Sr Manager, Talent Acquisition

Summary

The Senior Talent Acquisition Manager is responsible for leading the organization’s talent acquisition function and developing and executing recruiting strategies that attract, assess, select, and hire high-quality talent to meet current and future business needs.

This position leads and develops a team of recruiting professionals while serving as a strategic talent advisor to hiring managers, senior leaders, Human Resources, and other business partners. The Senior Talent Acquisition Manager translates workforce and business plans into actionable recruiting strategies, provides talent-market insights, establishes consistent and effective hiring practices, and uses data to continually improve recruiting outcomes.

The Senior Talent Acquisition Manager is accountable for the effectiveness of the full recruitment lifecycle, including workforce and hiring planning, sourcing strategy, candidate attraction, selection practices, offer development, recruiting technology, compliance, candidate experience, hiring manager experience, recruiting metrics, and transition to onboarding.

This role requires demonstrated success recruiting for technical and difficult-to-fill positions, particularly engineering and other specialized professional talent. Experience within aerospace, aviation, defense, advanced manufacturing, or another highly technical environment is strongly preferred.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Talent Acquisition Strategy & Workforce Planning

• Develop and execute comprehensive talent acquisition strategies aligned with organizational goals, workforce plans, business growth, and anticipated talent needs.
• Partner with senior leaders, hiring managers, Finance, HR, and other stakeholders to understand workforce requirements and translate headcount plans into actionable recruiting strategies.
• Develop hiring forecasts and recruiting plans based on anticipated workforce needs, turnover, growth, program requirements, and critical skill gaps.
• Recommend alternative talent strategies when traditional recruiting approaches are unlikely to meet business needs.
• Develop short- and long-term talent pipelines for critical, difficult-to-fill, and recurring positions.
• Maintain awareness of business priorities and adjust recruiting resources and strategies as organizational needs change.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, develop, and support a team of recruiters and/or talent acquisition professionals.
• Establish clear expectations, priorities, service standards, and performance goals for the Talent Acquisition team.
• Monitor individual and team performance and provide regular coaching, feedback, and development.
• Build recruiter capabilities in sourcing, interviewing, candidate assessment, hiring-manager consultation, negotiation, closing candidates, use of technology, and data management.

Hiring Manager & Leadership Partnership

• Serve as a trusted talent advisor to hiring managers and senior leaders.
• Conduct effective recruiting intake and strategy discussions to understand position requirements, business needs, candidate profiles, competencies, timelines, and market considerations.
• Partner with hiring managers to develop realistic and effective recruiting strategies for each search.
• Establish expectations regarding hiring manager responsibilities, recruiting timelines, candidate communication, interview practices, and decision-making.
• Appropriately challenge assumptions and advise leaders when market data or recruiting results indicate a need to modify requirements, compensation, sourcing strategies, selection practices, or timelines.
• Train and coach hiring managers on effective interviewing, candidate evaluation, selection practices, bias awareness, candidate experience, recruiting compliance, and use of recruiting systems and processes.

Technical & Engineering Recruiting

• Lead and support recruiting strategies for engineering, technical, manufacturing, operations, program management, quality, supply chain, and other specialized positions.
• Understand technical roles sufficiently to develop appropriate candidate profiles, identify transferable skills, evaluate talent markets, and guide sourcing strategies.
• Develop targeted sourcing strategies for specialized and difficult-to-find engineering and technical talent.

Compensation & Offer Management

• Partner with HR, Compensation, hiring managers, and leaders to develop competitive and equitable employment offers.
• Review relevant factors including internal equity, salary ranges, candidate qualifications, experience, skills, market conditions, and organizational compensation practices when recommending offers.
• Identify recurring compensation-related recruiting challenges and provide data and recommendations to HR leadership.

Candidate & Hiring Manager Experience

• Establish standards for an exceptional and consistent candidate experience throughout the recruiting process.
• Ensure candidates receive timely communication and professional treatment regardless of hiring outcome.
• Develop processes that balance speed, quality, compliance, and candidate experience.

