Director Agentic Talent Programs, Retail Hospitality

Job Requirements

Job Description Phenom is an applied AI company with a bold mission: help a billion people find the right work. Our platform delivers an AI orchestration layer that sits across the entire talent lifecycle, automating workflows, surfacing intelligence, and deploying agentic capabilities that let enterprises operate at a speed and precision their legacy systems were never built to match. We work with the most forward-thinking enterprises in the market, companies that are scaling aggressively, transforming how they operate, and making bold bets on AI to outpace their competition. They range from 5,000 employees to more than one million.

The Director, Agentic Talent Programs is a client-facing, revenue-accountable role on Phenom's enterprise team. The Director runs point on strategic account engagements with retailers, restaurant groups, hotel and travel operators, and transportation and logistics companies. Working directly with CHROs, CPOs, and CFOs, the Director diagnoses the talent-related constraint blocking one of the client's key growth priorities, then designs and sells the Phenom solution that resolves it. The Director owns the research and analysis behind each prospect engagement: account research, a documented hypothesis about the client's problem, a map of where that problem shows up operationally, a financial model of what it is costing the client, and a plan for getting the right stakeholders aligned. The Director carries the engagement through the full new client cycle, from first contact to signed contract. (If based within 50 miles of Horsham, PA, this would be 5 days/week on-site.)

What this role is

• A revenue-accountable, customer acquisition-focused role: success is measured by pipeline generated and new customers onboarded.
• Research and analysis heavy: the Director builds the account intelligence, financial model, and business case behind every engagement.
• A role that operates at the executive level: with CHROs, CPOs, and CFOs as the primary audience.

What this role is not

• Not a demo-led product sale: the platform walkthrough is a consequence of the diagnosis, not the opening move.
• Not account management or renewals: this is new customer acquisition.
• Not a solutions consulting seat: the Director carries the number.
• Not a volume outbound role: fewer accounts, far more depth per account.

The Talent Constraint in Retail, Hospitality & Logistics

• Speed is the product: at this hiring volume, a single day removed from time-to-hire is worth real money, and application drop-off is the largest single loss in the funnel. The model is built on conversion, not on candidate quality.
• Demand is seasonal and dated: peak, holiday, and travel season ramps have fixed start dates. Understaffing at peak is revenue that cannot be recovered later in the year.
• Turnover is structural, so hiring is continuous: the system has to run at throughput rather than as a craft. Anything that requires a recruiter to touch every candidate does not survive contact with the volume.
• Frontline vacancy degrades the customer experience the same week: understaffed stores, restaurants, and properties lose sales and reviews immediately, and the review damage outlasts the vacancy.
• Logistics adds licensing and safety limits on the qualified pool: CDL requirements, DOT compliance, and safety records shrink the pool and lengthen the cycle, on top of the volume problem.
• Hourly candidates apply on a phone in minutes, to several employers at once: every additional step in the apply flow is measurable lost supply. This is the most quantifiable part of the business case in the vertical.

What you'll actually do

• Research target companies (comparable sales, unit and DC opening schedules, labor as a percentage of revenue, and stated peak season plans) before any outreach
• Build a documented hypothesis on the talent constraint blocking each account's most important growth priority
• Open executive conversations with a specific, researched insight about the account
• Run meetings that test the hypothesis directly with the client and reach a shared diagnosis
• Map the client's current-state hiring process to identify failure points and bottlenecks
• Build a financial model quantifying the cost of the client's current constraint
• Align stakeholders (CHRO, CPO, CFO) to move the engagement through approval
• Build urgency using the financial case itself, rather than deadlines or discounts
• Use AI and LLM tools to accelerate research and sharpen analysis

Core disciplines needed Understand the Business

1. Business Intelligence Read 10-Ks and quarterly calls for comparable sales, unit growth, and new store or distribution center opening schedules. For hospitality, RevPAR and occupancy. For logistics, cost per package or per mile and network expansion plans. Track labor as a percentage of revenue and any stated peak season staffing plan. Walk into every meeting already knowing what the company has committed to open, serve, or move this year.

2. Hypothesis Construction Translate business context into a specific, falsifiable hypothesis about the client's talent constraint before any outreach. Name which growth levers are blocked, and by what, precisely.

