Executive Search Consultant

Ahold Delhaize is one fo the world's largest food retail groups and a leader in both supermarkets and e-Commerce. Its family of great, local brands serves more than 50 million customers each week in Europe, the United States and Indonesia. Together, these brands employ more than 400,000 associates in more than 6,700 grocery and specialty stores. Our Global Suppport Office (GSO) is based in Zaandam in the Netherlands, but GSO associates also work in all the countries we serve. This team supports all our great local brands in finance, HR, IT, legal, communications, sutainable retailing and other key functions. 

The Role: Executive Search Consultant- United States (remote)

We are seeking an Executive Search Consultant to join the highly successful Executive Search department which manages full cycle executive level searches and partners with senior stakeholders on current & future hiring needs.

Reporting to the Vice President of Global Executive Search, the Executive Search Consultant, will be responsible for identifying and recruiting external candidates for Vice President level and up for the Ahold Delhaize brands as well as corporate functions. With your excellent networking skills and strategic mindset, you can make an impact by identifying the best fit between passive candidates and senior level roles.

The role combines external research, proactive recruiting, assessment and relationship building skills to deliver top tier service and value to the hiring teams. This person will works closely with VP of Executive Search to execute the most senior level search assignments with a focus on developing business knowledge and candidate pipelines.

Moreover, the Executive Search Consultant, will continuously develop thorough search strategies to meet the needs of Ahold Delhaize’s Brands & Functions while constructing target lists of companies (source environments), identifying and attracting prospects, (assisting with) writing professional job descriptions, completing search progress reports, and documenting candidate qualifications and references. The Executive Search Consultant will also capture and communicate market trends, industry information and other applicable intelligence to Senior Leadership in support of overarching talent sourcing strategy work.

This position will also support Ahold Delhaize’s talent agenda focusing on strengthening the executive succession plans for the most critical executive roles and upgrading executive talent in line with the company’s growth plans and specific to Ahold Delhaize’s business strategy. This will also entail the building & activation of unique and innovative “executive talent scouting” programs so that Ahold Delhaize will be in a position to attract and acquire “ready now” and “ready future” executive level talent to bolster succession planning, to minimize risk of critical roles as well as upgrading talent when possible (opportunistic hiring).

Specific responsibilities include:

• Support and manage 5-7 executive recruiting projects (full cycle) on average; Most search assignments will be directly supporting the VP of Global Executive Search while others will be managed independently (1-2 VP searches in either Europe or the United States).
• Proactively identify & recruit passive level prospects for VP levels to engage talent in order to assess their capabilities, their career aspirations as well as their potential interest in a joining a company such as Ahold Delhaize for immediate vacancies as well as long term succession planning needs;
• Become a primary point person for all Ahold Delhaize executive referrals and responsible for contacting, assessing, reporting and tracking. Determine if referrals are best for exploratory interviews, immediate vacancies or neither.
• Contributing actively to the start-up phase of the search by participating in client kick-off meetings with the Vice President of Executive Search and assisting in the development of the search strategy and target list of companies.  Asking valid and insightful questions to clarify hiring needs.
• Executing on the search strategies, i.e.: phone generation (cold-calling) of candidates, networking within niche and function, identifying applicable associations, professional groups and affiliations, websites, Boolean searches, targeting competing companies, etc.
• Engaging and assessing the executive talent by developing robust screening questions that will narrow the candidate pool and home in on the qualified, interested and best candidates for the role. You will assess candidates for cultural, experiential and financial fit, utilizing a behavior-based interview approach based on the core competencies identified with client.
• Effectively utilize comprehensive knowledge of Ahold Delhaize’s strategy, executive career pathing as well as understand & communicate the company’s executive compensation philosophy
• Build relationships with potential candidates and be a trusted advisor to them
• Help manage all related administrative duties related to the search process including status reports, candidate assessments, feedback/scorecard collection, etc.  Assist with the interview scheduling process when necessary.
• Gathering relevant information regarding the appropriate industries and target companies, including identifying potential prospects and sources.
• Working on multiple projects; meets deadlines and is resilient under pressure; delivers on commitments on time or notifies as early as possible if deadlines will slip.
• Taking and end-to-end view of each project and the required resources; works at pace and with attention to detail while managing competing deadlines and priorities; has a strong sense of urgency.
• Anticipates needs to drive the search to closure and be prepared to supply additional information, such as related industry trends, market findings, reaction to the opportunity, compensation data, etc., gained during the course of a search.
• Manage and conduct thorough reference and background checks on final candidates;

The Candidate Profile:

The ideal candidate will possess the following:

• 7-10 years of executive level recruiting within a retained external search firm, and/or a corporate executive recruiting function within a multi-billion dollar/euro global corporation;
• Someone who is strategic in nature and can develop and deliver on a unique and leading-edge style of executive recruiting. You have a highly credible (right amount of professional gravitas) at the executive level and equally so, can acquire highly confidential information and maintain the highest level of discretion;
• Ability to independently develop executive recruiting strategies for the identification, assessment and selection of top passive talent under very tight timelines
• Fully knowledgeable of executive recruiting techniques, recruitment plan development, sourcing methods (proactive recruiting, executive referrals, research, internet search, etc.) and executive compensation strategies.
• A truly engaging recruiter with the ability to establish rapport quickly, engage challenging executives and develop trusting relationships.
• Strong client facing capabilities, specifically dealing with and communicating (in- person or in writing) with executives at the highest levels of a corporation. 
• Superior project management skills demonstrated through experience in a high-performance environment where multiple projects and competing demands are the norm.  
• Excellent communication skills shown through clear, structured and concise written and verbal presentation.
• Candidate should demonstrate the ability to multitask, work in a fast-paced environment, make quick decisions and work with highly confidential information.
• A bachelor’s degree and an advanced degree preferred
• Candidate must live in or be willing to relocate to CT, DC, IL, KY, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, VT, WI, or WV

The GSO sets global strategies frameworks, facilitates the sharing of best practice and encourages economies of scale. Great examples include sharing technology and digital know-how, so we can continue to lead in online and in-store retailing, setting global targets for healthy and sustainable products-including reducing food waste, use of plastics and making our products healthier to use and eat, and championing development for our future leaders-from learning about the digital mindset to leading our stores of the future.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws. Qualified applicants are considered without regard to sex, race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, marital status (including civil unions), military service, veteran status, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, legally recognized disability, domestic violence victim status or any other characteristic protected by law.