Title: Director, Talent Acquisition   

Department: People & Culture  

Report to: Vice President, People & Culture  

Compensation: $113,700-133,400  

FLSA: Exempt  

Location: Hybrid – 2 to 3 days/week in office   

All candidates must be within commutable distance of SEO’s offices at 55 Exchange Place, New York, NY 10005, upon hire.  

ABOUT SEO 

For more than 60 years, SEO has created a more equitable society by closing the educational and career opportunity gap for ambitious Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American young people. All are welcome to apply to our programs.    

POSITION OVERVIEW 

The Director of Talent Acquisition is a key talent leader on a multi-disciplined People & Culture team, chiefly responsible for the important strategic work of ensuring that candidates make the smoothest transition possible from applicant to new team member. This includes, but is not limited to:  

Talent Acquisition Leadership (50%) 

• Act as a trusted advisor to the VP of People & Culture and the senior leaders in the organization in the forecasting, planning, and execution of staffing strategies in support of the organization’s short- and long-term goals.  

• Manage, coach, and train talent acquisition team members and contractors.  

• Partner with the People & Culture Leadership Team to manage the job classification process, ensuring consistent and equitable decision-making around job leveling, pay ranges, and internal mobility.  

• Provide direction and guidance to both recruiters and hiring managers on job descriptions, hiring plans, candidate assessment tools, and interviewer training.  

• Ensure smooth handout of newly hired employees to the Talent Management team (i.e., P&C Business Partners) for effective onboarding process.  

• Perform full-cycle recruitment for executive-level and hard-to-fill positions as needed.   

• Leverage qualitative (employee surveys, feedback, interviews) and quantitative data to inform and enhance strategic plans for hiring, developing, and retaining staff. 

 

Talent Acquisition Operations & Reporting (30%) 

• Develop and document hiring standard operating procedures for scale.  

• Oversee agency relationships and liaise between agencies and hiring managers to successfully manage searches and fill positions on time and under budget. Negotiate and revise contracts as needed.  

• Manage talent acquisition spend and expenses, including annual budgeting, monthly reconciliation, and quarterly forecast projections.  

• Stay abreast of the legal landscape that impacts SEO’s hiring practices, background checks, and new hire onboarding processes, and ensure SEO is fully compliant with the changes.  

• Ensure optimal utilization of the Applicant Tracking System, Greenhouse by hiring managers, talent acquisition team members and the People & Culture Leadership Team to facilitate hiring, communications and reporting. 

• Build reports in Greenhouse to update and inform hiring managers and executive leadership team members of key talent developments.  

• Partner with Finance and IT counterparts to build and maintain reporting dashboards to provide real-time insights into the health of our talent acquisition pipelines and processes.  

• Use project management tools (Monday.com among others) to coordinate, track, and manage strategic workflows and roadmaps.  

• Monitor and analyze recruitment data to identify trends and/or opportunities to increase the efficacy and productivity of our hiring practices.  

 

Marketing & Outreach (20%) 

• Develop an impactful Employee Value Proposition narrative in partnership with SEO’s Marketing and Communications team.  

• Oversee all external candidate facing P&C communications, including job postings, staff profiles on the SEO website, etc.  

• Identify platforms and strategic partnerships to increase the intersectional diversity of talent pools across all levels of the organization.  

 

 
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS  

• 7-10 years of demonstrated experience in full-cycle recruitment, including high-volume sourcing and OCR. Agency recruitment experience will be considered; in-house talent acquisition management within a national nonprofit is strongly preferred. Experience within K12 education, finance/private equity, and/or legal is a plus.   

• 3+ years of direct people management experience.  

• A proven track record of increased responsibility and autonomy within fast-paced, deadline-driven environments.  

• Working knowledge of recruitment compliance and inclusive hiring practices. Must be skilled and confident in engaging diverse constituencies throughout the spectrum of culture and identity; a background in diversity recruitment or DEIB is a plus. 

• Strong project management, organization, and execution skills. Practiced in prioritizing multiple competing priorities and managing stakeholder expectations while driving toward measurable outcomes. 

• Stellar extemporaneous verbal communication and negotiation skills. Must be comfortable effectively communicating to a diverse group of constituents across multiple platforms, including via email, chat, phone, and formal presentation.   

• Proficiencies in ATS (Greenhouse) and HRIS (Paylocity or similar products), project management tools and methodologies (Monday, Asana, Airtable, MS Project, etc.), and advanced Excel and analytics skills. Familiarity with cloud-based applications and systems integrations is desired.  

 

COMPETENCIES & SKILLS  

The ideal candidate will join a close-knit, solutions-oriented, client-focused team dedicated to modeling the behaviors and values of the organization, including (and not limited to):  

• Accountability: Accepting full responsibility for yourself, your actions, your impact, and your duties in service of SEO’s mission and values.  

• Judgment & Decision Making: Practiced skills in leveraging available information to make effective decisions with limited time while planning for contingencies and persisting towards solutions that best serve SEO’s people and programs. A reputation for soliciting feedback, taking accountability for errors, and internalizing constructive feedback for continuous reflection and improvement.  

• Talent Management: A proven track record of leading teams to high performance. Must have well-developed people management skills with a keen ability to lead across difference and apply consultative skills to determine professional development needs for team members at every level. 

• Collaboration: Authentically and empathetically bringing teams together to define and accomplish common goals, championing and celebrating the contributions of others, and elevating voices when they go unheard.  

• Equity & Inclusiveness: Committing to continuous learning and improvement in recognizing and addressing personal filters, privileges, biases, and blind spots by seeking diverse perspectives, internalizing feedback and learning, and leveraging both lived and learned experiences to apply a race intentional and inclusive lens to relationship and work.  

• Joyfulness: Embracing the bliss of creating opportunities, connecting candidates with their dream jobs, and building effective teams in service of a larger mission.  

 

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS   

SEO offers a competitive compensation package and comprehensive benefits plan including low-cost health, vision, and dental options, a generous holiday schedule and PTO policies, disability coverage, fully paid time off for new parents, and employer contributions to health reimbursement and retirement accounts. We are constantly working to improve our benefits each year based on the needs of our employees. We value wellness and strive to consistently use a DEIB lens to put people first and foremost.  

The compensation listed in this posting reflects what SEO believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting. Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on the skills, qualifications, and experience of the applicant along with the requirements of the position, and SEO reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. 

 

EEOC Policy 

At SEO we are committed to cultivating a team that embodies the backgrounds and experiences of the constituencies we serve and the communities we live in, and a workplace that reflects the impact we make in the world. Candidates from historically excluded and underrepresented communities – including people of color, women, members of the LGBTQIA+ Community, veterans, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. 

 

Equal Employment Opportunity is not just the law, it is our commitment. 

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer – M/F/D/V. We will consider all qualified applicants for employment regardless of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information or characteristics, or any other legally protected status. 

If you need accommodation while applying for a role with SEO, due to a disability, please email SEO Talent.