Cleared Recruiting Lead

Kentro • Tampa, FL

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Kentro is hiring a Cleared Recruiting Lead to oversee cleared recruiting delivery across government contracts requiring Secret, TS, TS/SCI, CI Poly, and FS Poly talent. The role supervises and coaches 1–2 cleared recruiters while remaining actively involved in recruiting for designated roles more than 50% of the time. The Lead ensures consistent, compliant, and timely staffing for intelligence community, Department of Defense, and federal civilian programs, and serves as the primary operational point of contact for cleared recruiting activities.

The position partners with program leadership, Personnel Security, and Talent Acquisition leadership to maintain cleared candidate pipelines and meet mission-critical contract requirements. It reports hiring performance, resource needs, risks, and contract staffing updates to the Senior TA Manager, and collaborates on contract start-ups, surge hiring, proposal staffing, and future pipeline development.

The preferred locations are hybrid in Tampa, Florida, or McLean, Virginia. Remote work from the United States may be considered, with travel for events and contract needs. The role follows Eastern Time Zone working hours. The anticipated base salary range is $100,000–$140,000 annually; final compensation depends on factors including skills, experience, education, certifications, location, clearance requirements, market conditions, internal equity, and contract requirements. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and willing and able to obtain and maintain Public Trust clearance or higher.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree preferred, or at least 8 years of experience.
• At least 5 years of cleared recruiting experience supporting intelligence community or DoD programs.
• At least 2 years of experience leading cleared recruiting teams or serving in a senior cleared recruiter capacity.
• Experience with clearance levels, investigations, adjudications, and crossover processes.
• Experience in federal contracting environments, including labor category requirements and proposal staffing.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and customer expectations in fast-paced environments.
• Proficiency with ATS systems and cleared and other sourcing tools.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to summarize risks, updates, and hiring performance for Talent Acquisition leadership.
• Ability to build relationships across military communities, veteran networks, and cleared talent pools.
• U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency (Green Card).
• Willingness and ability to obtain and maintain Public Trust clearance or higher.
• Ability to travel for contract and event needs.
• Ability to work Eastern Time Zone hours.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with DoD organizations, SOCOM, DIA, or other federal government cleared networks.
• Experience with iCIMS ATS.
• Location in Tampa, Florida, or the DMV area; hybrid Tampa or McLean is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead cleared recruiting activities and ensure coverage across programs requiring Secret, TS, TS/SCI, CI Poly, and FS Poly talent.
• Manage, mentor, and coach 1–2 cleared recruiters, overseeing workflow, performance, productivity, and delivery quality.
• Establish daily, weekly, and monthly operating rhythms to meet recruiting commitments.
• Review and approve job description submittals for hire and offers in accordance with approval and exception processes.
• Enforce compliance with government contract requirements, labor categories, candidate documentation, and personnel security standards.
• Serve as the cleared recruiting team's clearance subject matter expert, advising recruiters and hiring managers on clearance-related questions.
• Provide structured reporting on pipeline status, risks, hiring trends, and contract-level performance metrics.
• Communicate staffing demands, recruiter workloads, resource gaps, and escalations proactively; brief leadership on hiring risks, delays, candidate issues, and market conditions.
• Collaborate with the Director and Transition Manager on contract start-ups, surge hiring, proposal staffing, and future pipeline development.
• Build and maintain clearance-specific pipelines and long-term talent communities across clearance levels from Secret through FS Poly.
• Develop targeted outreach, including military transition pipelines and veteran hiring strategies, and generate referrals across cleared networks and employee communities.
• Plan and represent the company at cleared recruiting events, including intelligence community job fairs.
• Coordinate with Communications and Marketing on recruiting presence across marketing and sourcing tools, posting, and pipeline-building connections.
• Serve as the Talent Acquisition point of contact for cleared staffing across intelligence community, DoD, and federal civilian programs requiring clearances.
• Partner with Program Managers to understand hiring timelines, contract deliverables, and customer expectations.
• Support proposal staffing by rapidly developing pipelines and prequalified candidate pools.
• Communicate hiring challenges, market availability, and competitive intelligence to program and Talent Acquisition leaders.
• Conduct and oversee candidate clearance verification and ensure documentation aligns with contract requirements.
• Collaborate with Personnel Security on clearance transfers, upgrades, and crossover processing.
• Maintain accurate candidate records in the ATS and ensure compliance with audits and government-contract documentation standards.
• Ensure team adherence to customer-specific submission requirements, resume formats, and labor category validation.
• Recruit for designated roles throughout the recruiting process while supervising other cleared recruiters; recruiting remains an active duty for more than 50% of the time.
• Track, report, and improve cleared recruiting KPIs, including clearance-level time-to-fill, submission-to-interview ratio, interview-to-offer ratio, pipeline health by program and clearance level, and offer acceptance rate.
• Provide weekly and monthly metric dashboards to the Director and conduct quarterly reviews and reporting for recruiter incentives and team metrics.
• Identify performance gaps and implement corrective actions or workflow changes when needed.
• Ensure transparency, consistency, and visibility into contract staffing performance.

Benefits

• Paid time off.
• Healthcare benefits.
• Supplemental benefits.
• 401(k) with employer match.
• Discount perks and rewards.
• Education reimbursement for certifications, degrees, or professional development, subject to IRS limitations.
• Flexibility to take courses, complete certifications, and pursue professional growth and networking.
• Company-funded virtual and in-person activities, including happy hours, holiday events, fitness and wellness events, and annual celebrations.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior