Associate Director, Recruitment & Onboarding

The Marine Mammal Center•Sausalito, CA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Associate Director, Recruitment & Onboarding serves as the senior operational lead and is the architect for staff recruitment, hiring, and onboarding and volunteer recruitment, onboarding, and placement at The Marine Mammal Center. This role provides strategic input, architectural design, and operational leadership to ensure recruitment and onboarding practices are consistent, equitable, compliant, and aligned with the Center’s mission and strategic priorities. The Associate Director, Recruitment & Onboarding translates organizational direction, workforce and volunteer priorities, and operational needs into scalable recruitment and onboarding frameworks, tools, and practices. This role oversees and develops a multidisciplinary recruitment team, manages recruitment systems, and stewards the organization’s staff position description and volunteer role description libraries. This role is accountable for day-to-day staff hiring outcomes and volunteer placements. This position actively supports the Center’s mission by ensuring the organization attracts, selects, and onboards a diverse, skilled, and mission-aligned staff workforce and volunteer community.

Requirements

Strong commitment to the mission and strategic priorities of The Marine Mammal Center.
Ability to understand strategic organizational issues and influence change.
Strong knowledge of human resources practices, policies, and procedures, with demonstrated judgment and discretion in application
Demonstrated knowledge of current recruitment, onboarding, talent acquisition tools, strategies, processes, and best practices.
Experience serving as a system administrator/super user for a complex Applicant Tracking System (ATS), including requisitions, job postings, candidate communications, interview scheduling, offer management, onboarding workflows, and advanced analytics/reporting.
Experience implementing, optimizing, and maintaining platforms, including workflow design, change management, documentation, and end-user training.
Experience managing vendor relationships, contracts, and service delivery for recruiting systems and related tools.
Experience with employer branding and recruitment-related marketing strategies to support candidate attraction and engagement.
Strong, current knowledge of applicable state and federal laws and regulations related to recruiting and hiring.
Demonstrated ability to develop, interpret, and leverage data and analytics to inform strategy, drive continuous improvement, and improve outcomes.
Customer-focused approach with the ability to understand stakeholder needs, set clear expectations, and consistently deliver high-quality service.
Strong leadership and team building skills, with the ability to motivate team members, balance workloads, set priorities, monitor performance, and mentor, coach and develop talent.
Ability to quickly establish professional rapport with internal customers; approachable and able to engage with sensitivity, patience, and professionalism in addressing interpersonal concerns.
Demonstrated professionalism and confidentiality in handling sensitive and confidential information.
Excellent written, verbal, active listening, presentation, and facilitation skills, with the ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and timely.
Comfort participating in group presentations and negotiations, representing the function effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
Ability to work collaboratively and maintain open communication in a team environment, partnering effectively across functions and levels.
Ability to work independently to manage projects, priorities, commitments, and deadlines.
Strong organization skills including attention to detail, effective problem-solving, multitasking, and time management.
Ability to solve complex problems efficiently and effectively, applying sound judgment and making timely decisions
Demonstrated ability to take initiative, prioritize competing demands, resolve conflicts, and follow through to completion
Adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback; demonstrates flexibility in approach and supports others in adopting new processes and expectations.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Word) and virtual collaboration tools (Asana, Slack, Teams, Zoom).
Ability to build and sustain effective working relationships with people from diverse backgrounds while demonstrating self-awareness, respect, and professionalism.
Willingness to support and participate in the Center’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Valid driver license with acceptable motor vehicle record to maintain standards of insurability. (Must be 21+ years old as frequently driving company vehicles is required for this position.)
This position requires a combination of education and/or experience equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in human resources or related field; and 7 years of experience directly related in recruitment and onboarding operations, with at least 5 years in a leadership/people management capacity.

