VP, Talent Acquisition Governance & Enablement Lead, Asia
SUMITOMO MITSUI BANKING CORPORATION Singapore Branch
Role Summary
This role serves as the regional lead for Talent Acquisition Governance & Enablement across Asia, responsible for driving the adoption and stabilization of the global TA operating model throughout the region. Partnering closely with regional TA leaders, HR, Risk, Compliance, and business stakeholders, the role will establish consistent recruiting policies and processes, governance standards, vendor management practices, reporting frameworks, and operational controls across both Experienced hiring and Early Careers recruitment.
The role will lead strategic Talent Acquisition initiatives across Asia, including governance of Experienced hiring and Early Careers programs, , vendor onboarding and oversight, deployment of Yello, implementation of assessment solutions, and continuous improvement efforts that strengthen recruiter effectiveness, candidate experience, compliance, and hiring outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
1. Talent Acquisition Governance, Programs, and Operational Excellence
- Act as the regional owner for implementation, adoption, and stabilization of the Global Talent Acquisition Governance & Enablement framework across Asia.
- Drive standardized recruiting processes, policies, controls, and operating procedures across Experienced hiring and Early Careers recruitment, ensuring consistency, compliance, and scalability.
- Oversee governance, operational effectiveness and usage of Applicant Tracking systems across the end-to-end recruiting lifecycle, including sourcing, assessment, interviewing, selection, offer management, and pre-hire processes.
- Establish governance mechanisms, decision rights, change management processes, and controls across TA programs, technologies, and vendor partnerships.
- Partner with regional TA leaders and business stakeholders to optimize recruiting performance, candidate experience, operational efficiency, and hiring outcomes.
- Monitor process adherence, service delivery, risk, and performance metrics, driving continuous improvement and ensuring sustainable operating models across the region.Govern Global Capability Centre (GCC)-delivered Talent Acquisition and Talent Acquisition Operations services across Asia, ensuring standardized processes, clear accountability, and alignment with the global TA operating model.
- Establish governance standards, service scope, and control frameworks for GCC-supported activities, including interview scheduling, interview logistics, offer letter generation, onboarding document collection, background check initiation, start date confirmation, and manager notification.
- Oversee service performance of GCC teams through defined SLAs, KPIs, quality controls, escalation protocols, and regular service review routines with regional TA and business stakeholders.
- Ensure effective segregation of duties and handoff governance between Talent Acquisition, GCC TA Operations, HR Operations, hiring managers, and other enabling functions across the pre-hire and onboarding process.
- Monitor compliance, process adherence, documentation quality, and audit readiness for GCC-supported recruiting and pre-boarding activities, driving remediation and continuous improvement where required.
2. Early Careers Governance & Enablement
- Lead governance and operational delivery of Early Careers initiatives across Asia, ensuring alignment with global TA strategy, regional workforce needs, and local market practices.
- Drive the expansion and adoption of Yello to support campus recruiting, event management, candidate relationship management, program tracking, and reporting.
- Partner with regional TA leaders, Talent Management, and business stakeholders to develop scalable internship, graduate, and rotational hiring models across priority markets.
- Establish consistent candidate journeys, assessment approaches, operating standards, onboarding handoffs, reporting frameworks, and documented regional flexibilities.
- Ensure Early Careers programs are measurable, operationally sustainable, appropriately governed, and continuously improved based on program outcomes and stakeholder feedback.
3. Vendor Management & Strategic Implementations
- Lead onboarding, governance, and performance management of TA-related vendors supporting both Experienced hiring and Early Careers across Asia.
- Serve as the regional TA lead for implementation of an assessment vendor and associated selection processes, ensuring appropriate integration into recruiting workflows and candidate journeys.
- Manage Yello expansion and other strategic initiatives related to recruiting technology, candidate experience, talent marketing, and operational improvement.
- Establish vendor governance standards, service-level expectations, performance metrics, risk controls, issue escalation, and recurring service review processes.
- Partner with Procurement, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Privacy, Information Security, HR technology teams, and vendors throughout selection, contracting, implementation, launch, and ongoing oversight.
4. Reporting, Analytics & Business Insights
- Drive the development and adoption of TA reporting, analytics, and dashboards across Asia for both Experienced hiring and Early Careers.
- Partner with Data Analytics team and HR stakeholders to define KPI frameworks, data standards, dashboard requirements, and operational reporting routines.
- Use data to identify trends, control gaps, risks, and opportunities, and translate findings into recommendations for regional leadership and business stakeholders.
- Promote data quality, consistent definitions, and clear ownership to enable reliable decision-making and continuous improvement.
5. Risk, Compliance & Controls
- Ensure recruiting practices, programs, technologies, communications, and vendor relationships align with applicable employment regulations, data privacy requirements, accessibility standards, records management obligations, and internal policies.
- Partner with Legal, Compliance, Risk Management, Privacy, and Information Security teams to embed appropriate controls into TA processes and programs.
- Identify and mitigate recruiting-related risks, including process control gaps, candidate data misuse, bias, fraud, vendor non-compliance, and inconsistent regional practices.
- Support audit, regulatory, risk assessment, and governance activities impacting Talent Acquisition across Asia.
- Maintain clear process documentation, evidence, ownership, and remediation tracking to support a sustainable control environment.
6. Stakeholder Management, Enablement & Adoption
- Build strong partnerships across Talent Acquisition, HR, business leadership, and functional teams throughout Asia.
- Influence and align stakeholders across countries and business lines, balancing global consistency with legitimate regional and local requirements.
- Lead stakeholder readiness, user acceptance testing, implementation support, and post-launch stabilization for TA programs and vendor solutions.
- Act as a trusted advisor on Talent Acquisition governance, operations, risk, reporting, and program implementation matters.
Qualifications
- 8 to 12+ years of experience in Talent Acquisition, TA Operations, TA Governance, HR Programs, Recruiting Enablement, or a related discipline.
- Demonstrated experience implementing, stabilizing, and scaling recruiting governance frameworks, operating models, or transformation initiatives across multiple countries.
- Experience working across Asia markets and navigating regional regulatory, cultural, and operational considerations is strongly preferred.
- Strong understanding of both Experienced hiring and Early Careers recruiting processes, candidate journeys, operating requirements, and stakeholder needs.
- Proven track record leading recruiting vendor onboarding, technology implementations, assessment solutions, or operational improvement initiatives.
- Strong knowledge of recruiting process governance, controls, compliance, data privacy, reporting, and risk management within a regulated environment.
- Experience partnering with Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Privacy, Information Security, HR technology, and Analytics teams.
- Strong analytical and project management capabilities, including experience establishing KPI frameworks, dashboards, implementation plans, and governance routines.
- Excellent executive communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills across senior leadership, regions, and business lines.