Herb Essien

About Herb Essien

I’m a Talent Systems Architect focused on building the infrastructure that allows organizations to scale with precision.As a SHRM-CP certified leader, I work at the intersection of human capital strategy and systems execution—partnering with business leaders to turn workforce planning into a measurable, data-driven advantage. My focus is simple: design talent systems that actually perform under pressure.I specialize in supporting global, matrixed organizations where hiring is complex, high-volume, and business-critical. Whether it’s scaling engineering teams, integrating acquisitions, or optimizing recruiting operations, I bring structure, visibility, and accountability to the process.Where I Drive Impact• Systems & Process ArchitectureFunctional Lead across Workday and SAP recruiting environments, improving data integrity, workflow consistency, and global process alignment. I focus on building systems that reduce friction—not just using them.• Workforce Strategy & Cost OptimizationHelped design an internal sourcing model that reduced reliance on external agencies, delivering $10.3M+ in cost avoidance across 490+ hires while improving pipeline control and hiring quality.• AI-Enabled Recruiting OperationsLed the rollout and governance of Metaview AI, standardizing interview intelligence and improving evaluation consistency across recruiters and hiring teams.• M&A & Operational IntegrationSupported workforce stabilization and talent integration during acquisition activity, ensuring continuity across systems, processes, and hiring pipelines.• Data-Driven Decision MakingLeverage tools like Power BI and Crunchr to provide real-time visibility into hiring performance, pipeline health, and workforce trends—supporting better decisions at the leadership level.I’m passionate about building recruiting functions that operate like business units—measured, scalable, and aligned to real outcomes.

Experience

1. Talent Acquisition Partner

   AkzoNobel

   Sep 2021 — Present · Houston, TX, US

   Architected a recruiting operational turnaround that delivered $2.75M in documented efficiencies by optimizing Workday workflows and engineering-specific hiring CI (Continuous Improvement) protocols for high-stakes business units.Spearheaded full-cycle technical talent acquisition for mission-critical R&D and engineering roles, ensuring 100% compliance with ISO and OEM safety standards through the implementation of structured evaluation frameworks.Partnered with cross-functional leadership across global business units (Aerospace, Marine, Automotive) to standardize multi-regional workforce strategies, supporting complex organizational design and major global OEM partnerships.Functional Lead for the global recruitment team (18+ members), increasing data integrity and process efficiency by onboarding new hires into standardized Workday and SAP SuccessFactors workflows.Optimized third-party vendor governance to reduce cost leakage and improve workforce delivery metrics, managing the strategic performance of RPO partners and staffing agencies.Championed a diversity-led recruitment architecture that increased female representation in technical engineering pipelines by 30% through the deployment of bias-aware sourcing and bias-neutralizing evaluation tools.Executed specialized hiring for unionized and non-union technical facilities, delivering top 1% talent for mission-critical operations while maintaining absolute cross-divisional alignment.Engineered custom logic-based evaluation tools utilizing Vercel and API integrations to automate candidate qualification for high-stakes engineering roles, reducing manual screening time by an estimated 30%

Education

• Louisiana State University

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

  2008 — 2013

Skills

• Sports
• Athletics
• Facebook
• Customer Service
• Research
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Sports Management
• Higher Education
• Microsoft Word
• Public Relations
• Social Media
• Sports Marketing
• Social Networking
• Event Management
• Public Speaking
• Microsoft Office
• Event Planning
• Teamwork