Director, Talent Acquisition - Full Time - Hartford, CT

Position Summary

The Director of Talent Acquisition leads a high-performing team of recruiting and onboarding professionals responsible for sourcing, selecting, and onboarding talent across Connecticut Children's clinical, operational, and administrative functions.

This role serves as a strategic partner to senior leaders across the organization, driving recruiting excellence, improving candidate and hiring manager experience, and owning the end-to-end pre-employment process — including health clearance in partnership with Occupational Health. The Director reports to the VP, HR Operations and plays a key role in workforce planning and talent pipeline strategy.

Candidates residing in, or able to relocate to CT, MA, or NY will be considered.

Role Responsibilities

Strategic Talent Acquisition Leadership (20%)

• Develop and execute a multi-year talent acquisition strategy aligned to organizational workforce needs
• Lead the design and evolution of recruitment models, sourcing strategies, and workforce planning initiatives
• Build strong talent pipelines across critical roles and hard-to-fill positions

Pre-Employment Clearance & Compliance (20%)

• Oversee the pre-employment clearance and onboarding process, including occupational health, background checks, licensure verification, and other regulatory requirements
• Ensure clearance processes are timely, compliant, and tightly integrated with onboarding and HR systems
• Build long-term strategic plans for clearance, credentialing workflows, and operational efficiencies

Contingent Workforce Strategy (10%)

• Define and manage strategies for contingent labor entry into the organization, including process design, policies, and vendor partnerships
• Partner with HR, legal, finance, and supply chain to optimize contingent workforce governance

Analytics, Metrics & Operational Excellence (20%)

• Develop and sustain data-driven recruiting processes and performance dashboards
• Monitor, evaluate, and communicate key hiring and funnel metrics (e.g., time-to-fill, time-to-start, funnel conversion, vacancy impact)
• Identify opportunities and drive initiatives to accelerate hiring cycle times and increase quality of hire
• Use analytics and trend data to evaluate workforce needs and improve decision making

Cross-Functional Collaboration (10%)

• Partner closely with Compensation, HR Systems & Analytics, Occupational Health, Compliance, hiring leaders, and other stakeholders to streamline hiring and onboarding workflows
• Work with HR Systems leaders to enhance ATS and clearance systems, data flows, and reporting capabilities

Team Leadership (20%)

• Lead and develop a high-performing Talent Acquisition team and clearance specialists
• Foster a culture of service excellence, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement
• Provide coaching, training, and performance management for TA team members

Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Education and Experience Required:

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field.
• 8 years of progressive talent acquisition experience, 3 years of leadership experience
• Proven experience managing pre-employment processes and compliance-driven hiring environments
• Experience with ATS platforms (e.g., Oracle, Workday, iCIMS) and recruiting analytics tools
• Demonstrated track record of using data and insights to optimize recruitment strategies and drive cycle-time improvements
• Experience working cross-functionally with HR Centers of Excellence (compensation, HRIS, benefits)

Preferred:

• Master’s Degree in Business or Human Resources
• Healthcare or regulated industry experience
• Experience leading contingent workforce programs

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Knowledge

• Healthcare talent acquisition principles, including clinical and non-clinical recruiting workflows, licensure/credentialing requirements, and healthcare regulatory compliance (Joint Commission, CMS, state licensure bodies)
• Pre-employment clearance processes including occupational health integration, background screening, and onboarding compliance frameworks in a healthcare setting
• Contingent workforce governance models, including vendor management, co-employment risk, staffing agency partnerships, and policy design
• HR technology ecosystems including ATS platforms, HRIS integration, data flows, and reporting architecture
• Employment law and healthcare-specific regulatory requirements relevant to hiring, credentialing, and contingent labor

Skills

• Designing and executing multi-year talent acquisition strategies aligned to organizational workforce plans, with demonstrable outcomes in time-to-fill and quality of hire
• Building and sustaining recruiting analytics frameworks — dashboards, funnel metrics, conversion tracking — and translating data into leadership-ready narratives
• Leading cross-functional process improvement initiatives across HR, Compliance, Finance, Legal, and clinical operations
• Negotiating and managing vendor and staffing agency relationships, including contract oversight and performance accountability
• Developing and coaching high-performing TA teams, including goal-setting, performance management, and capability building
• Communicating complex workforce and hiring data clearly to senior and executive stakeholders

Abilities

• Operate simultaneously at the strategic and operational level — setting multi-year direction while maintaining accountability for day-to-day hiring performance
• Build credibility and trusted relationships with senior clinical and operational leaders, influencing without direct authority
• Navigate ambiguity and competing organizational priorities without losing momentum on core delivery commitments
• Drive sustainable process change across functions with varying levels of readiness or buy-in
• Hold a team accountable to high service standards while maintaining a culture of operational excellence and continuous growth
• Adapt sourcing and recruiting strategies rapidly in response to market shifts, workforce trends, or organizational pivots