Director of Talent Acquisition to join our team and support our client in Washington DC Metro area
Position OverviewWe are seeking a strategic, hands-on Director of Talent Acquisition to lead recruiting across the organization, with a strong focus on cleared, technical and mission-critical talent. This leader will own talent acquisition strategy, team leadership, recruiting operations, and hiring delivery across business units, programs, and corporate functions.
The ideal candidate brings deep experience in government contracting and cleared recruiting, along with the ability to partner closely with business leaders, anticipate talent needs, and translate business priorities into practical hiring plans.
This is a hybrid position based in Herndon, Virginia.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:Set and lead the enterprise talent acquisition strategy across cleared and non-cleared hiring, aligned to business priorities, growth plans, program needs, and organizational capability requirements.
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing recruiting team, establishing clear expectations for execution, partnership, quality, speed, and candidate experience.
- Partner with executives, business leaders, program leadership, and shared services to understand business direction, staffing demand, and emerging capability needs, and convert those inputs into proactive recruiting strategies and pipeline plans.
- Participate in business planning and operational discussions to anticipate hiring needs, identify talent risks, and recommend actions before openings are formally approved.
- Lead hiring strategy for cleared roles requiring TS/SCI, CI Polygraph, and Full-Scope Polygraph, while also overseeing recruiting for non-cleared technical, operational, and corporate positions.
- Build scalable recruiting programs, sourcing approaches, and talent pipelines for critical skill areas including software engineering, cybersecurity, cloud, infrastructure, data, AI SMEs, and business operations.
- Strengthen recruiting operations through process design, workflow discipline, technology optimization, and reporting that improve consistency, speed, and decision quality.
- Advise leaders on market conditions, talent availability, compensation considerations, clearance constraints, and realistic time-to-fill expectations for difficult-to-hire roles.
- Oversee offer strategy and approvals, balancing competitiveness, internal equity, contract requirements, and compensation frameworks.
- Use recruiting data and funnel analytics to monitor performance, inform forecasts, and drive continuous improvement across the hiring lifecycle.
- Elevate the company's employer brand in both the cleared and broader technical talent markets through strong messaging, candidate experience, referral strategies, and targeted external engagement.
- Partner closely with HR, Security/FSO, Operations, and business leadership to support efficient hiring, clearance processing, onboarding, and workforce readiness.
Work Experience and Job Skills:- 10+ years of advanced talent acquisition experience, including significant experience leading recruiting in a government contracting environment.
- Proven success recruiting highly cleared talent, including positions requiring active TS/SCI, CI Polygraph, and Full-Scope Polygraph.
- Experience leading or developing recruiting teams and building scalable talent acquisition practices, processes, and standards.
- Strong track record recruiting for technical roles such as software engineering, cyber, cloud, infrastructure, systems, data, and related mission-focused positions, along with broader business and corporate functions.
- Deep understanding of security clearance processes, crossover considerations, sponsorship constraints, and adjudication timelines.
- Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with business leaders and influence hiring strategy, workforce planning, and prioritization decisions.
- Experience supporting proposal hiring, surge hiring, and recruiting tied to growth, delivery, and evolving contract demand.
- Strong command of applicant tracking systems, sourcing tools, recruiting metrics, and reporting.
- Excellent communication, judgment, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to operate effectively at both strategic and execution levels.
Preferred Qualifications - Experience leading talent acquisition for a mid-sized government contractor supporting both cleared and non-cleared populations.
- Background in both in-house and agency recruiting environments.
- Experience improving or scaling recruiting functions, including process redesign, tool optimization, and operating model development.
- Familiarity with compensation structures tied to labor categories, bill rates, and contract staffing requirements.
- Prior TS/SCI clearance, with or without polygraph, active or held within the past 24 months, is a plus.
Education: - Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
Certificates, Licenses and Registrations:- SHRM, AIRS, or other recruiting- or HR-related certifications are preferred.
Communication Skills:- Solid ability to interface, inspire and motivate at various levels of the organization.
- Ability to convey technical information to non-technical individuals.
- Demonstrated experience communicating effectively across internal and external organizations.
- Must work well in a matrixed team environment.
Travel:- Occasional travel may be required, up to 10%.
- This role is primarily office-based in a hybrid work environment.
- Flexibility to support business needs outside standard working hours may be needed.
Environmental Requirements:- Mainly sedentary; in an office environment
- May be required to lift up to ten (10) pounds
- Flexible in working extended hours
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the individual(s) assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required. Unissant management reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties and to assign other duties as necessary. In addition, where applicable and available, reasonable accommodation(s) may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions of this position.
Please note: Candidate(s) will be required to go through pre-employment screening.
