Early & Emerging Talent Program Recruiter

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is seeking an Early & Emerging Talent Program Recruiter to support long-term talent pipelines through recruitment and program operations. In this W2 hybrid contract role, you will lead full lifecycle recruiting for the Vertex MBA Associate Program and help run priority flagship talent initiatives, balancing university engagement, participant experience, conversion planning, executive communications, and data-driven program measurement.

Role overview

This position reports to the Early & Emerging Talent team and will act as a trusted talent advisor to business leaders, HR partners, executive sponsors, and university stakeholders. The work includes end-to-end recruitment strategy and execution, program support across the participant journey, and ongoing reporting on pipeline health and conversion outcomes. The role requires hybrid work in the Boston, MA area.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end recruitment strategy and execution for the Vertex MBA Associate Program.
• Collaborate with executive sponsors, HR Business Partners, and hiring managers to align on workforce needs and develop targeted talent acquisition strategies.
• Drive annual headcount planning, project intake, role alignment, and conversion forecasting to support internship-to-full-time conversion outcomes.
• Manage candidate attraction, screening, assessment, interview coordination, and offer delivery, including acceptance strategy.
• Track and communicate recruiting progress, talent-market insights, pipeline health, and conversion forecasts to program stakeholders.
• Build broad, high-quality talent pipelines through university partnerships, conferences, referrals, networking events, and targeted engagement.
• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with MBA programs and other universities supporting recruitment for flagship programs, including career centers, faculty, student organizations, and external partners.
• Represent Vertex at campus events, conferences, treks, career fairs, and networking engagements.
• Identify emerging talent trends and recommend new sourcing channels, partnerships, and year-round engagement opportunities.
• Lead manager kickoff meetings and readiness activities, including buddy assignments, onboarding, orientation and first-day support, welcome materials, program communications, and offboarding.
• Plan and execute manager and participant check-ins, capstone office hours, and presentations; participate with the early and emerging talent team in summer event planning.
• Serve as a point of contact for participants, managers, HR stakeholders, and executive sponsors throughout the program experience.
• Coordinate offboarding and communicate timelines early so participants and business teams are prepared.
• Drive continuous improvement using feedback from participants, managers, and stakeholders.
• Support recruitment and delivery for priority flagship programs, including PharmD Fellowships, Regulatory Affairs PhD Fellowships, and other strategic graduate-talent initiatives.
• Partner with academic institutions and internal steering committees to coordinate job postings, candidate review, screening, panel interviews, selection, offers, onboarding, and orientation.
• Guide eligible participants through internal networking and full-time recruitment processes.
• Build scalable and consistent processes across the Early & Emerging Talent portfolio while tailoring delivery to program needs.
• Maintain program trackers and dashboards covering pipeline health, offer status, university contacts, recruitment events, participant milestones, and conversion outcomes.
• Analyze recruiting effectiveness, acceptance and conversion outcomes, participant feedback, and overall program performance.
• Produce executive-ready updates and recommendations for Early & Emerging Talent leaders, business stakeholders, steering committees, and executive sponsors.
• Use data and stakeholder feedback to improve recruitment strategies, program experiences, and operational effectiveness.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 6+ years of experience in talent acquisition, campus recruiting, MBA or graduate recruiting, program management, or a related function.
• Proven experience managing high-visibility talent programs and building partnerships with business leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience recruiting and assessing graduate-level or early-career talent.
• Excellent communication, presentation, relationship-building, and executive stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities and seasonal deadlines.
• Experience using data and metrics to inform recruiting strategies and program decisions.
• Proficiency with applicant tracking systems, recruiting technologies, and Microsoft Office applications.
• Knowledge of applicable employment laws and recruiting practices.
• Ability to travel to target schools, conferences, and recruiting events as needed.
• Ability to commute to the Boston area as business and program needs require, including on-site support during peak recruitment and program periods.

Technologies

• Applicant tracking systems
• Recruiting technologies
• Microsoft Office

Preferred

• Experience supporting MBA, fellowship, leadership development, rotational, or other flagship talent programs.
• Experience partnering with executive sponsors, steering committees, and senior business leaders.
• Knowledge of workforce planning, talent-pipeline development, and conversion-focused recruiting strategies.
• Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or life sciences industry experience.
• Experience developing university partnerships, campus engagement, and employer-brand strategies.

What success looks like

• Build sustainable pipelines of future talent and leaders for Vertex.
• Deliver a high-quality, consistent experience for MBA Associates, Fellows, managers, and program stakeholders.
• Strengthen relationships with priority academic institutions and strategic external partners.
• Improve candidate acceptance, participant engagement, and full-time conversion outcomes.
• Create clear operating rhythms, scalable processes, and actionable reporting across priority programs.
• Serve as a strategic connector across the business, HR, Talent Acquisition, academia, and program participants.
• Position Early & Emerging Talent as a meaningful driver of Vertex's long-term talent and workforce strategy.

Job details

• Location: Boston, MA (hybrid)
• Job type: Contract (W2)
• Experience: 6+ years
• Education: Bachelor's degree
• Pay range: TBD

Posting notes and disclaimer

This is an evergreen posting. While there is not a current open role, Vertex is gathering applicants to prepare for potential future openings.

This job posting is for a temporary role with a third-party agency partner on assignment at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The selected individual will be employed by the third-party agency partner, and compensation and benefits will be presented by that agency upon offer. Compensation estimates are provided as a reasonable range at the time of posting and may vary based on skills, competencies, experience, location, and other job-related factors permitted by law. This role may be eligible for overtime pay in accordance with federal and state requirements. By applying, you agree to the Atrium Terms and Conditions and direct Atrium to share your application materials with Vertex. If you do not agree, you can still apply by emailing your resume to [email protected] with the job title in the subject. No C2C or Third-Party Vendors.