Nice To Haves

Professional HR certification such as SHRM-SCP or SPHR preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior operational lead and manage recruitment and onboarding frameworks that support staff recruitment, hiring, and onboarding and volunteer recruitment, onboarding, and placement, aligned with organizational priorities established by the People & Culture department and Executive leadership
Provide oversight of end-to-end processes for staff and volunteer recruitment and onboarding, ensuring consistent, equitable, and high-quality practices.
Manage and administer all Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and onboarding platforms, ensuring appropriate configuration, data integrity, user access, and system performance.
Provide operational leadership for ATS and onboarding platform reviews, assessing system effectiveness, alignment with organizational needs, compliance requirements, and user experience.
Lead and support the development of Requests for Proposal (RFPs) for recruitment and onboarding systems as needed, including requirements gathering, evaluation criteria, and cross-functional coordination.
Manage and facilitate recruitment and onboarding vendor evaluation and selection processes, including demonstrations, comparative analysis, and recommendation development in partnership with People & Culture leadership and other stakeholders as needed.
Provide leadership and guidance for recruitment and onboarding system implementation, configuration, testing, and rollout, ensuring data integrity, minimal disruption, and alignment with recruitment and onboarding workflows as needed.
Ensure background checks, motor vehicle checks, Form I-9, E-Verify, and other pre-boarding requirements for staff and volunteers are completed accurately, efficiently, and in compliance with all applicable requirements.
Ensure recruitment and onboarding practices align with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, funding requirements and budget constraints, and organizational policies.
Develop and maintain dashboards and reports measuring staff time-to-fill, source of staff hire, volunteer pipeline health, placement timelines, compliance, candidate and volunteer experience, and outreach or event return on investment (ROI).
Review recruitment and onboarding data to identify trends, risks, and gaps; implement corrective actions and provide recommendations to People & Culture leadership as needed.
Lead continuous improvement of recruitment and onboarding frameworks, tools, and standards to strengthen effectiveness, experience, and outcomes.
Design sourcing approaches that support organizational hiring priorities, including proactive pipeline development for hard-to-fill, technical, and mission-critical staff roles.
Provide oversight of talent pipeline development for staff and volunteers, ensuring sustainable, mission-aligned candidate and volunteer pools are maintained.
Serve as a visible talent brand ambassador for the Center, confidently articulating the organization’s mission, impact, culture, and opportunities to candidates and prospective volunteers.
Engage directly in sourcing and outreach activities for staff and volunteer roles when positions are senior-level, highly specialized, strategically critical, or present unique recruitment challenges.
Establish standards and expectations for candidate and volunteer experience across recruitment stages, ensuring timely communication, structured interviews, and consistent offer or placement practices.
Manage and steward the Center’s staff position description library and role description library, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and alignment with organizational structure, position and role levels, equitable classification practices, workforce planning, and operational needs.
Maintain established templates, standards, and review processes for the creation, updating, and approval of staff position descriptions and volunteer role descriptions.
Provide oversight and guidance to management during the development or revision of a position or role description using established protocols.
Conduct regular and periodic reviews of position and volunteer role descriptions to ensure ongoing relevance, clarity, and organizational alignment.
Ensure position description and role description libraries are integrated with recruitment and onboarding systems and workflows.
Hire, train, mentor, and manage staff, ensuring individual and team development, alignment with goals, and adherence to policies and best practices.
Provide direct supervision and coaching to strengthen communication capacity across departments, building a culture of clear, consistent, and mission-driven storytelling.
Meet with direct reports to identify and resolve problems; perform personnel actions, such as approving timesheets and evaluating performance.
Monitor workload distribution and team capacity to ensure sustainable operations and effective service delivery.
Coach and train direct reports to build sourcing and outreach capabilities across the Recruitment & Onboarding team for position and role levels, ensuring sustainability and high-quality recruitment practices.
Foster a collaborative, service-oriented, and mission-aligned team culture grounded in professionalism, confidentiality, and continuous improvement.
Partner with hiring managers and organizational leaders to clarify staffing and volunteer needs, define hiring and onboarding criteria, and set expectations for recruitment and onboarding timelines.
Review hiring and volunteer placement outcomes and intervene when barriers, delays, or risks arise.
Serve as the primary escalation point for staff recruitment, hiring, and onboarding and volunteer recruitment, onboarding, and placement issues, resolving most challenges and elevating matters to People & Culture leadership when issues involve policy interpretation, legal or compliance risk, and/or cross-departmental impact.
Supports the development of the Recruitment & Onboarding budget in collaboration with the Senior Director, Human Resources; tracks results to ensure alignment with key financial targets for expenses and/or revenue in collaboration with management; approves and monitors team expenditures within established parameters.
Actively contribute as a core member of the Center’s DEI committee, providing insight, data analysis, and recommendations related to recruitment, onboarding, risk mitigation, and data analytics to inform innovative practices to enhance organizational culture.
Lead the implementation of DEI initiatives aligned with organizational priorities for recruitment and onboarding of staff and volunteers.
Support and prioritize the Center’s DEI objectives and integrate as opportunities arise.
May actively serve on various organizational wide committees as assigned.
Perform special projects and research as assigned.
Perform other duties as assigned.