(REC) Talent Acquisition Manager

Backbase is evolving into an AI-native organization. As the pace of change accelerates — in our product, our go-to-market, and the way we build teams — Talent Acquisition is becoming a strategic function, not a support function. We need a leader who treats it that way.

We are looking for a Talent Acquisition Manager to lead our APAC recruiting team and own the end-to-end talent pipeline for one of our highest-growth regions. This is not a coordination role. We need someone who can operate at a strategic level, build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, and drive a high-performance recruiting engine — while actively shaping how AI transforms the way we hire.

What you'll own

● Strategic talent leadership: Partner with senior leaders across APAC to translate business priorities into a forward-looking hiring strategy. Own workforce planning conversations, anticipate capability gaps, and build pipelines before demand hits — not after.

● Team leadership & performance: Lead, coach, and develop a team of 7 experienced recruiters across APAC. Set a high bar for quality and pace. Drive accountability through clear metrics, strong feedback loops, and a culture where the team is always learning and raising the standard.

● AI-powered TA transformation: Lead the adoption and integration of AI across the talent acquisition workflow — from sourcing and screening to candidate experience and analytics. You've either already done this somewhere, or you've designed the roadmap and made it happen. Either way, you're not waiting for permission to move.

● Stakeholder partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to hiring managers and senior leaders — not just a service provider. Bring market insights, challenge assumptions on hiring timelines and profiles, and push back constructively when needed. You work with the business, not behind it.

● Talent density & quality bar: Champion high-calibre hiring across the region. Support leaders in making better talent decisions — raising the bar at every stage of the funnel, reducing compromise hires, and building structured assessment processes that actually predict performance.

● Data, reporting & operational excellence: Own the TA metrics that matter — time to hire, pipeline health, source effectiveness, offer acceptance, and quality of hire. Make decisions from data, report with clarity to global People leadership, and continuously optimize the recruiting engine.

● Regional market intelligence: Stay ahead of talent market dynamics across APAC. Bring a nuanced understanding of hiring landscapes, compensation benchmarks, and candidate expectations across markets like India, Singapore, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

● HR partnership: Work as a close counterpart to the APAC HR Director. Share talent intelligence, align on organizational health, and ensure TA and HR strategy move in the same direction. Where HRBPs are working on performance, capability, or team structure, you're already thinking about what the pipeline implications are — and vice versa.

● Retention & talent lifecycle: Contribute to APAC-wide retention initiatives alongside People and business leadership. Bring an external lens to what's making talent leave and what keeps great people engaged — using candidate and market data to inform internal decisions on career development, EVP, and team experience. Attracting talent and keeping it are two sides of the same problem.

● Proven experience leading recruiting teams in APAC — you understand the nuances of hiring across multiple markets.
● Direct experience with AI in TA — whether that's implementing AI sourcing tools, redesigning workflows with automation, or leading a broader AI transformation of a recruiting function.
● Comfortable at the strategic layer — you can run an intake meeting with a VP and a board-level planning conversation in the same week.
● A track record of developing experienced recruiters — you know when to coach, when to challenge, and when to get out of the way.
● Strong commercial instinct — you think about hiring as a growth lever, not a headcount exercise.
● Experience in B2B SaaS, fintech, or tech scale-ups — you know the talent profiles we're hiring and what great looks like.
● Fluent in data — you use metrics to tell a story, spot patterns, and make the case for change.
● Entrepreneurial by nature — you thrive with autonomy, move with pace, and don't need a lot of hand-holding to figure out what needs to be done.