Talent Acquisition Strategist

About the Role

We are seeking a full-time strategic, innovative, and results-oriented Talent Acquisition Strategist to design and implement forward-thinking talent acquisition strategies that support our business objectives and long-term growth.

This role goes beyond traditional recruitment. You will work closely with the company’s CEO, management team, and center Directors to anticipate workforce needs, identify critical talent gaps, strengthen our employer brand, and develop proactive talent pipelines.

The successful candidate will combine strategic thinking, market intelligence, data analytics, and relationship management to attract high-quality talent and deliver a competitive advantage through people. This is a people-first business, where a smart and savvy Talent Acquisition Strategist has the chance to thrive, take ownership of our hiring pipelines, and grow as a professional.

Grow Here. Own Here.

Imagine Early Learning Centers isn't your typical early childhood employer. We're 100% employee-owned, which means our teachers and staff have a real stake in our organization's future.

What does that mean for you?

• Build Your Financial Future: Eligible employees receive a financial stake in Imagine through a retirement benefit that requires no personal investment.

• Share in Our Success: All staff are eligible for annual bonuses based on company profits.

• Have a Voice: Educators elect an ownership representative who brings their perspectives and ideas directly to leadership meetings.

• Make an Impact: Our Ownership Association has a dedicated fund that employee representatives can use to invest in improvements across Imagine.

We believe great child care starts with great educators. That's why we're committed to investing in our teachers, supporting their growth, and giving them a voice in building a better Imagine.

Powered by Play. Owned by Educators.

Key Responsibilities

1. Talent Acquisition Strategy

• Develop and execute talent acquisition strategies aligned with organizational objectives and workforce plans.

• Translate business priorities into effective recruitment plans, hiring timelines, and sourcing strategies.

• Identify emerging talent needs and recommend proactive approaches to address future recruitment challenges.

• Continuously evaluate and improve recruitment strategies to enhance hiring effectiveness.D

2. Workforce Planning and Talent Intelligence

• Partner with business leaders to forecast recruitment needs and identify current and future skills gaps.

• Conduct talent market research, competitor analysis, and salary benchmarking.

• Provide insights into talent availability, industry trends, and effective sourcing channels.

• Develop talent maps and pipelines for business-critical and hard-to-fill positions.

3. Strategic Sourcing and Recruitment

• Design bespoke and data informed sourcing strategies to attract qualified, high-potential candidates at Imagine - that address needs as a company and at the center-specific level

• Build and maintain talent communities and long-term candidate sources including a robust company wide substitute teacher pool

• Leverage LinkedIn, professional networks, referrals, recruitment platforms, and other sourcing channels. Identify new channels and technologies to use for efficiencies and recruiting.

• Oversee or manage recruitment activities from role briefing and sourcing through selection, offer management, and onboarding handover.

4. Stakeholder Management

• Act as a trusted talent advisor to Directors and leadership.

• Challenge hiring assumptions constructively and provide evidence-based recommendations.

• Establish clear hiring requirements, assessment criteria, and recruitment success measures.

• Build strong partnerships that promote timely, consistent, and effective hiring decisions.

5. Employer Branding and Candidate Experience

• Collaborate with Marketing to strengthen the employer value proposition.

• Develop initiatives that position the organization as an employer of choice.

• Ensure candidates experience a professional, transparent, and engaging recruitment journey.

• Support initiatives that improve candidate engagement, referrals, and offer acceptance rates.

6. Recruitment Analytics and Continuous Improvement

• Define and monitor time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, quality of hire, sourcing effectiveness, and offer acceptance.

• Use data to identify recruitment bottlenecks and recommend improvements.

• Optimize recruitment processes, technology, and reporting practices.

• Explore the effective use of AI-enabled recruitment tools while maintaining fairness, privacy, legal, and human oversight.

7. Human Resources Administration

• Coordinate and prepare pre- and post-employment documentation. Communicate joining instructions, start dates, and first-day expectations to new hires. Maintain an onboarding tracker.
• Responsible for HRIS functionality, including security permissions, access, groups, and dashboards. Develop, maintain and prepare reports.
• Compliance: conduct audits (pay and data equity), maintain certificates of insurance.
• Process verification of employment requests and employment separations.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function and responsibility satisfactorily.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.

• Demonstrated experience in talent acquisition, recruitment strategy, talent advisory, or a related field.

• At least 7 years experience developing recruitment strategies and partnering with hiring managers or business leaders.

• Strong knowledge of sourcing methodologies, talent mapping, market research, and candidate assessment.

• Experience using applicant tracking systems (ATS) and recruitment analytics tools.

• Ability to interpret data, identify trends, and translate insights into practical business recommendations.

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, influencing, and negotiation skills.

• Strong analytical thinking, project management, and problem-solving capabilities.

• Experience working in a multi-site organization preferred.

Key Competencies

• Proactive sourcing and talent pipeline development

• Strategic and commercial thinking

• Consultative stakeholder management

• Data-driven decision-making

• Market intelligence and workforce planning

• Relationship building and influencing

• Innovation and continuous improvement

• Integrity, discretion, and commitment to fair hiring

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Effectiveness of talent acquisition strategies in meeting business hiring needs.

• Time-to-fill and time-to-hire for priority positions.

• Quality of hire and hiring-manager satisfaction.

• Strength and readiness of talent pipelines.

• Offer acceptance and candidate engagement rates.

• Recruitment cost efficiency and sourcing-channel effectiveness.

• Improvements in candidate experience and recruitment processes.