Onboarding Excellence Lead - Associate Director (1-year Fixed Term Contract)EY

The opportunity

EY is launching Onboarding Excellence (ONBE), the next evolution of our global onboarding strategy. Building on the Onboarding Foundation technology project, ONBE focuses on transforming pre‑ and post‑day‑one onboarding across all hire types through process and experience optimization, automation, AI‑enabled improvements and targeted technology enhancements.

As an ONBE Lead you will play a key role in shaping how EY welcomes talent globally. Working within a unified global team, you will provide global functional leadership and governance for our ONBE project, ensuring that onboarding process, experience, technology and change decisions are strategically aligned, operationally viable, scalable across regions, and adopted effectively.

This high‑visibility role offers the opportunity to influence a long‑term global transformation, contribute to the future 'art of the possible' process and experience design, onboarding Target Operating Model (TOM), and help deliver measurable business value, including faster time to productivity, improved experience and increased operational efficiency.

Essential functions of the job:

• Provide global functional governance for the ONBE project, ensuring alignment with onboarding strategy, standards, processes, operating model and broader Talent priorities.
• Translate strategic direction into clear design principles, priorities and decision frameworks that enable timely decision‑making, delivery and adoption.
• Act as project functional co‑lead (with the Global Onboarding Lead) and senior decision partner, consolidating input from onboarding SMEs and regions into clear, actionable recommendations and functional sign‑off where required.
• Validate solution designs to ensure they are scalable, compliant and operationally viable across regions prior to deployment.
• Represent onboarding as a single, consolidated function voice within project leadership forums and governance bodies.
• Collaborate and influence regional stakeholders to align with global onboarding processes, tools and ways of working, balancing standardization with regulatory and practical local needs.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for onboarding‑related risks, dependencies, change impacts and adoption barriers, driving resolution and risk mitigation.
• Champion simplification, consistency, operational excellence and experience improvement as core principles of onboarding transformation.

Supervision Responsibilities:

• Lead and coordinate the work of two Onboarding Excellence Subject Matter Representatives (SMRs) assigned to the project, providing direction, prioritization and support.

Skills and attributes for success

• Strong understanding of global onboarding operating models, end‑to‑end processes and regional adoption dynamics.
• Proven ability to influence without authority, balancing strategic intent with on‑the‑ground realities.
• Confidence and credibility as a decision owner, escalation point and trusted strategic advisor.
• Experience partnering across process, technology, change and communications workstreams in complex projects.
• Comfortable working in matrixed, cross‑functional delivery models with multiple stakeholders.
• Data‑driven mindset, with the ability to define KPIs, interpret experience and operational data, identify root causes and convert insights into practical improvement actions.
• Strong executive presence, able to communicate complex or difficult decisions clearly and engage senior stakeholders with confidence.
• Demonstrated change leadership and agility, articulating benefits, removing barriers and maintaining composure under pressure.
• Strong influencing and partnering skills, able to propose credible options, reach resolution and maintain trust through transparency.
• Continuous improvement and innovation mindset, challenging the status quo to drive efficiency, risk reduction and resource optimization.
• Sound quality and risk management capability, ensuring appropriate controls, compliance and high‑quality outcomes within agreed timelines.

Ideally you'll also have:

• Exposure to global Talent platforms supporting onboarding processes.
• Experience working with Target Operating Models and/or process optimisation.
• Experience…