We are seeking an experienced, strategic, and hands-on Talent Acquisition Manager to lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing Talent Acquisition team while driving recruitment excellence across Direct Labor (DL) and Indirect Labor (IDL) hiring for Malaysia, with the potential to lead recruitment delivery across the Asia region as business needs evolve. This role is accountable for leading end-to-end recruitment operations, translating talent acquisition strategies into local and regional execution plans, driving team performance, and coaching and developing Talent Acquisition Partners and Talent Acquisition Specialists to deliver high-quality talent that supports business objectives and workforce plans.
Your responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Recruitment Strategy, Delivery & Operational Excellence
- Lead and oversee end-to-end recruitment operations across Direct Labor (DL) and Indirect Labor (IDL) hiring for Malaysia, ensuring effective recruitment delivery, operational excellence, optimal resource utilization, and achievement of hiring objectives, with the potential to oversee recruitment delivery across the Asia region as business needs evolve.
- Personally manage the full recruitment lifecycle for senior, strategic, niche, confidential, or business-critical positions, from hiring intake and sourcing through talent assessment, selection, offer negotiation, and onboarding, while delivering an exceptional hiring manager and candidate experience.
- Partner with HR Business Partners and business leaders to understand workforce requirements, develop hiring strategies, and execute recruitment plans aligned with business priorities and workforce planning.
- Proactively build and maintain talent pipelines for critical and future hiring requirements through talent mapping, market research, networking, and proactive sourcing initiatives.
- Ensure consistent execution of recruitment processes, assessment methodologies, interview standards, and selection practices to drive quality, consistency, and operational excellence.
- Lead recruitment demand and resource planning by prioritizing hiring requirements, optimizing recruiter capacity, and allocating recruitment resources to meet evolving business needs.
- Monitor recruitment performance against agreed KPIs, SLAs, and hiring objectives, implementing timely corrective actions to ensure recruitment delivery remains on track.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance recruitment productivity, operational efficiency, quality of hire, candidate experience, and overall recruitment effectiveness.
- Forecast recruitment demand, identify capacity constraints and potential hiring challenges, and implement proactive mitigation plans to ensure business hiring commitments are achieved.
Stakeholder Management & Business Partnership
- Build trusted partnerships with HR Business Partners, hiring managers, and business leaders by acting as their primary talent acquisition advisor and providing strategic recruitment consultation.
- Translate workforce requirements into recruitment priorities and execution plans that support business growth, workforce planning, and organizational objectives
- Provide consultative Talent Acquisition advisory by leveraging labour market intelligence, hiring trends, and market insights to influence hiring decisions and recommend effective talent acquisition actions.
- Facilitate recruitment planning discussions, hiring prioritization, and workforce reviews to ensure recruitment resources are aligned with changing business demands.
- Champion an exceptional stakeholder and candidate experience by proactively identifying improvement opportunities and resolving recruitment challenges.
Recruitment Governance & Supplier Management
- Oversee a hybrid recruitment delivery model comprising in-house Talent Acquisition professionals and external recruitment partners, agencies, and headhunters to ensure consistent, high-quality recruitment outcomes within the timeline.
- Manage external recruitment partners to ensure service delivery excellence, SLA compliance, cost effectiveness, quality of hire, and continuous performance improvement.
- Conduct regular supplier governance reviews, monitor vendor performance, and drive accountability through structured performance management.
- Develop, implement, and continuously optimize agency engagement strategies, sourcing approaches, and governance frameworks to maximize supplier performance, hiring outcomes, and return on investment within the global vendor framework.
- Partner with recruitment agencies and headhunters (if required) to establish sourcing strategies, hiring priorities, and delivery plans aligned with business objectives and workforce requirements.
- Ensure compliance with global Talent Acquisition policies, recruitment governance, internal controls, Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) standards, and local labor legislation.
- Drive the standardization, documentation, and continuous enhancement of recruitment policies, processes, systems, and governance across the site/ region.
Talent Intelligence, Recruitment Branding & Continuous Improvement
- Leverage labor market intelligence, talent mapping, competitor benchmarking, recruitment analytics, and workforce insights to identify talent trends, recommend proactive Talent Acquisition strategies to the Global Head of TA, and support workforce planning and business growth.
- Prepare and present recruitment metrics, hiring insights, workforce trends, and operational performance updates to HR and business leadership to support data-driven decision-making.
- Partner with the Strategic Talent Acquisition Lead, HR, Communications, and relevant stakeholders to execute employer branding strategies and initiatives that strengthen VAT's employer brand and attract high-quality talent.
- Continuously evaluate emerging recruitment technologies, sourcing channels, digital platforms, and AI-enabled recruitment solutions to improve recruitment effectiveness and recruiter productivity.
- Drive recruitment innovation by implementing process enhancements, digital solutions, and operational best practices to improve recruitment quality, efficiency, and stakeholder experience.
- Support the implementation of regional Talent Acquisition initiatives, transformation projects, and process standardization across the site and Asia region, as required.
People Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a high-performing Talent Acquisition team by providing clear direction, regular feedback, career development, and performance management.
- Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance culture that promotes accountability, innovation, continuous learning, and operational excellence.
- Allocate recruitment workload and resources effectively based on hiring demand, business priorities, recruiter capacity, and team capability.
- Establish clear performance expectations, monitor recruitment KPIs, service levels, quality metrics, and stakeholder feedback, implementing improvement plans where required.
- Conduct regular one-to-one coaching sessions, performance reviews, hiring calibrations, and capability development initiatives to strengthen recruitment capability.
- Build succession capability within the Talent Acquisition function by identifying development opportunities and supporting career progression.
- Promote knowledge sharing, recruitment best practices, and continuous capability development across the Talent Acquisition team.
- Perform other Talent Acquisition related responsibilities, projects, or initiatives as assigned by the Global Head of Talent Acquisition to support evolving business and organizational requirements.
Key Qualification: -
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in Human Resource, Business, Marketing, or a related discipline.
- Minimum 8 years of Talent Acquisition experience, including at least 2–3 years in a people leadership role leading high-performing recruitment teams within Malaysia.
- Demonstrated experience leading high-volume Talent Acquisition operations within the semiconductor or advanced manufacturing industry, including Direct Labor (DL) and Indirect Labor (IDL) recruitment operations while maintaining recruitment quality, speed, and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Proven ability to coach, mentor, develop, and performance manage Talent Acquisition professionals while fostering team engagement, capability development, and recruitment excellence.
- Demonstrated experience in workforce planning, recruitment operations, workload management, and driving recruitment performance through KPIs and service delivery metrics.
- Experience managing external recruitment partners, supplier governance, SLA performance, vendor optimization, and recruitment outsourcing models.
- Experience implementing recruitment governance, compliance, process standardization, and internal controls while ensuring alignment with company policies, local labour legislation, and ethical recruitment practices.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret recruitment metrics, labour market intelligence, and hiring trends to support data-driven decision-making, sourcing optimization, and continuous improvement.
- Demonstrated project management, stakeholder management, and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted partnerships with HR Business Partners, hiring managers, and senior business leaders within a matrix organization.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) / Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) platforms.
- Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, coaching, and interpersonal skills, with a high level of initiative, strategic thinking, adaptability, accountability, and the ability to balance operational recruitment delivery, people leadership, and competing business priorities in a fast-paced environment
