Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Recruiter

Staffing
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's or master's degree with 3-5 years of relevant experience in full-cycle recruiting, hiring consultation, or talent acquisition.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage full-cycle recruitment independently.
  • Experience in recruiting for scientific, engineering, or technical positions is preferred.
  • Familiarity with compliance and regulatory aspects in hiring processes.
  • Professional certifications (e.g., PHR, SHRM-CP) are advantageous.

Responsibilities

  • Independently manage full-cycle recruiting from job intake to onboarding.
  • Act as a consultative advisor to hiring managers on workforce needs and recruiting strategies.
  • Conduct detailed hiring discussions to clarify position requirements and selection criteria.
  • Develop innovative recruiting strategies using various channels and resources.
  • Collaborate with Talent Sourcers to tackle specialized searches and complex hiring needs.
  • Maintain professional communication with candidates throughout the recruitment process.
  • Monitor requisition progress and provide regular updates to hiring managers.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Robust telehealth and mental health support options.
  • Flexible spending and health savings accounts.
  • Tuition assistance and relocation support.
  • Backup childcare and family legal services.
Full Job Description
We are looking for a Recruiter to join our Talent Acquisition team and serve as a consultative talent advisor to hiring managers. We seek a positive, forward-thinking professional who brings an enterprise perspective, values consistency and collaboration within a centralized Talent Acquisition model, and is energized by helping improve how PNNL attracts and hires talent. If you enjoy combining full-cycle recruiting, market insight, sound judgment, and strong partnerships to support mission-critical work, we encourage you to apply.

Reporting to the Recruiting Team Leader, the Recruiter independently manages full-cycle recruiting for assigned positions across PNNL. The Recruiter partners with hiring managers to understand workforce needs, define position and candidate requirements, develop effective recruiting strategies, identify and assess qualified candidates, guide the selection and offer process, and deliver a consistent candidate and hiring-manager experience through offer acceptance and transition to onboarding.

The Recruiter brings a consultative approach to each search and applies recruiting best practices, talent market information, data, and technology to address hiring challenges and support timely, well-informed, and compliant hiring decision.

This position is based in Richland, WA, to support in-person collaboration and engagement with hiring leaders and stakeholders. Preference will be given to candidates who are available to work on-site at PNNL's Richland campus. Remote candidates may also be considered.

Work Schedule:

This position requires a regular full-time work schedule aligned with Pacific Time business hours. While some flexibility in work hours may be available, employees are generally expected to be available through 4:30 p.m. PT.

Travel:
Periodic travel may be required to support recruiting activities, business meetings, or on-site collaboration at PNNL or other locations. Travel may be local, regional, or national and may include overnight stays.

