Katie Molek
San Diego
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
Director, Talent Management
Illumina
San Diego, CA, USA
07.2024 - Current
- Company Overview: Illumina is the global leader in Genomics and DNA Sequencing, serving customers in the research, clinical and pharma markets
- The company grew from 3,000 employees in 2014 to 9,000+ in 2024 globally
- Lead transformative initiatives across the talent management ecosystem (Leadership Development, Performance Enablement, Employee Engagement) to re-design our talent management principles and processes in alignment with a dynamic business environment
- Develop comprehensive talent strategies and secure support and buy-in from critical stakeholders to ensure strong alignment to enterprise business strategy
- Operationalize by aligning the right people and resources to support, activate and deliver to plan
- Partner cross-functionally to ensure processes are aligned to long-term objectives and workforce strategies (Compensation, HRBPs)
- Oversee 10-person organization with responsibility to lead, coach and develop 4 Sr Managers/Associate Directors directly
- Beyond traditional talent management, additional scope of leadership responsibility for DEI, University, Talent Attraction, Recruitment Marketing and Employer Brand
- Leadership of key enterprise strategic initiatives with deliverables visible to Executive team and Board: Refresh and introduce new corporate values, redesign performance enablement system to incorporate ratings, redesign talent review and calibration to better assess and identify critical talent pools
- Illumina is the global leader in Genomics and DNA Sequencing, serving customers in the research, clinical and pharma markets
- The company grew from 3,000 employees in 2014 to 9,000+ in 2024 globally
Director, Talent Acquisition
Illumina
San Diego, CA, USA
04.2022 - 07.2024
- Lead talent strategy supporting R&D and Commercial organizations
- Oversee 15-person organization with 2 Manager/Sr Managers reporting directly
- Implemented innovative organizational structure enhancing development opportunities.
- Supported hiring initiatives through dynamic/high change environment, communicating clear messages, troubleshooting issues, and supporting multiple prioritization efforts
- Trained and guided recruiters to become valuable talent advisors via development of recruiter leveling matrix.
Associate Director, Talent Acquisition
Illumina
San Diego, CA, USA
09.2021 - 03.2022
- Managed group of 10-20 recruiters supporting recruitment for Commercial, Marketing and Corporate departments.
- Coach recruiters to develop as strong Talent Advisors to the business through varied efforts (1:1 coaching, Talent Advisor workshop series, leveraging LinkedIn’s Talent Insights, Recruiter Hub, LinkedIn Learning, Talent Advisor Masterclass)
- In 2021, adapted to market changes by strategizing team scaling to align with business demands.
- Developed recruiter resourcing models to establish clear SLAs.
- Partner with recruiters to troubleshoot and resolve hiring and process challenges
- Created strategic talent attraction plans to engage and build proactive pipelines of diverse qualified talent.
- Mitigated bias in the hiring process through targeted strategies.
- Influenced hiring processes by analyzing data and recruitment metrics.
- Proactively partner with key stakeholders to engage in long-term workforce planning discussions, shaping the strategic direction for recruitment of top talent
- Partner with centers of excellence (Compensation, HRIS, Talent Enablement, Mobility) to ensure strong alignment to core talent philosophies
- Directed employer brand strategies.
- Elevated company standing by utilizing multiple platforms including Glassdoor and event marketing.
- Maintain partnerships with key talent vendors (LinkedIn, HireVue, Calendly, Glassdoor), leveraging technology to maximize efficiency
- Participate in Employer Value Proposition refresh and rollout of new EVP playbook
- Oversaw University and Talent Operations operations until September 2021.
Manager, Talent Acquisition | University & Talent Operations
Illumina
San Diego, CA, USA
02.2018 - 09.2020
- Increased leadership scope to cover full-cycle recruiters in June 2020.
- Led transformation strategy for our university recruiting efforts to advance early career hiring as a long-term workforce strategy
- Developed and championed business case to transform early career recruiting efforts, securing budget and resources for 2020 implementation
- Managed University Recruiters to ensure seamless execution of recruitment efforts.
- Implemented a workforce strategy focusing on intern programs, achieving a 55% conversion rate in 2021.
- Implemented outreach strategies and optimized the hiring pipeline, increasing intern diversity by 5%.
- Oversaw Talent Operations prioritizing strategic efforts to improve recruiting team's performance.
- Coordinated with global TA stakeholders to prioritize initiatives requiring HRIS support.
- Organize resources to gather requirements and manage roll-out messaging on any optimizations and changes to process
- Led strategic initiatives such as Employee Referral Program refresh and OFCCP compliance refresh.
- Facilitated RFI efforts for Employee Engagement Survey vendor selection in 2019.
- Establish strategic collaborations with top TA vendors such as LinkedIn, HireVue, Glassdoor, Calendly, Indeed and Handshake.
