leader also coaches and develops the team to cultivate strong relationships, recognize meaningful signals from market conversations, and contribute to business growth by turning insights into enduring client partnerships and future retained search opportunities.

This role also leads the continuous refinement and innovation of our search approach, introducing agile, flexible, and technology-enabled ways of working that accelerate speed to market while maintaining uncompromising candidate quality.

The position reports to the Senior District President of Executive Search Global Operations.

Key Responsibilities

The Senior Director of Delivery for Executive Search will have responsibility for the following:

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Hiring, developing, and leading a high-performance delivery team.
• Provide coaching, performance management, and career development for direct reports, and partner with them to drive the development, performance, and engagement of the broader delivery team.
• Promoting agility, innovation, curiosity, and a client-first mindset within the team.

Client Delivery & Search Execution Leadership

• Personally leading and executing a portfolio of C-suite and senior leadership search engagements, delivering exceptional client and candidate outcomes.
• Driving consistent, high-quality execution of C-suite and senior leadership searches across the practice.
• Leading a proactive, solution-oriented, client-first delivery model while serving as a hands-on search leader and role model for execution excellence.
• Evolving search methodology to increase agility, efficiency, and speed-to-shortlist without compromising quality.
• Partnering with delivery leaders to oversee search capacity and ensure clients receive consistent, high-quality execution across all engagements.
• Reviewing all active searches regularly to assess progression, identify engagements encountering challenges, and partner with team members to develop solutions that move searches forward.
• Partnering with Managing Directors on search strategy, client communications, market intelligence.

Relationship Management & Market Insight

• Building and maintaining long-term, trust-based relationships with candidates and market contacts.
• Surfacing insights through candidate conversations, including emerging talent trends, organizational shifts, and leadership needs.
• Identifying signals such as team changes, growth initiatives, and succession considerations to inform future opportunities.
• Partnering closely with Managing Directors by sharing relevant market perspective and introducing potential opportunities as they naturally emerge.
• Tracking engagement activity and contribution to broader business outcomes, demonstrating impact on revenue growth.

Team Development: Relationship-Led Market Insight

• Coaching and developing delivery team members to build strong candidate relationships, recognize meaningful signals through ongoing conversations, and identify opportunities that support future business growth.
• Establishing clear, consistent approaches for capturing and sharing market insights and emerging opportunities with Managing Directors.
• Encouraging a culture of curiosity and awareness, where team members actively listen for signals such as organizational shifts, leadership gaps, and growth initiatives.
• Maintaining visibility and regular communication into how team insights contribute to broader business impact over time, including trusted candidate relationships that evolve into future client partnerships and search wins.

Methodology Transformation, Technology, and AI Integration

• Identify opportunities to evolve components of the delivery model with an emphasis on agility, automation, and client-centricity.
• Leading adoption of AI-enabled tools for sourcing support, candidate assessment support, workflow automation, and data intelligence.
• Streamlining manual processes and introducing tools that accelerate cycle times and enhance the client experience.
• Develop scalable processes and tools to identify and re-engage talent from prior and active searches, enabling the team to accelerate delivery and provide additional candidate solutions for new and challenging engagements.
• Ensuring delivery team compliance with CRM/ATS best practices and digital delivery tools.
• Continuously evaluate emerging delivery technologies and incorporate high-impact solutions.

Qualifications & Functional Competencies:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in executive search, talent acquisition, or recruitment, with proven leadership of recruiting, sourcing, or delivery teams.
• Demonstrated ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing teams, fostering a strong culture of collaboration, accountability, and talent development.
• Strategic leader with an enterprise-first mindset, able to step back from day-to-day operations and think holistically, making decisions that prioritize client outcomes and the long-term success of the wider enterprise.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage relationships and market insights to identify talent and organizational needs, contributing to new client acquisition, search wins, and long-term business growth.
• Strong collaborator with a track record of building trusted partnerships and aligning stakeholders to navigate complex challenges and drive shared outcomes.
• Ability to set priorities, lead through change, and execute against key business objectives in a dynamic environment.
• Track record of driving process improvement and operational excellence, including the adoption of technology, AI, and automation.
• Strong communication skills, executive presence, and ability to influence cross-functionally.

Compensation includes a mix of base salary and bonus opportunity. The base salary range starts at $145,000-$165,000.  An employee’s pay within the range is determined by a number of factors, including relevant skills, qualifications, experience, performance, business or organizational needs, and geographic location. This role can be based anywhere in the US and can be hybrid.

We also offer a competitive benefits package, including group health insurance benefits (medical, vision, dental), FSA and HSA healthcare accounts, life and accident insurance, adoption and fertility assistance, paid parental leave of up to 6 weeks, and short/long term disability. Robert Half provides paid time off for vacation, personal needs, and sick time. The amount of Choice Time Off (CTO) our people receive varies based on their years of service and is pro-rated based on the hours worked per week. A new hire earns up to 17 days of CTO per calendar year. Our people also receive up to 11 paid holidays per calendar year. We also offer the opportunity to contribute to our company 401(k) savings and investment plan or deferred compensation plan (if eligible), with an employer match of 100% on the first 3% of your contributions for eligible employees.

Learn more at: www.roberthalfbenefits.com/Resources 

At Robert Half, there’s more to us than what we do. Learn about our values and what it’s like to work for the largest specialized staffing firm in the world at our San Ramon, California, Corporate Services office. Take a look at roberthalf.com/corporate-office-video.

Robert Half Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. M/F/Disability/Veteran

As part of Robert Half’s Corporate Services facility employment process, any offer of employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

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