3. Hypothesis-Led Validation Run meetings designed to test the hypothesis directly with the client. Ask questions that confirm or disprove the thesis in real time. The goal is a diagnosis the client agrees with, reached together. Build the Case

4. Process Mapping Decompose the client's hiring workflow into current-state swim lanes. Identify handoffs, SLA breaks, and bottlenecks.

5. Hypercell Design Define a discrete, outcome-scoped Phenom deployment tied to a specific talent problem. Here that reads like "store associate, 120 locations, one region, 21-day fill through peak" or "CDL Class A driver, three distribution centers, continuous requisition." Each hypercell has a defined job title, location, and job family, a named constraint, and a measurable result.

6. Financial Modeling Quantify the cost of the client's current constraint using the numbers this industry already tracks: sales lost per understaffed store-day, revenue per unsold room-night, cost of an unfilled driver seat per week, application-to-hire drop-off, cost per hire at volume, overtime and premium pay driven by vacancy, and first-90-day attrition with rehire cost. Put a number on the problem before the proposal lands. Close the Engagement

7. Executive Communication Translate operational talent problems into board-level language. Write and speak at the altitude of a CHRO, CPO, or CFO.

8. Outcome Architecture Define success (metric, baseline, target) before the engagement begins. Tie every deliverable to that measurable outcome.

9. Engagement Orchestration Map the buying committee: economic buyer, champion, and any blockers. The CHRO or SVP of Field HR owns the process, the COO or store operations leader feels it every week, and the CFO funds it. Regional field leaders who carry their own P&L are often the champions who make the case internally. Underlying Capabilities Critical Thinking Challenges own assumptions before the client does. Deep Research Synthesizes accounts before any outreach is sent. LLM Fluency Uses AI to compress prep time and sharpen hypotheses. Structured Writing Memos and briefs that earn credibility on paper. Pattern Recognition Applies cross-account learning to new pursuits. Intellectual Curiosity Genuinely wants to understand how businesses work. Data Literacy Reads workforce dashboards, reasons from trends. Competitive Intelligence Knows Eightfold, Beamery, Avature, and Workday cold, plus the industrial and life sciences staffing firms and workforce management incumbents already inside these accounts. Operating Mindset Think like a Consultant. Diagnose before prescribing. Lead with insight. Diagnose like a Physician. Identify root causes, not symptoms. Map the constraint before naming the fix. Build like an Architect. Design the solution before proposing it. Precision over comprehensiveness. Communicate like a CFO. Translate everything to financial impact. Give the executive a one-sentence version of the model.

What we're looking for Required

• 7+ years doing at least one of the following: Fortune 1000 consulting in HR; leading a talent acquisition or talent management team; selling recruitment process outsourcing (RPO); or selling client-facing talent technology
• A track record in complex, multi-stakeholder engagement cycles
• Experience gaining access to senior leadership and developing ongoing growth opportunities
• Experience engaging CHROs, CPOs, or CFOs
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent demonstrated capability

Preferred, not required

• High-volume hourly hiring background in retail, restaurants, hospitality, or transportation and logistics
• Experience with field operations and multi-site or franchise structures
• HR tech or talent acquisition experience
• Prior consulting, banking, or operator background (super helpful)

How success is measured Primary

• Pipeline generated: qualified enterprise opportunities sourced and advanced.
• New customers onboarded: new logos signed and live.

Leading Indicators

• Executive access: documented CHRO, CPO, or CFO conversations per target account.
• Diagnostic accuracy: how often the pre-outreach hypothesis holds up when tested with the client.
• Business case quality: engagements carrying a client-validated financial model.

Salary

• Expected salary range $120,000 – 150,000

Please note the Salary range is subject to change in the future in accordance with Phenom’s Benefits We want you to be your best self and to pursue your passions!

• Benefits/programs to support holistic employee health
• Flexible hours and working schedules
• Growing organization with career pathing and development opportunities
• Tons of perks and extras in every location for all Phenoms!

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Our commitment to diversity runs deep! Diversity is essential to building phenomenal teams, products, and customer experiences. Phenom is proud to be an equal opportunity employer taking collective action to build a more inclusive environment where every candidate and employee feels welcomed. We recognize there is more to be done. Our teams are committed to continuous improvement until these powerful ideas are ingrained in our culture for Phenom and employers everywhere! #LI-LR1