Talent Acquisition Partner

The Talent Acquisition Partner will serve as a strategic partner supporting Government, Defense, and Intelligence Community (IC) programs. This role will leverage extensive knowledge of Federal contracting environments, cleared talent markets, and innovative recruiting strategies to identify, engage, evaluate, and secure high-caliber professionals for active programs, proposal efforts, strategic pursuits, and contract transitions.

The position requires a proactive recruiter who can operate effectively in a fast-paced environment while managing competing priorities, sensitive information, and time-critical staffing requirements.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Develop and execute full-cycle recruiting strategies for cleared and non-cleared positions supporting Department of Defense, Intelligence Community (IC), Federal Government, and commercial customers.
• Create and manage requisitions within the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), ensuring accurate documentation, candidate disposition, pipeline development, and compliance with internal recruiting processes.
• Proactively source qualified candidates through multiple channels, including professional networks, cleared talent databases, online directories, job boards, social media, employee referrals, industry events, direct outreach, cold calling, and existing ATS talent pools.
• Build and maintain strategic pipelines of cleared technical, operational, intelligence, and professional talent to support current staffing requirements, anticipated program growth, contract awards, and strategic pursuits.
• Evaluate candidates based on relevant experience, education, training, technical capabilities, certifications, security clearance status, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other qualifications applicable to Government and contract requirements.
• Conduct candidate screening, interviews, reference checks, compensation discussions, and other pre-employment activities while maintaining a high level of professionalism and confidentiality.
• Manage the candidate experience from initial engagement through selection, offer, background investigation, drug screening, onboarding, and start date.
• Extend and negotiate formal employment offers within established guidelines and coordinate with applicable internal stakeholders, outside agencies, and vendors.
• Support the onboarding process through electronic onboarding systems, ensuring required documentation and pre-employment activities are completed accurately and within established timelines.
• Deliver a high level of customer service to candidates, Hiring Managers, Program Managers, and other internal and external stakeholders while developing trusted relationships across the organization.
• Partner with Capture and Proposal Managers to identify, recruit, engage, and confirm qualified key personnel in accordance with RFP, SOW, PWS, labor category, and contract requirements.
• Support proposal staffing efforts by maintaining visibility into candidate availability, qualifications, compensation expectations, clearance status, geographic considerations, and commitment requirements.
• Support contract awards, recompetes, incumbent capture efforts, and program transitions across CONUS and OCONUS locations.
• Collaborate with Program Management and Operations teams to anticipate staffing requirements and develop recruiting strategies that support successful contract execution and workforce growth.
• Maintain accurate and timely recruiting documentation while protecting candidate and company information in accordance with applicable policies and regulations.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Marketing, or a related discipline preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years of full-cycle recruiting experience supporting the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, Federal Government, or other Government contracting organizations.
• Demonstrated experience recruiting for technical, professional, and/or cleared positions.
• Experience sourcing candidates for positions requiring U.S. Government security clearances, preferably Top Secret and above.
• Experience supporting classified or sensitive Government programs, preferably across both CONUS and OCONUS environments.
• Experience supporting proposal, capture, recompete, and contract transition activities from a Talent Acquisition perspective.
• Experience recruiting for hard-to-fill technical, intelligence, engineering, cybersecurity, logistics, or mission-support positions is preferred.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• Working knowledge of Federal contracting and Government recruiting environments, including staffing considerations associated with Government programs and contract requirements.
• Familiarity with Federal Service Contract Act (SCA) Wage Determinations and applicable Federal and State employment and labor requirements.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary Talent Acquisition practices, sourcing methodologies, recruiting technology, and industry standards.
• Advanced proficiency with Applicant Tracking Systems, recruiting databases, online job boards, professional networking platforms, and candidate relationship management tools.
• Demonstrated ability to develop innovative sourcing strategies for scarce, highly specialized, and cleared talent.
• Strong understanding of security clearance considerations and their impact on candidate sourcing, qualification, onboarding, and staffing timelines.
• Ability to interpret technical and contractual requirements and translate them into actionable recruiting strategies.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively interact with executives, Program Managers, Hiring Managers, Government customers, candidates, vendors, and external recruiting partners.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain strong relationships with candidates and internal stakeholders throughout the recruiting lifecycle.
• Exceptional attention to detail, organizational skills, and follow-through.
• Ability to manage multiple requisitions, proposal requirements, candidate pipelines, and competing priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong time-management and prioritization skills with the ability to operate independently while contributing effectively within a collaborative team environment.
• Demonstrated discretion and professionalism when working with sensitive, proprietary, and classified-program-related information.