Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We help connect companies large and small with top independent talent from around the world. Simply put, our mission is to create economic opportunities so people have better lives.

Every year, more than $2 billion of work is done through Upwork by skilled independent professionals who want the freedom of working anytime, anywhere.

We're looking for an experienced and proven leader to join as our Vice President of Talent Access. Reporting to our Chief People Officer, you will drive Upwork’s success by bringing your business acumen, commitment to building diverse high performing teams, and people centric recruiting strategies to our leadership team to help us scale. 

You will utilize and continue to develop your high growth company experience, recruiting expertise, workforce planning leadership, coaching skills, quantitative and qualitative data insights, and communication skills to understand Upwork’s  business priorities, and create scalable, impactful recruiting strategies and experiences to accelerate our business performance. You will build a culture of engagement and drive business results by delivering measurable and sustained value-added solutions. As a consultative and trusted advisor to the most senior leadership of Upwork’s team, you will be the first point of contact on building and strengthening our distributed team. 

Your Responsibilities:

• Use your power as a talent magnet to create a scaled up team of Recruiters, Sourcers and partners to deliver exceptional results through both our corporate and hybrid workforce, by working with our organization and bringing on exceptional additional team members.
• Create a long term hybrid workforce plan with the executive team which is able to flex as our business requires. 
• Be a thought leader for tip of the spear talent approaches.  You will craft the future of work and push us to be all Upwork can for our clients and talent through the people we have.
• Partner actively with senior leadership throughout the business to assess their organizations, be out ahead of their talent needs and articulate when and how to use a corporate team member or independent talent.
• Design, execute and evolve  initiatives which improve our high performance culture as we bring on new talent.
• Actively partner with and amplify Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts and ensure Upwork is an incredible place for anyone and everyone.
• Drive continuous improvement in how we source, secure, and set new team members up for success. 
• Drive analytical rigor and deep analysis on effectiveness and competitiveness of existing efforts; establish and drive key metrics which measure business impact at the macro and micro levels.
• Innovate and react quickly as business and market realities change, staying up to date on best practices and trends; ensure compliance with applicable legislation - work to ensure our approach fits for both our Corporate and Hybrid workforce.
• Build strong partnerships with the Total Rewards, DIBs, HRBP, Finance, IT, Payroll, Legal, Stock, Internal Communications, teams as well as our 3rd party vendors

What it takes to catch our eye:

• Demonstrated years of experience in progressive HR roles in high growth rapid change environments. 
• Strong communication and influencing skills; effective listener, ability to connect and influence actions and outcomes with employees at all levels in the organization.
• Track record of strong business partnership with leadership within a dynamic, fast paced environment, including a reputation as a passionate positive agitator.
• A strong perspective on the recruiting landscape and where Upwork should be headed.
• Talent Access thought leader and subject matter expert: you have in-depth knowledge relevant laws, strategies, policies, and practices and are able to represent Upwork in external situations.

• Deep analytical skills with the ability to translate data and trends into key insights and recommendations.
• Proven ability to design, track, prioritize and drive to success multiple concurrent projects with a strong operational background and mission centric emphasis.
• Hands-on leader. You’re resourceful, forward-thinking, drawn to building from ambiguous and unsolved problems and have an "own the outcome" mindset. 
• Influence and partnering with a diverse group of stakeholders, able to partner with deeply technical as well as operational, business-minded leaders on key people issues. You excel at openness and flexibility with internal clients, balanced with maintaining consistency and equity  in people philosophies and practices.
• People leader and developer: you are experienced across the full spectrum of people management and development. You’re able to build the leadership bench strength on your team. You are able to zoom in and assess where people can be coached, empowered, and focused.  You also know when it’s time to pivot your approach and organization to deliver for the business, and aren’t afraid to make bold calls.

Come change how the world works.

At Upwork, you’ll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals.  While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also support hiring of corporate full-time employees in 15 states in the United States. Please speak with a member of our recruitment team to determine whether you are located in a state in which we are hiring corporate full-time employees. 

Our vibrant culture is built on shared values and our mission to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster amazing teams, put our community first, and have a bias toward action. We encourage everyone to bring their whole selves to work and grow together through development opportunities, mentorship, and employee resource groups. Oh yeah, we’ve also got amazing benefits.

Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about the employee experience.   

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

#LI-BH1

#LI-Remote