Talent Acquisition Operations & Enablement Specialist

Role Purpose

Enable the evolution of North America (NAM) Talent Acquisition through technology, AI innovation, automation, sourcing operations, and operational excellence. This role translates Talent Acquisition priorities into scalable solutions that improve recruiter productivity, enhance hiring outcomes, strengthen operational effectiveness, and create a more data-driven hiring ecosystem. 

This role serves as a key operational partner to the North America Talent Acquisition team, connecting TA strategy with execution through the implementation and adoption of AI-enabled solutions, recruiting technologies, sourcing operations, program administration, and process optimization. The role ensures technology investments, recruiting programs, and operational processes deliver measurable business value while creating efficient, scalable, and consistent hiring practices across North America. 

Success in this role requires strong organizational skills, technical aptitude, systems thinking, attention to detail, stakeholder management, and a passion for continuous improvement and operational excellence. 

Key Responsibilities

1. AI Innovation, Technology & Systems Optimization

• Identify, pilot, implement, and scale AI-enabled solutions that improve Talent Acquisition efficiency, effectiveness, and the candidate and recruiter experience.
• Lead the implementation and continuous improvement of AI agents, automation capabilities, and emerging recruiting technologies.
• Translate business opportunities into practical AI use cases with clear success measures and measurable impact.
• Drive optimization and adoption of the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), recruiting technology ecosystem, and associated workflows, including SmartRecruiters.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for user questions, troubleshooting, and system support.
• Maintain recruiting workflows, templates, permissions, system documentation, and operating standards.
• Partner with global, regional, technology, and systems stakeholders on enhancements, integrations, updates, issue resolution, and continuous improvement.
• Monitor system utilization, performance, data quality, and process compliance while identifying opportunities to increase adoption, efficiency, data integrity, and system utilization.
• Support the evolution of recruiting technology, ATS modernization, and AI-enabled recruiting capabilities.

2. Talent Acquisition Operations & Operational Excellence

• Maintain recruiting documentation, process guides, SOPs, operational resources, and candidate-facing materials.
• Identify and implement opportunities to streamline Talent Acquisition processes, reduce administrative burden, and increase recruiter capacity.
• Develop scalable operating models, standard processes, and automation solutions that support consistent execution across teams and markets.
• Evaluate recruiting workflows to identify inefficiencies, duplication, process gaps, and opportunities for simplification and automation.
• Recommend and implement operational improvements that enhance recruiter and candidate experience.
• Champion best practices that support scalability, consistency, operational effectiveness, and quality hiring outcomes.
• Measure and track operational improvements, service levels, process effectiveness, efficiency gains, cost avoidance, and service quality.

3. Sourcing Operations & Talent Pipeline Management 

• Support sourcing initiatives aligned to priority business needs and hiring plans. 

• Support development and management of targeted talent pools and pipelines for internship, early career, and strategic hiring needs. 

• Establish adoption plans, enablement resources, and feedback mechanisms that support recruiter effectiveness and workflow integration. 

4. Strategic Programs & Project Delivery

• Support strategic Talent Acquisition programs and technology-enabled initiatives from discovery and design through implementation and evaluation.
• Establish project plans, milestones, ownership, risks, and success measures.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders across Talent Acquisition, HR, Digital, IT, hiring managers, HRBPs, and global Centers of Excellence.
• Ensure delivery against agreed timelines, business outcomes, and implementation standards.
• Translate pilot results and stakeholder feedback into recommendations for scaling, refining, or discontinuing initiatives.

5. Champions Program Administration 

• Own day-to-day administration of the Talent Acquisition Champions Program. 

• Manage Champion assignments, participation records, communications, and tracking. 

• Coordinate onboarding, training logistics, and ongoing engagement activities. 

• Maintain program documentation, resources, and SharePoint content. 

• Collect participant feedback and recommend operational improvements to enhance program effectiveness. 

• Support program reporting and leadership updates. 

6. Internship & Early Career Program Support 

• Support operational execution of internship recruitment processes. 

• Coordinate candidate communications, interview logistics, and process tracking. 

• Support intern conversion tracking. 

• Maintain recruiting materials and candidate-facing resources. 

7. Analytics, Governance & Business Impact 

• Develop dashboards, reporting, and leadership materials that demonstrate the effectiveness and business impact of Talent Acquisition technology, AI initiatives, programs, and operations. 

• Establish consistent measurement of adoption, productivity, quality, operational efficiency, return on investment, service levels, and program performance. 

• Track program metrics and effectiveness across recruiting initiatives and operational programs. 

• Use data, insights, and stakeholder feedback to prioritize future enhancements and investment opportunities. 

• Communicate outcomes, risks, recommendations, and progress updates to Talent Acquisition leadership to support data-driven decision-making. 

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Experience in operations, project coordination, technology, process improvement, business systems, or a related function.
• Working knowledge of AI tools, automation solutions, business applications, workflow tools, and technology platforms used to improve business operations.
• Experience supporting technology implementations, system enhancements, process improvements, and workflow optimization initiatives.
• Strong project coordination and organizational skills with the ability to drive deliverables across multiple stakeholders and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
• Ability to gather, analyze, and present business data and insights, identify trends, and develop reporting to support decision-making.
• Knowledge of process documentation, governance practices, and standard operating procedures, with experience creating documentation, user resources, and training materials.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify opportunities for efficiency and continuous improvement.
• Effective stakeholder management and collaboration skills across business and technology teams.
• Experience supporting change adoption and user enablement efforts.
• Strong attention to detail, with the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment and adapt quickly to new technologies, tools, and processes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficiency with productivity, reporting, and data visualization tools.
• At adidas we offer a Hybrid work policy which requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in-person presentation, in-office attendance is required even on Friday.

Requisite Education & Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• We welcome a combination of education and experience in lieu of a degree

• adidas celebrates diversity, supports inclusiveness and encourages individual expression in our workplace. We actively encourage individuals with disabilities to apply and will provide reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. We do not tolerate the harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

• adidas offers robust and progressive medical, including HSA (Health Savings Account) with employer funding or FSA (Flexible Spending Account) options, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, adoption, with surrogate and fertility support, short and long-term disability, and basic life and AD&D insurance. Employees are able to enroll in adidas’ 401k plan and Stock Purchase Plan with employer match. Full-time employees are eligible for education assistance and generous Leave policies including 14 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Employees are eligible to earn an annual bonus based on company performance. Employees accrue prorated flexible time off in the amount .4388 hours per day that increases with years of service, twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year and Service Time Off during milestone years.
• Though our teammates hail from all corners of the world, our working language is English.
• At adidas we offer a Hybrid work policy which requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in-person presentation, in-office attendance is required even on Friday. The working location of this position is Portland, OR.