ZS is a management consulting and technology firm focused on improving life and business outcomes through data, science, technology, and human ingenuity. The organisation partners with clients globally to develop innovative solutions and technology products across consulting, technology, analytics, life sciences, and other critical business areas.
The Executive Recruiter (Leadership Hiring Specialist) role is responsible for managing end-to-end executive recruitment activities, focusing on senior leadership and business-critical hiring across consulting, technology, analytics, life sciences, and practice-specific roles. This is a hands-on individual contributor role requiring ownership of complete executive search lifecycle including talent mapping, sourcing, candidate engagement, stakeholder management, interview coordination, offer closure, and post-search follow-up.
The selected candidate will manage a portfolio of executive searches from initial intake and role calibration through successful candidate placement. The role requires direct collaboration with senior stakeholders, hiring leaders, and business teams to understand hiring requirements, define leadership capabilities, and build effective recruitment strategies.
Key Responsibilities include conducting detailed intake and calibration discussions with hiring teams to understand business requirements, identify critical leadership capabilities, define role expectations, and differentiate essential skills from preferred qualifications.
The candidate will develop targeted executive search strategies by creating talent maps, competitor analysis, title and keyword mapping, Boolean searches, X-ray search strings, outreach strategies, referral networks, executive communities, alumni networks, and market intelligence plans.
The role involves sourcing and engaging passive senior-level talent through personalised communication strategies, connecting candidates with ZS’s business impact, leadership opportunities, client challenges, and growth opportunities.
The Executive Recruiter will act as a trusted talent advisor to hiring managers and senior leadership by providing market insights, guiding recruitment decisions, challenging candidate profile assumptions, and ensuring accountability throughout the recruitment process.
The position requires managing recruitment operations with discipline by maintaining accurate ATS records, tracking candidate movement, coordinating interviews across locations and time zones, managing evaluations, monitoring pipeline health, and ensuring excellent candidate experience.
The candidate will use recruitment analytics and data-driven insights to monitor funnel metrics including source effectiveness, response rates, candidate conversion, interview outcomes, offer acceptance, and candidate drop-off. The role includes preparing reports, identifying search challenges, recommending improvements, and providing stakeholders with clear updates on progress and market conditions.
Additional responsibilities include collaborating with the Talent Acquisition team by sharing market intelligence, talent maps, sourcing strategies, search techniques, and executive recruitment best practices. The candidate may also mentor junior recruiters, support sourcing initiatives, improve recruitment workflows, and create reusable executive hiring resources.
Industry: ZS operates in the Management Consulting and Technology industry, providing consulting services, analytics solutions, technology products, and business transformation solutions across healthcare, life sciences, and other industries.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
Bachelor’s degree in any relevant discipline with strong academic achievement. Advanced degree preferred.
10+ years of progressive full lifecycle recruitment experience, preferably in professional services, consulting, technology, or other industries requiring senior and executive hiring.
Proven experience managing executive-level recruitment including partner, principal, or senior leadership hiring.
Strong experience handling multiple complex requisitions while maintaining quality, stakeholder confidence, and candidate experience.
Strong understanding of executive search methodologies, talent mapping, sourcing strategies, Boolean search, X-ray search, competitor intelligence, referrals, and direct market engagement.
Ability to understand complex job requirements, identify relevant talent pools, evaluate leadership capabilities, and translate business needs into effective recruitment strategies.
Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior leaders, provide consultation, challenge assumptions, and manage expectations.
Strong analytical mindset with experience tracking recruitment metrics, interpreting data, identifying hiring challenges, and recommending improvements.
Excellent communication, presentation, organisational, and project management skills.
Ability to work effectively in ambiguous situations and manage complex searches with a problem-solving approach.
Strong operational discipline with experience managing ATS systems, recruitment documentation, follow-ups, and reporting.
AI Fluency with experience using AI tools and understanding their application in improving recruitment productivity and processes.
Benefits: ZS offers a comprehensive total rewards package supporting employee health and wellbeing, financial future, professional development, and career growth. Benefits include skills-building programs, internal mobility opportunities, flexible working arrangements, collaborative work culture, and career progression pathways.
Hybrid working model: ZS provides a flexible and connected working approach combining work from home and office presence to support collaboration, innovation, and employee experience.
Travel: Travel may be required for client-facing roles based on business and project requirements, providing opportunities for relationship building, diverse experiences, and professional growth.