Manager, Talent Acquisition | GQO Program Manager
Illumina
San Diego, CA, USA
02.2016 - 02.2018
- Directed team of six professionals to bolster recruitment efforts for Global Quality & Operations organization in 2016.
- Designed detailed talent acquisition strategies to establish proactive critical talent pipelines.
- Optimized process for high-volume recruiting, aligning recruiting and sourcing resources to deliver on talent needs
- Enhanced visibility of goals with development of reporting mechanisms.
- Earned recognition from business leaders for successfully meeting recruitment objectives ahead of timelines.
Sr. Recruiter
Illumina
San Diego, CA, USA
09.2014 - 02.2016
- Specialized in full-cycle recruitment for Operations and Commercial departments from 2014 to 2016 as an individual contributor.
- Filled 100 positions in 2015 while handling a requisition load of up to 30.
- Recognized with the 2015 Values Award for excellence in global talent acquisition.
Talent Acquisition Partner | Corporate & Sales
ACTIVE Network
San Diego, CA, USA
02.2013 - 05.2014
- Software & technology company specializing in event registration and participation management.
- Organization maintains a global employee count of 3,500.
- Following its status as a publicly traded company, ACTIVE was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in November 2013.
- Teamed with Hiring Managers to recruit for internal positions in Inside & Field Sales (SaaS), Lead Generation, and Marketing roles.
- Averaged 15 placements per quarter: averaging requisition load of 20-30 positions
- Created universal best practices for use of ATS (Open Hire) and managed workflow roll-out to Recruitment and HR teams
- Collaborated on revamping and maintaining Talent Acquisition SharePoint site.
- Guided project team to establish best practices for competency-based interviews.
- Led structured interview training programs specifically designed for sales hiring managers.
- Contributed to projects aimed at enhancing Marketing and Branding efforts.
- ACTIVE Network ($420M) is a software & technology company specializing in event registration and participation management
- Organization maintains a global employee count of 3,500.
- Following its status as a publicly traded company, ACTIVE was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in November 2013.
Director of Recruiting
Revolution Prep
Los Angeles, USA
06.2012 - 02.2013
- $25M Revolution Prep provides educational software and resources for college readiness.
- Facilitated growth of team size from a modest count of 10 in 2006 to over 120 members by 2013.
- Joined as the tenth employee at a for-profit education start-up.
- Developed company’s full-spectrum hiring procedure, working closely with leaders to fill open positions.
- Created and launched an innovative university hiring initiative, achieving 30 hires in half a year.
- Oversaw comprehensive recruitment process leading to placement of 90 sales and education professionals in 2010.
- Developed comprehensive weekly reports to evaluate departmental ROI.
- Enabled implementation of new ATS system and background check provider.
- Centralized part-time hiring functions and implemented an ATS solution.
- HR responsibilities included full cycle recruitment, on-boarding of new employees, processing payroll (ADP), administering health benefits, maintaining employment files, conducting exit interviews and processing of terminations
- Revolution Prep ($25M) is a privately held, entrepreneurial company specializing in college test preparation and educational software
- Facilitated growth of team size from a modest count of 10 in 2006 to over 120 members by 2013.
Education
BA - Political Science
Boston University
01.2006
Skills
- Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
- ATS (Taleo, iCIMS, Silkroad/Open Hire, Kenexa/BrassRing, Workday)
- SharePoint
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- HireVue
- Handshake
- Calendly
- LinkedIn Talent Insights
- Gartner Talent Neuron
- Talent Management
- LinkedIn Learning
- Qualtrics
- Valence
- Strengths Finders
- Workday
Skills And Technology
- Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
- ATS (Taleo, iCIMS, Silkroad/Open Hire, Kenexa/BrassRing, Workday)
- SharePoint
- LinkedIn Recruiter
- HireVue
- Handshake
- Calendly
- LinkedIn Talent Insights
- Gartner Talent Neuron
- Talent Management
- LinkedIn Learning
- Qualtrics
- Valence
- Strengths Finders
- Workday
Timeline
Director, Talent Management
Illumina
07.2024 - Current
Director, Talent Acquisition
Illumina
04.2022 - 07.2024
Associate Director, Talent Acquisition
Illumina
09.2021 - 03.2022
Manager, Talent Acquisition | University & Talent Operations
Illumina
02.2018 - 09.2020
Manager, Talent Acquisition | GQO Program Manager
Illumina
02.2016 - 02.2018
Sr. Recruiter
Illumina
09.2014 - 02.2016
Talent Acquisition Partner | Corporate & Sales
ACTIVE Network
02.2013 - 05.2014
Director of Recruiting
Revolution Prep
06.2012 - 02.2013
BA - Political Science
Boston University