London, United Kingdom, January 2026 — Howden, the people-first global insurance group, has announced the appointment of Claire Hunt as Group International Talent Acquisition Lead. In her new role, Claire leads talent acquisition across Europe, Asia and Emerging Markets, shaping a cohesive global hiring strategy to support Howden’s rapid international growth, governance standards and long-term capability building.
Before joining Howden, Claire Hunt was Senior Talent Acquisition Manager – Europe at HSBC, where she led the European TA strategy through a period of significant transformation and growth. She spearheaded the European EVP, strengthened employer branding, and created HSBC’s Talent Acquisition Academy — a first-of-its-kind global upskilling initiative for TA professionals. She also served as Regional Head of Talent Acquisition (Secondment), joining the senior leadership team to drive pan-European TA strategy as part of a global transformation programme.
Earlier, Claire was Talent Acquisition Lead – EMEA at TikTok, where she scaled multi-country TA teams during hyper-growth, standardised hiring processes across EMEA and LATAM, achieved 92%+ positive candidate experience, and reduced regional agency dependency by 98%. She also designed ByteDance’s first global Rotation Programme and redesigned Trust & Safety interviewer training at scale.
She previously worked as Senior Global Talent Partner at Microsoft, hiring HR leadership talent globally across North America, LATAM, APAC, MEA, India, China and Europe, while advising senior leaders on succession planning, diversity initiatives and data-led talent strategies. Claire began her recruitment leadership journey with Robert Walters in Australia, progressing from Recruitment Consultant to Recruitment Manager, where she led HR recruitment teams, built employer partnerships and strengthened women-returning-to-work initiatives.
Howden is a people-first, employee-owned global insurance group offering broking, reinsurance, underwriting, risk consultancy and employee benefits solutions. Founded in 1994, the group has grown to over 23,000 employees worldwide, serving clients across multiple geographies and industries.
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