About the Role: As the Manager, AOT Recruiting - East, you will lead and coach a team of recruiters across the eastern region. This role is responsible for delivering approximately 25-35 Independent Operator (IO) placements per year through a combination of regional leadership, candidate development, and direct recruiting engagement.
This is a player-coach role: you'll balance people leadership with hands-on recruiting to ensure each recruiter is meeting goals while maintaining your own active pipeline. The East Recruiting Manager partners closely with Field Operations, Training, and Real Estate to align talent forecasts with new-store openings and operator attrition. You'll use data to drive performance, forecast needs, and ensure an exceptional candidate experience at every stage. This position reports to the Director, AOT Recruiting.
Responsibilities Include: Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of recruiters across the East region to achieve placement, pipeline, and lead-conversion goals.
- Conduct weekly pipeline and performance reviews, set clear expectations, and provide coaching focused on quality, efficiency, and follow-through.
- Foster a collaborative and accountable team culture rooted in Grocery Outlet's values.
Recruiting Execution (Player-Coach)
- Personally manage a select number of AOT candidates through all stages: from initial screening to final placement.
- Oversee candidate sourcing, screening, assessments, and interviews, ensuring consistent application of selection criteria.
- Manage CRM activity and data accuracy across all candidate stages, ensuring full visibility into funnel health
Operational Excellence & Data
- Monitor regional recruiting KPIs, including lead volume, conversion, time to close, and AOT success.
- Partner with marketing and sourcing functions to evaluate lead quality and optimize regional marketing and referral efforts.
- Leverage Salesforce (CRM) for pipeline tracking, activity audits, and forecasting; ensure team adherence to reporting and process standards.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Training and Field Operations on candidate readiness, store visit scheduling, and operator selection.
- Collaborate with Real Estate and Operations to anticipate market expansion and align recruiting capacity to store timelines.
- Support the execution of national initiatives such as referral campaigns, system rollouts, and recruitment process improvements.
About The Pay:- Salary Range: $105,000 - $125,000 Annually
- Annual Bonus Program
- Equity
- 401(k) Profit Sharing
- Medical, Dental, Vision & More!
- Final compensation will be determined based upon experience and skills and may vary based on location.
About You: - 5+ years of experience in full-cycle recruiting, ideally within multi-site retail, franchise, or owner-operator models.
- 2+ years leading others, with proven ability to coach, develop, and manage performance.
- Demonstrated success managing high-volume, relationship-driven pipelines with measurable results.
- Strong data literacy; able to analyze dashboards and translate insights into action.
- Experience using Salesforce or equivalent CRM/ATS systems.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; builds trust across candidates, peers, and partners.
- Positive, self-motivated, and organized: able to balance strategic leadership with tactical execution.