Recruiting Metrics, Analytics & Reporting

• Establish, monitor, analyze, and communicate Talent Acquisition metrics and key performance indicators.
• Develop dashboards and reports that provide leaders with visibility into recruiting performance and workforce needs.
• Analyze recruiting data to identify trends, bottlenecks, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Translate recruiting data into meaningful business insights and recommended actions rather than simply reporting activity.

Recruiting Processes & Continuous Improvement

• Develop, document, implement, and communicate Talent Acquisition policies, procedures, workflows, standards, and best practices.
• Regularly evaluate recruiting processes and identify opportunities to improve speed, quality, consistency, efficiency, and user experience.

Compliance & Regulatory Knowledge

• Ensure recruiting and selection practices comply with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
• Maintain current knowledge of employment regulations, recruiting requirements, record-retention obligations, pay transparency requirements, equal employment opportunity requirements, and other laws affecting hiring.
• Ensure recruiters and hiring managers understand and consistently follow compliant interviewing and selection practices.
• For organizations subject to federal contracting requirements, support compliance with applicable OFCCP, affirmative action, EEO, export-control, ITAR/EAR, and related requirements.

Vendor & Budget Management

• Manage or provide input into the Talent Acquisition budget.
• Evaluate recruiting vendors, job boards, agencies, search firms, recruiting technology, advertising, and other Talent Acquisition expenditures.
• Monitor agency utilization and recruiting costs and identify opportunities to improve return on investment.
• Negotiate or participate in vendor selection and contract discussions as appropriate.
• Hold external recruiting partners accountable for service, candidate quality, compliance, and results.

Qualifications:

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• 7+ years of progressive talent acquisition/recruiting experience, including significant full-cycle recruiting experience.
• 2+ years of experience leading, supervising, coaching, or developing recruiting professionals.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing recruiting strategies for difficult-to-fill and specialized positions.
• Demonstrated experience recruiting engineering, technical, manufacturing, or similarly specialized professional talent.
• Experience partnering with hiring managers and senior leaders on workforce and recruiting strategy.
• Demonstrated experience using recruiting metrics and analytics to identify issues, influence decisions, and improve performance.
• Experience with applicant tracking systems, sourcing platforms, and contemporary recruiting technology.
• Strong understanding of employment laws and regulations affecting recruiting, interviewing, selection, and hiring.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, changing environment.
• Strong leadership, coaching, consulting, communication, analytical, organizational, and relationship-building skills.

Preferred

• Experience recruiting within aerospace, aviation, defense, advanced manufacturing, engineering, technology, or another highly technical environment.
• Experience recruiting aerospace and/or engineering disciplines.
• Experience supporting multi-site and/or multi-state recruiting.
• Experience with workforce planning and hiring forecasting.
• Experience with federal contractor recruiting and OFCCP requirements.
• Knowledge of ITAR/EAR or other regulations applicable to aerospace/defense hiring environments.
• Experience developing university, internship, apprenticeship, military transition, or early-career recruiting programs.
• Experience with employer branding and employee value proposition initiatives.
• Professional HR or recruiting certification such as SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP, PHR/SPHR, or other relevant credentials.

Knowledge, Skills & Competencies

• Strategic talent acquisition
• Technical and engineering recruiting
• People leadership and coaching
• Workforce planning and forecasting
• Talent-market analysis
• Consultative hiring-manager partnership
• Executive and senior-leader communication
• Sourcing and passive candidate development
• Interview and selection methodology
• Compensation and offer strategy
• Recruiting analytics and data interpretation
• ATS and recruiting technology
• Process design and continuous improvement
• Candidate experience/Hiring-manager experience
• Employment law and recruiting compliance
• Vendor and agency management
• Project and change management
• Influencing and negotiation
• Strong written and verbal communication

The expected WA salary range for this position is between $121,000.00 - $166,000.00. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, education, location, and other factors permitted by law. Our suite of comprehensive benefits include: healthcare (medical, dental & vision), life insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) savings plan with company match.