Senior Talent Science Lead at Canonical - HR Analytics in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
A Senior, High-Accountability Role in a Niche but Growing Field
Talent Science — the intersection of HR analytics, behavioural psychology, and data engineering — is an emerging discipline with strong demand and limited supply of senior practitioners. This role positions you at the forefront of that field within a globally recognized open-source company.
Work-Life Balance Signals:
- 40 days of annual leave (including public holidays) is exceptional by global standards — well above the US average of ~15 days and competitive even against generous European norms.
- Fully remote with twice-yearly in-person sprints signals a mature async culture, not a hybrid compromise.
- The $2,000/year L&D budget is a genuine investment in your growth, not a token gesture.
Compensation Context: No salary is disclosed, but Canonical uses geo-adjusted pay reviewed bi-annually. For a senior Talent Science or People Analytics manager with 7+ years experience, market rates typically range from $90,000–$140,000 USD annually in EMEA. Canonical's reputation for competitive, location-adjusted pay is generally positive.
Skills You'll Develop: SQL/Python analytics in an HR context, psychometric assessment design, BI tooling (Superset), and people leadership at a global scale — all highly transferable to Chief People Officer or Head of People Analytics tracks.
Green Flags: Founder-led and profitable (no VC pressure), strong DE&I commitment, and clear reporting structure to the Global Head. Red Flag to watch: High expectations culture with limited disclosed compensation may not suit everyone — probe salary and team size early in interviews.
Our Talent Science team ensures that we follow an objective, scientifically rigorous and efficient process to select the very best new colleagues regardless of location, culture or background. With a data-centric approach, we examine hiring data to create talent analytics and business intelligence to fuel our decision making on hiring. We leverage data to enable evidence-based decisions, weaving behavioural science throughout our selection process.
Working closely with our Hiring Leadership team, who ultimately lead on hiring, our team ensures that hiring decisions are being made in the right way and that our hiring model supports the selection of world class talent.
We are looking for a set of leaders to support our team growth and to help drive our strategic objective outcomes. This role will report directly to the Global Head of Talent Science.
To be successful you will bring:
- Analytical tooling to coach and lead the team
- Experience of leading roadmaps and projects
- Experience of leading others to achieve exceptional results
Location: These are remote based positions that are available across the globe.
The Role Entails
- Leading a team to deliver against a set of strategic objectives, with focus on product design and implementation of our roadmap.
- Cracking the code on hiring, connecting performance outcomes back to selection methods to ensure we identify and progress exceptional talent.
- Designing professional processes and frameworks, allowing efficient delivery of our agenda.
- Coaching and mentoring team members to grow and develop skill sets specifically around analytical capabilities and thought leadership, developing training materials and documentation to support team members.
- Driving and representing the team in the absence of the Head of, acting as a credible and trusted adviser and an inspiring leader.
- Working closely with company leaders to understand, appreciate and communicate our vision for talent at Canonical.
What We Are Looking For in You
- Exceptional academic track record from both high school and university, with an undergraduate degree in a people-based subject.
- 7+ years experience in a Talent function, with a deep appreciation of recruitment and selection and analytics that drive decision making.
- Proven analytical ability to dissect and analyse data using SQL. Alternatively use Python, R, SPSS, or possess the ability to run lookups, indexing, matching formulae with an appetite to learn SQL.
- Exposure to BI tools (Superset is our platform).
- Exemplary ability to lead and drive others to deliver, including exceptional project management and coaching to lead roadmap execution and delivery.
- Exceptional written and spoken English with strong presentation skills for a senior audience.
- Sincere personal motivation aligned with our mission.
- International travel 2–4 times a year for company events up to two weeks long.
In addition we expect that you will match our values, by being:
- Precise, taking care to deliver correctness and clarity.
- Reliable, delivering high quality work that builds trust and confidence.
- Accessible, collaborating to build products and systems that are usable.
- Adroit, blending enthusiasm, knowledge, adaptability, style and character.
Nice-to-Have Skills
- Advanced psychometric skills.
- A deep understanding of human behaviour, in particular intrinsic motivation.
- Experience of using Superset and/or Greenhouse.
What We Offer Colleagues
We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We assess performance and revisit compensation twice annually to ensure we recognize outstanding colleagues. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional benefits which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.
- Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
- Personal learning and development budget of $2,000 USD per year
- Bi-annual compensation review
- Company recognition rewards
- 40 days annual leave per annum, including public holidays and our All Company holiday periods
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Team Member Assistance Program & Wellness Platform
- Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues, with Priority Pass for lounge access
About Canonical
Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. We are founder-led, profitable, and growing.
Powered by worldwide distributed collaboration since our inception in 2004, we believe tech and business leadership can emerge anywhere. We have no central headquarters. Most of us work from home, but we are exceptionally disciplined about this. We have very high expectations of all colleagues, and are champions of excellence. Working here is a step into the future and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.
Canonical Is an Equal Opportunity Employer
We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.
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