Senior Recruiter

Highwire•Chicago, CA

11h•Hybrid

About The Position

Highwire is seeking a Senior Recruiter to lead full-cycle recruitment, develop proactive sourcing strategies, and build long-term talent pipelines across agency and corporate functions. As a member of the People team, this role partners with leaders to understand business needs, identify talent, and strengthen the agency’s ability to attract and engage candidates for current and future opportunities. The Senior Recruiter serves as a trusted talent advisor, using passive candidate sourcing, talent market research, and relationship-building to reach candidates beyond traditional applicant pools. The role operates in a fast-paced agency environment where priorities and hiring needs may change quickly. The position leads searches across PR, integrated communications, marketing, digital, creative, and corporate functions, from intake through offer. It develops sourcing strategies and talent pipelines, advises hiring leaders on recruiting strategy and market conditions, guides interviews and candidate assessments, and manages candidate communication and offer negotiations. The recruiter also maintains recruiting data and metrics, improves processes and candidate experience, supports inclusive hiring and employer branding, and leads sourcing and recruitment for the agency’s internship program. Highwire offers remote and hybrid work options based on location. Candidates within commuting distance of the New York, NY, or San Francisco, CA offices follow a hybrid schedule with three in-office days per week. Fully remote hiring is limited to candidates residing in the listed eligible states or Washington, D.C. at the time of hire. The salary range is $80,000–$95,000, with the final offer based on factors including education, experience, skills, training, internal equity, and local market data.

Requirements

At least 5 years of recruiting experience.
Deep expertise in sourcing and a demonstrated ability to identify and engage high-quality passive candidates using targeted, research-driven strategies.
Experience building talent pipelines for immediate hiring needs and long-term workforce planning.
Ability to build credibility with senior leaders, understand business needs, and translate them into recruiting strategies.
Ability to research talent markets and advise hiring teams on candidate availability, competitive dynamics, candidate profiles, and expectations.
Experience managing full-cycle searches from intake through offer while balancing candidate experience, hiring-team partnership, and recruiting outcomes.
Strong negotiation skills and experience extending offers, navigating compensation discussions, and balancing candidate expectations with salary bands and internal equity.
Commitment to thoughtful, engaging, and transparent candidate experiences, including timely communication and consistent follow-through.
Comfort using recruiting metrics and pipeline insights to evaluate effectiveness, identify challenges, and adjust strategies.
Strong relationship-building and communication skills, including the ability to engage candidates, influence hiring decisions, and build partnerships across teams and leadership levels.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, adapt to changing priorities, and maintain organization and momentum.
Proactive, resourceful approach, including ownership of searches and anticipation of hiring needs.
Commitment to inclusive hiring, including broadening talent networks and creating equitable candidate experiences.
Experience with applicant tracking systems, LinkedIn Recruiter, and advanced search techniques.
Proficiency in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel for pipeline tracking, reporting, and recruiting data management.

Nice To Haves

Recruiting experience in PR, communications, marketing, creative, digital, agency, or professional services environments.
Greenhouse applicant tracking system experience.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute proactive sourcing strategies across PR, communications, marketing, digital, creative, and corporate functions.
Build and maintain talent pipelines for current, anticipated, hard-to-fill, and recurring roles, developing relationships with qualified candidates before positions become available.
Use LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean search, talent mapping, referrals, networking, and other methods to identify passive candidates.
Research talent markets, candidate availability, competitive landscapes, and sourcing channels; use findings to assess pipeline health and refine strategies.
Partner with hiring leaders to understand business objectives, team dynamics, and talent needs, and translate priorities into role requirements and recruiting strategies.
Advise hiring leaders on candidate availability, expectations, market trends, and competitive positioning.
Guide interview strategy, candidate assessment, and hiring decisions, including suggesting alternative approaches when candidate profiles or expectations need recalibration.
Maintain regular communication with hiring managers, including weekly updates on search progress, pipeline activity, candidate feedback, and next steps.
Partner with the Director of Talent Strategy to anticipate hiring needs and align recruiting priorities with broader business goals.
Lead full-cycle recruitment across agency and corporate functions, managing searches from kickoff through offer.
Identify and assess candidates through sourcing, networking, referrals, and inbound applicants while maintaining search momentum and aligning hiring teams.
Deliver a thoughtful candidate experience through timely communication, transparency, engagement, and follow-through.
Develop an understanding of compensation structure, salary bands, and benefits to communicate total rewards and set candidate expectations.
Lead offer discussions and negotiations, partnering with hiring leaders and the Director of Talent Strategy to develop competitive offers and balance candidate expectations with compensation guidelines and internal equity.
Partner with the Director of Talent Strategy to strengthen recruiting practices, sourcing approaches, and scalable processes.
Maintain accurate candidate, search, and pipeline information in Greenhouse and supporting trackers.
Track recruiting metrics, including pipeline development, sourcing effectiveness, time to fill, and candidate conversion, and use insights to improve decisions and processes.
Identify opportunities to streamline recruiting workflows and improve candidate experience.
Collaborate with the People team on employer branding, job descriptions, and hiring communications, and support inclusive hiring through broader sourcing channels and diverse talent networks.
Lead sourcing and recruitment for the agency’s internship program.
Build relationships with universities, career centers, and relevant professional organizations to strengthen early-career pipelines.
Manage the intern recruitment process with hiring teams and develop sustainable pipelines for future agency needs.