Sr. Manager, Talent Acquisition

AppFolio•Santa Barbara, CA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition leads AppFolio’s recruiting team while continuing to personally own key management hiring. This is intentionally a player-coach role: we believe the best TA leaders stay close to the work, and we’ve designed this position so that hands-on management recruiting, and team leadership reinforce each other rather than compete. You’ll lead AppFolio’s recruiting team--setting direction, developing talent, and raising the bar for how we hire across the company--while personally running searches for key roles. You’ll partner with senior leaders, HR Business Partners, and the broader People team to translate workforce plans into outcomes, and you’ll bring the credibility of a true Talent Advisor to every conversation about how we recruit at AppFolio. This role sits on the People leadership team and is a key voice in shaping how AppFolio attracts, hires, and retains the talent that drives the business forward.

Requirements

8+ years of recruiting experience, with significant time in software or technology
Strong track record in leadership hiring, including building proactive pipelines
Demonstrated leadership of recruiters or a recruiting function, whether formally as a manager or as a senior IC mentoring, developing, and elevating peers
Experience hiring across multiple functions (Engineering, Product, GTM, G&A)
Demonstrated ability to set clear performance expectations, give direct feedback, and make hard people decisions with care and consistency
Balance empathy and accountability--support team members through challenges while still holding them to a standard
Deep relationships with business leaders and a reputation for being a trusted recruiting partner
Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills with senior leaders--ability to navigate ambiguity
Comfort balancing hands-on recruiting with team leadership--and a genuine interest in doing both
Experience using data to inform recruiting decisions, track progress, and improve outcomes
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Experience with Applicant Tracking Systems, including supporting implementations, optimization, or migrations

Responsibilities

Lead and develop the recruiting team
Lead, coach, and develop a team of recruiters, setting clear goals and fostering a high-performance, accountable, and collaborative team culture
Mentor recruiters on stakeholder partnership, sourcing strategy, candidate experience, and closing
Set and uphold clear performance expectations, addressing gaps directly and developing team members toward their next level
Make timely, fair decisions about performance and role fit, partnering closely with HRG/HRBP when difficult conversations are needed
Monitor team capacity and workload distribution, making thoughtful tradeoffs to balance speed, quality, and recruiter sustainability
Build accountability and trust through clear expectations and regular feedback
Own key management recruiting
Manage a req load for senior management roles
Serve as the trusted recruiting partner to AppFolio’s Sr. leaders on key hires
Drive hiring strategy and outcomes
Partner with HRBPs and senior business leaders to translate workforce plans into recruiting execution across Product Development, GTM, and G&A
Navigate escalations and complex hiring situations, partnering directly with hiring managers when needed
Coach hiring managers on interviewing, assessment, and decision-making to raise the quality bar across the company
Represent TA in workforce planning discussions, bringing the talent market perspective to the table
Shape how we recruit
Drive a hiring process that balances speed, quality, and candidate experience--making enhancements where needed
Use key metrics to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and inform decisions
Serve as a subject matter expert for our Applicant Tracking System, supporting workflow optimization, adoption, and enhancements
Contribute to broader Talent and People initiatives as a member of the People leadership team