Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist

Do you know how to find the talent that others struggle to reach? DLH is looking for an experienced Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist who thrives on the challenge of recruiting cleared, technical, and hard-to-find talent within the Defense market.

In this role, you’ll take ownership of full life cycle recruiting, partner directly with hiring leaders, and develop creative sourcing strategies to identify and close talent primarily supporting our operations in Norfolk, VA and Charleston, SC. We’re looking for a recruiter who understands the cleared talent market, knows how to build candidate relationships, can confidently negotiate and close offers, and is comfortable advising leaders when the talent market presents challenges.

If you’re resourceful, driven, and enjoy being the recruiter managers trust with their toughest positions, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Manage full life cycle recruiting for assigned positions, from intake and sourcing strategy through candidate selection, offer negotiation, and successful hire.
• Partner strategically with hiring managers and business leaders to understand workforce needs, establish recruiting priorities, develop effective sourcing strategies, and successfully fill critical and hard-to-fill positions.
• Conduct comprehensive intake discussions with hiring managers to clarify position requirements, candidate profiles, timelines, compensation parameters, and sourcing strategies.
• Develop and execute creative sourcing strategies using job boards, professional networks, social media, employee referrals, targeted outreach, and other recruiting resources to identify and engage qualified talent.
• Recruit for a variety of technical and professional positions supporting government contracting environments, including cleared and specialized talent.
• Screen and assess candidates for technical qualifications, competencies, experience, and overall alignment with position and organizational requirements.
• Build strong candidate relationships throughout the recruiting process, proactively addressing potential concerns and maintaining engagement to support strong offer acceptance rates.
• Provide hiring managers with market insight, candidate availability, compensation considerations, and other recruiting data to support informed hiring decisions.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to hiring managers by providing guidance on candidate selection, interviewing practices, recruiting challenges, and effective hiring strategies.
• Lead salary and offer discussions with candidates, effectively negotiate within established compensation parameters, and extend employment offers.
• Maintain accurate and timely candidate, requisition, and recruiting activity within the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), currently Greenhouse.
• Develop and maintain relationships with professional organizations, community partners, military and veteran organizations, and other talent sources to build pipelines for current and anticipated hiring needs.
• Ensure recruiting activities are conducted in accordance with applicable company policies, contractual requirements, and federal contractor hiring and recordkeeping requirements.
• At times, participate and support growth recruiting activities.
• Manage multiple concurrent requisitions and competing priorities while maintaining a high level of responsiveness to candidates, hiring managers, and business leaders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of five (5) years of technical defense recruiting experience. Eight (8) years of technical defense recruiting experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Demonstrated full life cycle recruiting experience, including intake, sourcing, interview coordination, offer negotiation, and closing.
• Experience recruiting technical and specialized professionals within the defense industry, such as Engineering Technicians, Technical Trainers/Developers, Logistics Support, Systems Administrators/Analysts, QC Specialist and other technical roles specifically in the Norfolk, VA and Charleston, SC areas.
• Experience recruiting within the federal government contracting environment strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of federal contractor recruiting requirements and applicable compliance considerations, including Fair Labor requirements, Revolving Door legislation, and recruiting transitioning military members.
• Experience recruiting candidates for positions requiring DOD/DOW security clearances.
• Demonstrated ability to develop sourcing strategies and identify qualified candidates for difficult-to-fill or highly specialized positions.
• Strong negotiation and candidate relationship-management skills with demonstrated ability to effectively close candidates.
• Ability to establish credibility and build trusted relationships with hiring managers, senior leaders, candidates, and other key stakeholders.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to understand operational hiring needs and translate them into effective recruiting strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage multiple requisitions, competing priorities, and hiring deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience using an Applicant Tracking System required; Greenhouse experience preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, organizational, follow-up, and attention-to-detail skills.
• Ability to travel occasionally based on business need.