About This Role
This newly created role is for a Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition to join a rapidly growing general contractor in Chicago, focusing on the construction industry. The core of the job involves owning the entire talent acquisition process, from hands-on recruiting to establishing TA infrastructure and systems. The role suits a builder who can operate as a strategic advisor on workforce planning and talent acquisition, with a clear path to leadership within a Talent Acquisition Center of Excellence.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the single, all-encompassing owner of hiring across the organization, consolidating requisition recruiting, program hiring, and future entity needs
- Partner with executive leadership, project executives, and field leaders to translate business strategy and contract wins into workforce plans and hiring priorities
- Establish talent acquisition as a recognized company-wide standard and cultural attribute, setting the operating rhythm, service levels, and expectations for how hiring is done
- Design and, over time, lead a Talent Acquisition Center of Excellence with the capacity to support additional company entities, self-performance operations, and future acquisitions
- Personally source, screen, and close candidates across high-touch, confidential, and hard-to-fill searches, carrying a live desk while building the broader function
- Recruit across both corporate positions and niche field roles, including superintendents, QC managers, safety and SSHO personnel, estimators, and project managers
- Build pipelines ahead of contract award, run kickoff and mobilization staffing, and manage the mandatory QC and safety hiring cadence tied to federal project awards
- Forecast and manage a growing requisition load projected to move from roughly twenty to twenty-five today toward thirty-five or more, staying ahead of demand rather than reacting to it
- Own the selection, implementation, and optimization of the applicant tracking system and workforce-planning tools that support pre-award and post-award staffing
- Build structured interview guides and criteria-based scorecards, and push disciplined, criteria-driven hiring down to hiring managers and field leaders
- Design a quality-of-hire program, including calibration of hires against defined performance tiers, to improve top-of-funnel targeting and reduce mis-hires and early attrition
- Develop the employer brand and candidate experience that position the company to compete for scarce construction and AEC talent in a full-employment market
- Absorb and elevate the existing internship program, integrating it into a unified, TA-led early-talent pipeline
- Own and build out the DoD SkillBridge and veteran-transition program, creating structured pathways for transitioning service members into field and corporate roles
- Connect internships, SkillBridge, and veteran hiring into a coherent early-career and pipeline strategy that feeds the company's long-term workforce needs
- Develop and maintain the sourcing channels, partnerships, and talent communities most relevant to federal construction and a scaling commercial business
- Partner with and, over time, lead and grow the recruiting team, providing mentorship, coaching, and structure as the function scales
- Train and enable hiring managers and field leaders to interview against defined criteria, improving the quality and consistency of hiring decisions company-wide
- Help design recruiter incentives and performance metrics tied to quality of hire rather than volume alone, and report on pipeline health and hiring outcomes
- Build the processes and playbooks that allow talent acquisition to extend across additional entities, self-performance operations, and future acquisitions without loss of quality
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience
- Typically eight to twelve or more years of full-cycle talent acquisition experience with progressive growth in scope and responsibility
- Three to five or more years leading, mentoring, or developing recruiters, or a demonstrated readiness to step into a first-time leadership and function-building role
- Recruiting experience within construction or AEC firms of meaningful scale, such as heavy civil, general contracting, or design-build; closely adjacent industries that hire similar talent (for example civil or heavy engineering) are welcome
- Experience recruiting across both high-volume project staffing and niche field roles, including superintendents, QC managers, safety and SSHO personnel, estimators, and project managers
- Command of award-driven staffing: building pipelines ahead of contract award, running kickoff and mobilization staffing, and forecasting a growing requisition load without a reactive posture
- In-house or corporate TA experience preferred; an agency-plus-corporate blend is welcome, though pure-agency experience without in-house ownership is a weaker fit
- Proven track record of building or standing up TA programs and infrastructure, including employer brand, candidate experience, structured interview guides, ATS and workforce-planning tools, and quality-of-hire calibration
- Ability to establish TA as a company-wide standard, push structured hiring down to hiring managers and field leaders, and design recruiter incentives tied to quality of hire rather than volume alone
- Comfort operating as a full-desk recruiter from day one while growing into a strategic Associate Director or Director role over a six to eighteen month horizon
- Interest in owning adjacent programs, including internships and DoD SkillBridge and veteran-transition hiring, as part of a unified talent function
- Strong communication, stakeholder-management, and influencing skills, with the ability to partner credibly with executives, project leaders, and field teams
Nice to have:
- Professional certification (SHRM-CP or SCP, PHR or SPHR, or AIRS)
- Federal government-contracting (GovCon) recruiting experience strongly preferred, including the QC and safety (QCSSHO) hiring cadence tied to project awards
- Commercial recruiting experience a plus as that side of the business scales
Benefits
- Performance-based bonus
- Participation in the company's Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
- Comprehensive benefits package
Important Details
- Travel: Occasional travel to project sites and affiliated entity locations to support field hiring
About the Company
Our client is a rapidly growing general contractor based in Chicago, with a current team of 200 people and a clear trajectory to grow to more than 500 employees and over $1B in revenue. They specialize in both commercial and residential projects, building dynamic and efficient spaces. The company harnesses technology to amplify human potential while nurturing a people-first culture, actively investing in employee health and well-being. They have been consistently recognized as one of the most entrepreneurial, fastest growing, and best places to work in the construction industry, reflecting their exceptional leadership, innovation, strong workplace culture, and commitment to employee satisfaction. The company values are Transparency, Gratitude, Resilience, Excellence & Adventure.