Responsibilities

  • Independently manage full-cycle recruiting for assigned positions, from hiring intake and requisition launch through candidate assessment, selection, offer acceptance, and transition to onboarding.
  • Serve as a consultative recruiting advisor to assigned hiring managers and leaders by understanding workforce needs, clarifying position requirements, and developing effective recruiting strategies.
  • Conduct thorough hiring intake discussions to understand the business need, required capabilities, position scope, success profile, target talent, recruiting challenges, timeline, and selection process.
  • Advise hiring managers on position descriptions, required and preferred qualifications, candidate evaluation criteria, interview strategy, and consistent selection practices.
  • Develop recruiting strategies using appropriate channels, including internal talent, direct sourcing, referrals, professional networks, recruiting events, and targeted outreach.
  • Partner with Talent Sourcers on specialized or difficult-to fill searches and conduct sourcing as appropriate for assigned positions.
  • Conduct targeted talent-market research and use relevant market information, industry trends, and competitive insights to inform search strategies and provide practical recommendations to hiring managers and leaders.
  • Conduct substantive recruiter screening interviews and assess candidates against job-related qualifications and evaluation criteria.
  • Present qualified candidates to hiring managers and facilitate an efficient, consistent, and well-documented selection process.
  • Independently manage searches of varying complexity and facilitate search committee activities, as applicable, to maintain alignment and progress.
  • Monitor requisition progress, pipeline health, aging, and potential hiring barriers; providing hiring managers and leaders with regular status updates and recommended actions.
  • Serve as a brand advocate for PNNL, promoting our mission and values to attract high-caliber candidates.
  • Understand candidate interests and concerns, provide timely and accurate information, and support successful offer outcomes.
  • Partner with hiring managers, Compensation, and other stakeholders to develop and extend offers within approved parameters and navigate candidate questions or negotiations.
  • Maintain timely communication and deliver a professional, human-centered candidate experience throughout the recruiting process.
  • Promote fair, consistent and job-related hiring practices in accordance with applicable laws and PNNL policies and practices.
  • Maintain accurate and timely candidate, requisition, disposition, and recruiting activity records in the applicant tracking system to support compliance, decision-making and reporting.
  • Coordinate with Talent Sourcers, Talent Acquisition Coordinator, HR Strategic Partners, Compensation, Security, and other partners to support an efficient hiring process.
  • Represent PNNL at professional conferences, recruiting events, career fairs, campus activities, and other talent engagement opportunities, as assigned.
  • Provide recruiting support across workforce segments and priority hiring initiatives, including early-career and university recruiting, based on business needs.
  • Responsibly use AI-enabled recruiting tools, talent intelligence platforms, and automation to improve efficiency and insights while validating outputs and preserving human judgment, accountability, data privacy, and a human-centered candidate experience.
  • Identify and contribute to recruiting process improvements and may lead limited-scope projects or hiring initiatives.
  • Maintain awareness of emerging recruiting technologies, talent market developments, and relevant industry practices.
  • Perform other duties as assigned.


Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
  • In-depth knowledge of full-cycle recruiting practices, candidate assessment, sourcing methods, and selection processes.
  • Working knowledge of applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations, EEO principles, and organizational hiring policies and practices.
  • Proficiency with applicant tracking systems, recruiting platforms, talent databases, customer relationship management systems, and standard business software.
  • Demonstrated consultative skills and the ability to advise hiring managers on recruiting strategies, candidate requirements, and selection decisions.
  • Strong written, verbal, interpersonal and presentation skills, including the ability to explain complex or sensitive information and build stakeholder consensus.
  • Strong candidate engagement, relationship management, influence and negotiation skills.
  • Strong organizational, prioritization, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple searches and changing priorities in a dynamic environment.
  • Adaptability, attention to detail, and a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.
  • Ability to understand and communicate complex scientific, technical, professional, and mission-support position requirements.
  • Ability to conduct substantiative recruiter interviews and evaluate candidates against job-related criteria.
  • Ability to interpret recruiting data, talent market information, pipeline metrics, and competitive conditions to inform assigned searches and hiring decisions.
  • Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, take initiative, and solve recruiting problems using multiple sources of information.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively across Talent Acquisition, Human Resources, and organizational teams.
  • Ability to communicate PNNL's mission, culture, employee value proposition, and career opportunities credibly to candidates.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's degree and 5 years of relevant experience OR
  • Master's degree or higher and 3 years of relevant experience.
    • Relevant experience includes full-cycle recruiting, professional or technical recruiting, hiring-manager consultation, candidate assessment, sourcing, offer management, or closely related talent acquisition work.
  • Demonstrated experience independently managing full-cycle searches.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience recruiting scientific, engineering, technical, professional, or mission-support talent.
  • Experience working in a national laboratory, federal contractor, research, government, mission-driven, or other highly regulated or matrixed environment.
  • Professional Certification (e.g., PHR, SHRM-CP, CTAS, CIR, etc.).

Hazardous Working Conditions/Environment

Not Applicable

Testing Designated Position

This is not a Testing Designated Position (TDP).

Rockstar Rewards

Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance*, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support.

About Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory that conducts research and development in areas including energy, environment, and national security. PNNL is operated by Battelle Memorial Institute and is located in Richland, Washington. The laboratory was established in 1965 as the Battelle Northwest Laboratory and was renamed to its current name in 1997. PNNL has a staff of over 4,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff, and has an annual budget of over $1 billion. The laboratory has been involved in a number of high-profile projects, including the development of the first artificial heart and the cleanup of the Hanford Site, a decommissioned nuclear production complex.
Learn more about Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Size
5,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1965

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