Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Hi, I’m Stefan! 👋 A German-born, Melbourne-based Talent Acquisition leader who delivers commercial outcomes and empowers TA teams through strategic technology, operational excellence, and data-driven insights. While my mum hoped I’d follow her footsteps into teaching, I found my true calling in transforming how organisations attract, connect with, and engage talent. I get genuinely excited about creating great experiences through technology and strategic communication. I’ve worked in agency, startup and high-growth environments and can confidently say: I’ve never enjoyed my career more than I do today. These days, I specialise in making recruitment technology work smarter and enhancing how organisations connect with talent and their people. My current role blends TA enablement and hands-on tech stack optimisation with strategic communications, letting me strengthen both recruitment operations and internal culture. I love challenging the status quo and asking, “Surely there must be a better way?” Whether it’s leveraging AI for sourcing, diving into analytics to uncover actionable insights, or developing impactful internal communications, I’m all about finding solutions that elevate experiences and deliver measurable results. You’ll also find me co-organising #MelbTalentMeetup, Melbourne’s largest community for TA professionals. Always keen to connect with fellow TA leaders and others in our industry.
I partner across our People technology ecosystem to drive AI enablement, automation, and continuous improvement across HR and TA. Part of this role is building out our AI roadmap for TA and People operations, designing and iterating on workflows, automations, and agents that make work easier and free people up for higher-value tasks. Alongside our HR leaders, I focus on making the most of the platforms we have and lead the evaluation and adoption of new technology where there's a genuine case for it. On the governance side, I collaborate closely with Legal, Security, and IT on responsible AI adoption, covering tool selection, fairness, transparency, and human oversight. I track AI regulation globally and translate that into practical guidance for the team. A big part of this role is capability building. I help our team develop AI literacy through coaching, playbooks, and prompt resources so they can get real value out of the tools they use every day. The goal is to use technology to expand what HR and TA can do at Xplor, and over time, contribute to what's possible across the wider business.
A hybrid role that was created to allow me to lead Global TA Ops and Employee Experience initiatives – combining strategic TA enablement with engaging internal communications to create exceptional experiences for both candidates and employees throughout their journey with us. I work at the intersection of technology, recruitment operations, and employee engagement, making sure we deliver consistent, meaningful experiences that reflect who we are as an organisation. My hybrid role encompasses two key pillars: • Talent Acquisition Enablement: I enable our global TA team to meet ambitious growth plans through smart technology choices and operational excellence. I make sure that our tech stack works for everyone – candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers. The goal is always to drive efficiency and reduce costs without sacrificing quality or candidate experience. • Employee Experience: I develop internal communications that strengthen our culture, boost engagement, and keep all Xplorers connected to our mission and values. This includes leadership communications, cross-functional campaigns, and creating engaging content across multiple channels that enhance the employee journey from day one onwards.
In this role, I enabled our global TA team to excel in meeting our ambitious growth plans through strategic technology enablement and operational excellence. I championed a user-centric approach to recruitment technology, ensuring our tech stack and processes served candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers in the best possible way. My role combined technical expertise with a deep understanding of recruitment operations, focusing on creating efficiencies and cost reductions without compromising on quality or candidate experience. My focus areas include: • Strategic Technology Partnership: I work closely with vendors, IT, and Security teams to evaluate, implement, and optimise our recruitment tech stack – ensuring seamless integration and maximum ROI from our TA technology ecosystem. • Change Management & Enablement: I drove technology adoption through hands-on training and user support, making sure our global TA teams could use our tools and platforms effectively. I also created and maintained documentation, guidelines, and policies that supported best practices and ensured consistent processes. • Process Excellence & Automation: I identified automation opportunities and workflow bottlenecks, implementing solutions that improved our recruitment experience while maintaining compliance. I partnered with global stakeholders to gather and analyse user feedback, ensuring our TA tech stack and processes continued to improve. • Data-driven decision-making: I implemented and used advanced analytics to deliver actionable talent insights that enabled smarter hiring decisions and helped teams understand market trends and candidate pools. I turned raw data into strategic recommendations that drove tangible business outcomes.
At the Melbourne Talent Meetup, we foster a collaborative talent and recruiter community across Melbourne by bringing like-minded industry professionals together, sharing knowledge and insights and helping each other to evolve everybody's best practices within recruitment. Join Melbourne’s largest TA community: https://www.meetup.com/melbtalentmeetup/
I helped our clients attract and recruit talent in shorter times while building continuous talent pipelines through close partnerships and a methodical pre-need approach. I provided companies with insights and big-picture advice on their long-term recruitment strategy and improved their hiring and onboarding processes. I also advised organisations on our complementary HR solutions. • On-Hire Labour Agreement / Employer of Record (EoR) Service: • Payroll Outsourcing Solutions: • HR Support / Outsourcing and Visa Solutions: Polyglot Group finds talent in the IT, Engineering, Transportation, Renewables, Finance & Retail sectors.
Testberichte.de is an established eCommerce and internet company, based in Berlin-Kreuzberg and the largest independent consumer portal for professional product testing in Germany. About my role: I was responsible for managing the end-to-end recruitment and onboarding process, acted as the main point of contact for applicants and internal stakeholders. Supported administrative HR tasks to ensure the smooth functioning of the HR department (employee time tracking, HR compliance, HR reporting). Advised executives on strategic and operative HR questions. Evaluated and implemented new social media channels to our recruitment strategy, increased our digital presence and footprint, and partnered with Head of HR to develop our employer branding strategy. Advised our employees on HR related matters and managed external recruitment partners.
Unique Personalservice belongs to the Top 10 staffing agencies in Germany and is part of the international RGF Staffing group that provides employment at companies throughout the world for around 300,000 people every day. About my role: I was responsible for managing the end-to-end recruitment for our 100 German offices, acted as the main point of contact for candidates and internal stakeholders (Branch Managers, Regional Sales Managers, Director of Business Solutions). Executed a high volume staffing strategy. Supported our Marketing department in Social Media activities related to recruitment and HR. Managed external Rec-2-Rec partners.
Unique Personalservice belongs to the Top 10 temporary employment & recruitment agencies in Germany and is a brand of the Dutch-based and stock-listed USG People. USG People itself is one of the largest HR services providers in Europe, operating around 1.350 offices across 10 countries. About my role: I was responsible for developing new business opportunities and building strong business partnerships with companies, provided permanent placement and temporary employment services to clients within Office & Finance, Retail & the Manufacturing industry.