Director, Talent Acquisition

Inspire•Atlanta, GA

About The Position

The Director of Talent Acquisition is responsible for designing and executing a forward-looking talent acquisition strategy that supports the growth and performance of a large, multi-brand restaurant organization. This role leads full-cycle recruiting across the organization, ensuring the company attracts, hires, and retains high-quality talent at scale in a competitive labor market. Partnering closely with senior business leaders and HR, the Director sets strategy and ensures prioritization aligns with business needs, capacity, and enterprise workforce plans. This leader builds and develops a high-performing TA team, leverages data and market insights to inform decisions, and ensures compliance with all employment laws. Success in this role requires a blend of strategic vision and operational excellence, with a strong-understanding of the unique talent dynamics within the restaurant industry.

Requirements

10+ years leading corporate/professional recruiting teams
Experience managing recruiting functions supporting 400+ annual requisitions across multiple business functions
Multi-brand, high-growth, or complex matrixed organization; restaurant, hospitality, or consumer industries strongly preferred
Proven ability to influence senior leaders on hiring strategy, role design, and workforce prioritization
Applicant Tracking Systems (preferred: Workday), CRM/automation platforms (preferred: Paradox), LinkedIn Recruiter, Indeed
Executive-level communication, storytelling, and stakeholder influence
Capacity planning, demand forecasting, and data-driven decision-making
Team development, coaching, and performance management
Strong business acumen with ability to connect talent decisions to business outcomes
Change management and organizational transformation experience
Budget awareness and ability to manage recruiting spend and agency costs
Experience integrating workforce planning with talent acquisition strategy
Familiarity with contingent workforce and flexible staffing models

Nice To Haves

Preferbaly MBA or related graduate degree

Responsibilities

Own Talent Acquisition strategy aligned to enterprise talent and workforce plans, ensuring the function delivers against hiring demand while operating within approved headcount
Shape and sequence hiring demand in partnership with HRBPs, Finance, and business leaders; make prioritization and tradeoff decisions across competing hiring needs
Partner with Workforce Planning on headcount forecasting, position approvals, and executive leadership staffing governance
Lead and develop the talent acquisition team, establishing clear expectations for intake rigor, requisition health, and candidate experience
Drive team performance through capacity planning, workload balancing, and aging requisition management; ensure stable recruiter workloads and reduced stalled searches
Oversee the calibration and development of recruiters across all levels, ensuring title and scope alignment to the future-state operating model
Serve as final escalation point for complex or high-impact hiring issues, including executive-level intake, offer negotiations, and hiring manager disputes
Partner with Compensation, HRBPs, and hiring managers on role scoping, leveling, and competitive offer strategy
Represent Talent Acquisition in executive-level staffing discussions, and cross-functional talent initiatives
Establish and enforce intake discipline, sourcing standards, and quality benchmarks across Talent Acquisition
Monitor, report on, and drive excellence in recruiting KPIs including time-to-fill, hiring quality, candidate experience, and requisition aging
Drive continuous improvement in recruiting workflows in partnership with TA Operations and Technology teams
Partner with the shared services model and TA Operations for sourcing support, scheduling, and candidate coordination to maximize recruiter capacity and efficiency
Manage all recruitment agency relationships including vendor selection, performance management, and contract terms
Oversee agency invoice tracking, spend management, and dashboarding/metrics to ensure cost-effectiveness and ROI
Ensure agency usage aligns with the capacity model and is deployed strategically for hard-to-fill or surge hiring needs