Head of Talent Management Job at Heifer International

Heifer International is an international development organization dedicated to improving food security and income opportunities for rural families while promoting sound stewardship of natural resources. As a private, non-governmental organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas, Heifer has created lasting change for farming households in over 125 countries across Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe for over 70 years.


Heifer International does so much more than put food in the mouths of hungry people. Heifer helps people feed themselves. The goal of every Heifer project is sustainability - project partners achieving self-reliance. And year after year, as partner families Pass on the Gift of knowledge and one or more of their animals' offspring to others in need, they become links in a network of hope, dignity and self-reliance that helps hundreds of others care for themselves.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Position: Head of Talent Management

Job ID: 1093
Job Location: Lagos
Employment Type: Full-time

Purpose of the role

  • We have an exciting opportunity to recruit a Head of Talent Management to join our Team.
  • You will be responsible for the design and development of talent solutions for Heifer Africa including core processes such as talent attraction & retention, succession planning and environment scanning for quality diagnostics and solutions design /development taking the lens of general HR carrying the required depth and breadth.
  • The post holder will model our values enabling a high standard of best practice and facilitating creative talent moves and hires - while providing advice and guidance to functional units and People Department stakeholders on their input to a robust multi-year People plan and the on-going monitoring of that plan as well as bringing the intended outcomes to fruition.
  • The position holder is a thematic People internal consultant to a cross section of key and senior stakeholders which will typically involve many critical leadership roles that have significant impact on the organization’s ability to achieve key strategic outcomes.
  • The HoTM will be an expert in the resourcing, hiring and talent planning process and will be a coach and mentor stakeholders across the organization.
  • The position holder will have the ability to draw from their rich generalist experience with ability to co-design talent solutions relevant to the Africa country context. 
  • This role will be based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Responsibilities & Deliverables
Strategic Talent Management (40%):

  • Demonstrates a deep understanding of the organizational strategic objectives and priorities to ensure the execution of Heifer Africa’s People Pillar Talent Management agenda especially with a Sustainable Locally Led Development at the center of this thematic work.
  • Support the definition and delivery of the talent and capability development framework required to support the execution of Heifer Africa’s Sustainable Locally Led Development approach resulting to the achievement of 6.745Million Small Holder Farmer Household Signature Programming target and strategy.
  • Develops plans and interventions to ensure a high quality of delivery; utilizes tools that enable the resourcing process and search for ways to innovate and drive improvements.
  • Contribute to the positioning of Heifer Africa, contributing to the Heifer International Employer of Choice Brand, Household name and the best place to work Employee Value Proposition.
  • Work collaboratively to shape and define the approach and key milestones to implement these strategies, including shaping key talent and delivery monitoring processes across Heifer Africa; accountable for strengthening the succession pools and bench strengths through calibrated talent moves/ internal career pathways and external acquisition.
  • Deploy creative sourcing strategies to attract best-in-class talent for current and Future Heifer Africa’s business needs while developing robust succession pipelines for key positions.

Thematic area People Collaborator/facilitator (15%):

  • Be a true collaborator and coach for hiring managers and People Managers in all talent discussions to ensure the right balance of talent buying, borrowing and building decisions.
  • Facilitate and steer the diagnostics, design, and success evaluation of functional as well as Leadership capability interventions across various internal customers.

Sustainable Locally Led Development (SLLD) Critical Talent and Leadership Positioning for Signature Programming Success (20%):

  • Lead the annual talent management process while linking outcomes from the annual performance management cycle, Talent Reviews and annual Capability needs for teams and individuals.
  • Lead the design and Development of Locally Led Leadership Development Programs across different employee levels in liaison with the identified preferred vendors.
  • Lead and guide the business on adopting continuous capability building through setting up Heifer Africa Learning Center optimal utilization of the center- linking to performance, Personal development planning and emerging capability requirements at all levels as well as Learning Group outcomes.
  • Partner closely with the Total Reward team to strengthen our reward practices for better performance, attraction and retention of key talent.
  • Staff Cost Management including for successful Project Implementation.
  • People Planning/Workforce planning/Succession planning implementation in the operations.

Organization People Capability Design for execution at frontline; ensure project implementation strength and bench strength for project execution throughout the projects’ life cycle (20%):

  • Lead the innovation, design and delivery of Heifer Africa People Business Processes (frameworks and standards) design, effectiveness and change solutions.
  • Act as adviser to and partner with the Africa People Director on the implementation of Regional/major organizational development (OD) initiatives including entry to new countries / project Offices and programmatic changes including building scalable Scale-up/Rapid Response capability and capacity with the expand/contract and putting resources where it is needed, using the minimum resources to deliver the maximum impact philosophy.
  • Identify trends and manage change to drive faster adoption, greater ultimate utilization and higher proficiency on the changes impacting employees, especially our front-line employees in the organization so that business results are achieved especially by taking the inverted organigram approach.
  • Ensure a strong and effective handshake with the Head of Learning & Culture to facilitate the fulfillment side by implementation of the agreed Heifer Africa Learning and Development plans.
  • Any other duties that might assigned from time to time (5%)

Minimum Requirements

  • First Degree in Social Sciences plus a Postgraduate qualification in HR management
  • Membership with an accredited HR professional body.
  • A relevant Master’s degree will be an added advantage.
  • Flexibility to relocate to any of our countries of operations across Africa is an added advantage.

Preferred Experience:

  • Previous Strong HR Generalist exposure and Experience in large People Functions.
  • Specialist experience in Business Environmental scanning /Diagnostics with collaborative and cooperative approaches.
  • Experience in Talent Management in a large or fast-growing organization, preferably multinational developmental organization.
  • At least 10 years of experience of engaging with multiple stakeholders /clients in a fast-paced matrixed business environment.
  • Proven track record of managing senior to mid-career level Talent Acquisition with a strong appreciation of High Performances Work Practices in Talent management.
  • A good listener who persuasively conveys opinions and recommendations.
  • Have a Pragmatic approach to problem solving with the ability to take diagnostic approach, generate insight from data and derive action plans for continuous improvement collaboratively.
  • Possess exceptional internal consulting skills and be able to influence/inspire action and inverted organogram culture change with stakeholders on the thematic area.
  • Solid Facilitation and OD approach & skills while being comfortable with ambiguity.

Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands:

  • Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work cooperatively, tactfully and diplomatically with a culturally diverse group of people.
  • Ability to produce accurate documents in a well-designed and effective format with clear attention to detail.
  • Constant face-to-face, telephone and electronic communication with colleagues and the general public in our markets.
  • Ability and willingness to extensively travel 30% of the time both domestically and internationally.
  • Ability to develop and present training materials.
  • Ability to work with sensitive information and maintain confidentiality.

Note: Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identify, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.