Do you want to be part of supporting the growth of a biopharmaceutical company that is developing best-in-class therapeutics that address significant unmet medical needs? Ascendis Pharma is committed to support your personal development on our journey towards becoming a leading rare disease company.
Ascendis Pharma is looking to hire a full-cycle experienced Senior Talent Acquisition Partner to support business leaders with identification and assessment of candidates for our growing organization. You’ll partner with hiring managers to build teams; and support candidates with their early journey to becoming outstanding new hires at Ascendis.
Position Summary
The Senior Talent Acquisition Partner is an advanced-level recruiting professional responsible for delivering end-to-end hiring outcomes while serving as a trusted advisor to business leaders. This role owns full-cycle recruitment for commercial (non-sales) functions and is accountable for delivering high-quality talent through both direct sourcing strategies and external vendor partnerships.
Operating with a high degree of autonomy, this role leads complex searches, drives recruiting initiatives, and ensures consistent execution of talent acquisition practices. The position also oversees external recruiting vendors (including agencies and RPO partners), ensuring alignment to hiring strategy, quality expectations, and performance outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
Full-Cycle Recruiting & Business Partnership
- Lead end-to-end recruitment efforts (source to close) across multiple commercial (non-sales) functions, including marketing, market access, operations, and supporting roles
- Partner closely with hiring managers to understand business needs, define role requirements, and develop effective hiring strategies
- Serve as a trusted advisor to leaders on market insights, talent availability, and competitive positioning
Talent Strategy & Complex Hiring
- Lead recruitment for complex, business-critical roles requiring tailored sourcing and assessment strategies
- Use data, market intelligence, and recruiting expertise to inform hiring decisions and improve outcomes
- Monitor talent market trends and apply insights to optimize sourcing approaches and candidate engagement
Vendor & External Talent Ecosystem Management
- Manage relationships with external recruiting vendors, including agencies and RPO partners
- Define vendor engagement strategies aligned with business hiring needs and workforce plans
- Oversee vendor performance, including quality of candidates, delivery timelines, and cost effectiveness
- Coordinate vendor support for field hiring and other high-volume or specialized hiring needs
- Leverage third-party sourcing strategies to enhance talent pipelines for hard-to-fill roles
Project, Process & Operational Excellence
- Lead or contribute to talent acquisition projects and initiatives with limited oversight
- Identify opportunities to enhance recruiting processes, tools, and candidate experience
- Ensure consistent execution of TA policies, practices, and procedures across assigned business areas
- Manage requisition volume and ensure high standards for quality, efficiency, and stakeholder experience
Coaching & Capability Building
- Provide guidance and informal coaching to junior recruiters, coordinators, or hiring teams as needed
- Enhance hiring manager capability through consultative partnership and best practice sharing
- Contribute to strengthening overall talent acquisition capability within the organization
Requirements
- Typically requires 7–10+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, or equivalent depth demonstrated through leading complex searches, vendor strategy, and talent acquisition initiatives
- Demonstrated success recruiting for commercial (non-sales) roles, including marketing, market access, and operations functions
- Proven ability to manage complex searches and deliver across multiple business areas
- Experience managing or partnering with external recruiting vendors (agencies, RPO) and driving vendor performance
- Strong understanding of talent markets, sourcing strategies, and recruitment best practices
- Ability to operate independently and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills
- Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills
- Proficiency with ATS systems and recruiting tools
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience preferred
- Ability to travel up to 10% as needed
Anticipated compensation: $155-165K/year DOE
Benefits
- Medical insurance
- Vision insurance
- Dental insurance
- 401(k)
- Paid maternity leave
- Paid paternity leave
- Commuter benefits
- Disability insurance
- 401(k) plan with company match
- Medical, dental, and vision plans
- Company-offered Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) insurance
- Company-provided short and long-term disability benefits
- Unique offerings of Pet Insurance and Legal Insurance
- Employee Assistance Program
- Employee Discounts
- Professional Development
- Health Saving Account (HSA)
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Various incentive compensation plans
- Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance
- Mental Health resources
- Paid leave benefits for new parents
Ascendis Pharma is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
A note to recruiters:
We do not allow external search party solicitation. Presentation of candidates without written permission from the Ascendis Pharma Inc Human Resources team (specifically from: Talent Acquisition Partner or Human Resources Director) is not allowed. If this occurs your ownership of these candidates will not be acknowledged.
Skills Required
- Minimum of 6+ years of recruiting experience managing the full-life cycle candidate recruitment process
- Prior experience with full lifecycle sourcing and recruiting in the life science industry, recruiting for commercial non-sales roles (marketing, market access, operations)
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high quality work against tight deadlines
- Strong organizational and communication skills
- Demonstrated ability to build relationships within HR and with business leadership
- Exercises judgment in selecting methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results
- Strong working knowledge of systems and tools including ATS, and MS Office Suite
- Proven track record of high-volume, high-quality recruitment across multiple business disciplines
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time (as needed)
What We Do
Ascendis Pharma is applying its innovative TransCon technologies to build a leading, fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on making a meaningful difference in patients’ lives. Guided by its core values of patients, science and passion, the company utilizes its TransCon technologies to create new and potentially best-in-class therapies. Ascendis Pharma currently has a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates and one oncology product candidate in clinical development. The company continues to expand into additional therapeutic areas to address unmet patient needs. Ascendis is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with additional offices in Heidelberg and Berlin, Germany, Palo Alto and Redwood City, California, and Princeton, New Jersey.
