Program Lead, Harbor Academy & Early Talent Strategy

Harbor is seeking a strategic, hands-on recruiter to shape the future of our global talent pipeline through Harbor Academy and our early talent campus strategy. Reporting to the Head of Talent Management, this role is a critical part of Harbor 's long-term workforce planning strategy, helping build the early talent pipeline needed to support the company's continued growth.

This role will lead the evolution of the Harbor Academy program while defining and executing Harbor 's global university and early talent strategy. Working closely with business leaders and Talent Development, the successful candidate will identify future workforce needs, establish strategic university partnerships, develop innovative recruiting strategies, and personally lead end-to-end hiring for interns and early-career professionals.

This is a builder and operator role requiring someone equally comfortable developing enterprise strategy and rolling up their sleeves to execute. Success will be measured by the strength of Harbor 's long-term talent pipeline, the quality of hires, the scalability of Harbor Academy, and the program's contribution to workforce capacity, organizational capability, and future leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

Workforce Planning & Future Talent Recruitment

• Partner with the Head of Talent Management to support Harbor 's global workforce and capacity planning strategy.
• Translate future workforce needs into proactive early talent sourcing and hiring.
• Identify critical capability gaps and develop sustainable pipelines aligned with Harbor 's long-term business priorities.
• Build organizational leverage by expanding Harbor 's early-career talent pipeline and reducing long-term reliance on experienced external hiring.
• Develop multi-year hiring strategies aligned with business growth, geographic expansion, and evolving capability needs.

Global University Strategy & Talent Pipeline

• Define and execute Harbor 's global university partnership strategy across North America, UK, and other priority markets.
• Build and continuously foster relationships with universities, faculty, career centers, student organizations, and professional associations.
• Identify new and emerging sources of talent aligned with Harbor 's workforce strategy.
• Position Harbor as an employer of choice for high-potential early-career professionals.

Lead Early-Talent Program Strategy and Evolution

Own the overall program strategy, operating model, participant experience, and alignment to Harbor ’s early-talent and workforce priorities. Support the continued evolution of Harbor Academy as Harbor 's flagship early talent program.

Collaborate with Talent Development to support the early-talent learning strategy, with Talent Development accountable for capability strategy, curriculum architecture, instructional design, learning standards, and learning impact measurement.Enhance, scale, and continuously improve the overall program model and participant experience to support Harbor 's global growth and workforce strategy.

Translate business and workforce needs into program requirements and partner with Talent Development and business leaders to ensure participants build the technical, professional, commercial, and enterprise capabilities needed for long-term success.

Establish meaningful success metrics, including conversion rates, retention, career progression, engagement, and quality of hire.

Campus Recruiting & Program Execution

• Personally lead full-cycle recruiting for exceptional interns and early-career professionals across multiple business functions
• Plan, coordinate and attend career fairs, networking events, information sessions, and university recruiting activities.
• Partner with hiring managers to align recruiting efforts with workforce priorities.
• Deliver a best-in-class candidate experience from first interaction through offer acceptance.

Candidate Engagement & Talent Experience

• Design and execute a year-round engagement strategy that keeps students connected to Harbor between offer acceptance and start date.
• Create meaningful touchpoints through executive engagement, networking events, mentoring, learning experiences, and ongoing communication.
• Maximize offer acceptance, internship conversion, and long-term employee engagement before Day One.

Optimize Early Talent Placement

Develop Harbor 's early talent location strategy in partnership with business leaders, prioritizing hiring into office locations where employees can benefit from in-person collaboration, mentorship, and professional development.

Identify teams and leaders best positioned to provide coaching, meaningful work experiences, and long-term career growth.

Build strong cohort experiences that accelerate cultural integration, peer connections, skill development, and employee retention while supporting Harbor 's hybrid, global operating model.

Design rotational pathways across functions and partner with leaders to identify rotation opportunities.

Qualifications:

• At least 5 years of experience in campus recruiting, university relations, full-cycle talent acquisition, workforce planning, or early talent program execution.
• Hands on experience designing, scaling, or leading internship or graduate development programs in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Familiarity with the Handshake campus recruitment platform and previous experience using an Applicant Tracking System (Greenhouse preferred).
• Experience developing and facilitating a rotational campus program preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to develop strategic partnerships with universities and business leaders.
• Strong program management and organizational skills.
• Excellent communication, executive presence, and relationship-building capabilities.
• Experience supporting global organizations preferred.

Success Measures

Within the first 12–18 months, this role will:

• Establish Harbor 's global university partnership strategy aligned with workforce planning priorities.
• Continue evolving Harbor Academy into a best-in-class early talent program that scales with the business.
• Build a sustainable pipeline of high-performing early-career talent across key markets and capabilities.
• Improve offer acceptance, internship conversion, first-year retention, and quality of hire.
• Strengthen Harbor 's employer brand across target universities.
• Create measurable organizational leverage by developing future talent internally while supporting Harbor 's long-term workforce and leadership needs.

About Us:

Harbor is the preeminent provider of expert services across strategy, legal technology, operations, and intelligence. Our globally integrated team of 900+ strategists, technologists, and specialists navigate alongside our clients – leading law firms, corporations, and their law departments – to provide essential resources and invaluable insights. Anchored in a rich heritage of deep knowledge, steadfast relationships, and mutual respect, our unwavering dedication lies in shaping the future of the legal industry and fostering enduring partnerships within our community and ecosystem.

Harbor is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, civil union status, national origin, ancestry, age, parental status, disabled status, veteran status, or any other legally protected classification, in accordance with applicable law.

Originally posted on Himalayas