Sr. Consultant, Early Careers Programs - Talent Acquisition

If you’re passionate about becoming a Nationwide associate and believe you have the potential to be something great, let’s talk. At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

The Sr. Consultant, Early Careers Programs – Talent Acquisition will serve as the architect and driver of a comprehensive early careers portfolio, spanning high school internships, apprenticeships, rotational programs, bootcamps, immersion programs, early career academy and post-graduate pathways and concepts. By leveraging best-in-class practices across industries, the Sr. Consultant will design and implement experiences that attract, engage, and develop emerging talent while meeting the evolving needs of the business.

Key responsibilities include :

• Strategic Alignment & Portfolio Leadership : Evaluate and align early career initiatives with enterprise talent strategy, facilitating roadmap development and integrated planning across business units.
• Program Design & Execution : Lead the creation and delivery of innovative, inclusive programs that provide meaningful experiences for early career talent and support long-term workforce goals.
• Governance & Operational Excellence : Establish program infrastructure, governance models, and risk / change management practices to ensure consistent, high-quality execution.
• Stakeholder Engagement : Build strong partnerships across HR, business, technology, and finance to ensure alignment, resource support, and shared accountability.
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation : Use data, feedback, and market insights to continuously evolve programs, championing modern approaches to talent development and engagement.
• Leadership & Culture : Ability to lead across the enterprise, without direct reporting relationships, fostering a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and excellence in program delivery.

This is a hybrid work opportunity located in Columbus, OH

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Job Description Summary

Are you ready to design, curate and implement programs to embed leadership and managerial capability into Nationwide's culture? If you can partner with business executives, develop creative approaches to program elements and implementation and use a variety of learning methods and solutions, we want to know more about you!

As a Director, you'll build and manage our Leadership Rotation Programs by understanding business imperatives, defining talent needs, creating management frameworks, rotation program components and long term strategies to ensure an adequate and well qualified pool of talent is built for the future.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities :

Builds program strategy and tactics aligned with organizational goals.

Defines what the company wants to achieve through these programs; what associates need to know and do; how many program associates are needed; and how that translates into different types of experiences.

Works with senior leadership to acquire commitment on ownership and decision making, personal involvement, resources, communications and program governance.

Directs program recruiting and selection by creating a strategy; and defining selection criteria, process and tools.

May be responsible for creating effective two-way partnership relationships with key universities, professors and university leaders. Manages campus activities and interviews, including site visits and second interview processes.

Leads the design, development and delivery of education, networking and onboarding elements of the programs. Ensures education is relevant and linked to business strategies.

Defines program administrative frameworks, including associate pay, signing bonus, reward program participation, and performance evaluation processes.

Solicits / approves assignments that meet organizational learning goals and individual interests. Creates customized, individual development plans for each associate and modifies as needed based on performance and feedback. Identifies, defines and documents assignment, learning objectives and performance objectives; monitors performance against objectives and ensure effective coaching and feedback is delivered. Gathers / reviews monthly written feedback from associate on assignment.

Directs associate development, including performance management, salary planning and administration, training and development, workflow and organizational planning, and hiring and placement.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships : Reports to Associate Vice President / Vice President. Leads a team of Leadership Rotation Program professionals.

Typical Skills and Experiences :

Education : Undergraduate degree preferred with emphasis in business, education, psychology or related subject area desired. Advanced studies in management, organization development or the behavioral sciences leading to a master's or doctorate degree preferred.

Licenses / Certification / Designation : Licenses / certifications may be required as requested by business unit, e.g., FINRA series in Nationwide Financial.

Experience : Typically, ten or more years of demonstrated experience in roles with significant leadership rotation program experience, including five years in people management, recruiting, university relations, learning and development program and budget management required. Strong facilitation and organizational change experience required. Technical insurance industry experience desired.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities : Knowledge of behavioral and organization development concepts. Must have broad technical expertise in analysis, design, development and implementation of development solutions. Strong planning, organizing, leading and process management knowledge required. Knowledge of current policies, practices and trends affecting the business and organization. Ability to present and articulate ideas and plans, and build organizational momentum behind strategies. Strong organizational savvy, relationship building skills and consulting ability. Ability to set work priorities, effectively use resources, evaluate and apply problem solving methodology and strategic / critical thinking to make sound decisions. Strong leadership, team development and motivation skills required.

Other competencies, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.

Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager's leader and HR Business Partner.

Values : Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions :

Overtime Eligibility : Not Eligible (Exempt)

Working Conditions : Normal office environment. May require physical ability to stand while teaching and to move furniture, equipment and supplies around classroom. Potential for travel and non-standard work hours.

ADA : The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.

Benefits

We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including : medical / dental / vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more.