Director, Talent Acquisition & Operations

What We Do

At Leading Educators (LE), we know that excellent teaching is the most important driver of student success. The moment a student steps foot in the classroom, their opportunity to learn depends on how prepared their teacher is to translate complex content knowledge, standards, and their knowledge of that student into lessons that help them learn deeply and apply their thinking to the real world.

That’s a big lift, and it often happens alone. As a national nonprofit, we partner with school systems to overcome persistent instructional challenges, foster intentional collaboration and adult learning by design, and ignite new possibilities through systemic solutions at the intersection of teaching, talent, and technology.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with educators at every level of the education system to strengthen their instructional and leadership practices, bring a vision for excellent instruction to life with consistency, and ensure every student reaches their full potential.

Through direct support, strategic advising, innovation pilots, and best-in-class research, we help educators work toward a future where every student is ready to thrive. Learn more about our work at leadingeducators.org.

Internal and External Candidate Application Deadline: Sunday, March 8th.  

Position

This is not a traditional talent acquisition role. This is a mission-critical leadership position that demands extraordinary cognitive agility, strategic thinking, and operational excellence. You are not just filling roles; you are architecting the talent infrastructure that will drive educational transformation.

As our Director of Talent Acquisition & Operations, you will be the operational nerve center of our recruiting ecosystem. This role requires someone who can simultaneously manage 12+ concurrent searches while maintaining laser-focused quality, anticipate complex stakeholder dynamics, and execute recruiting experiences that are as innovative and precise as our educational solutions. You will be a high-touch thought partner who drives the recruiting process. Your role is to take the full cognitive and tactical load off of hiring managers, ensuring they can focus on their core work while you manage every aspect of talent acquisition with precision and efficiency.

Your success hinges on your ability to think in real-time, hold multiple complex variables simultaneously, and make decisive recommendations efficiently. You will be responsible for time to hire, quality of hire, contractor workflows, candidate experiences, and internal dynamics with unparalleled expertise and energy. This is a role for someone who sees talent acquisition as a strategic art form – not an administrative function. 

You will directly own the end-to-end recruiting process, managing a small Talent Operations team responsible for scheduling, documentation, onboarding coordination, and contractor workflows. Your role is to set clear performance standards, monitor execution quality, and hold the team accountable for accuracy and service levels, allowing you to focus on critical hiring judgments and candidate experience.

Do you have expertise in…

• Adaptive thinking that allows you to pivot quickly in ambiguous environments
• Managing high-volume recruiting across 12+ concurrent searches while delivering a consistently high-touch, personalized candidate experience
• Operating with executive presence, confidently providing clear, actionable guidance to senior leaders and hiring managers

Do you enjoy…

• Being the visible, energetic face of recruiting who motivates and inspires both candidates and internal teams
• Continuous learning and rapid experimentation with cutting-edge recruiting technologies
• Transforming complex recruiting challenges into streamlined, high-performance solutions

If you've answered affirmatively to these questions and meet the following prerequisites, we urge you to seize this opportunity. This role calls for the following:

• 8+ years of experience in talent acquisition, recruiting operations, or talent operations, with demonstrated ownership of full-cycle recruiting for full-time roles.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent searches in a fast paced environment while maintaining quality, pace, and stakeholder confidence
• Proven ability to meet ambitious time to hire goals across varied role types and levels
• Experience operating as a senior level thought partner to hiring managers and executives, providing clear, directional guidance in live conversations
• Strong executive presence with confidence leading high stakes intake meetings, calibration sessions, and debrief discussions
• Comfort engaging in productive conflict, directly naming risks and trade offs while maintaining trust and forward momentum
• Deep experience designing and leading structured hiring processes, including role scoping, interview design, evaluation frameworks, and debrief facilitation
• Strong track record of delivering a high quality candidate experience while holding hiring managers accountable for timely decisions
• Experience overseeing onboarding planning and cross functional coordination for new hires
• Experience managing internal transitions and contractor lifecycle processes
• Strong systems orientation with experience using ATS and interview platforms to manage pipelines and workflows. Greenhouse and Spark Hire experience preferred
• Hands on experience testing and activating AI enabled tools in recruiting or onboarding environments, with a bias toward rapid experimentation and practical application
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable guidance

Travel Requirements

• This is a remote position requires 3 to 8 trips a year 
• National travel for org retreats, programming, job related travel, or professional development 
• Outside of the above mentioned travel, this person will work from a home office that must be located anywhere within the U.S. 

Questions? We’re here to help.

If you have questions about this role or about our hiring process at any point, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at talent@leadingeducators.org. This inbox is monitored regularly, and we aim to respond within two business days. To ensure your question receives a thoughtful and timely response, we kindly ask that you refrain from emailing individual staff members or members of our HR team directly. The best way to connect with us is always through talent@leadingeducators.org.

Why Work at Leading Educators? 

Imagine being part of an organization where your ideas and perspectives are highly valued. At Leading Educators, we believe in fostering individual strengths, encouraging personal growth, and embracing innovative ideas. If you thrive in a remote working environment, with the added excitement of travel, we're the perfect fit for you. By joining us, you become part of a powerful community of peers nationwide. Regardless of your location, you possess the power to make a significant impact on both students and teachers who rely on us daily. Join Leading Educators and become an integral part of driving progress in education. 

Learn About Our Mission & Values:

Mission: Leading Educators partners with school systems to sustain the teaching, leadership, and conditions for every student to succeed in school and in life.

Values:

• Build on strengths: We affirm and begin with the unique and collective talents, experiences, and wisdom of ourselves and others.
• Continuously learn: We develop ourselves and others. We apply new learning and deepened self-awareness to our relationships and practices.
• Prioritize people: We build trust and reflect on the impact of different perspectives and experiences.
• Champion success for all: We re-imagine structures, habits, and mindsets to ensure every learner has access to evidence-based learning opportunities.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Hiring

• We use artificial intelligence–enabled tools throughout our hiring process, from the moment a candidate applies through the offer stage, to support administrative tasks and the initial review of candidate materials. These tools help us organize, analyze, and surface relevant information efficiently, but they do not make hiring decisions.

• All candidate materials—including applications, resumes, assessments, and interview feedback—are reviewed and evaluated by people. All hiring decisions, including interview selection, advancement, and offers of employment, are made by humans.

• We use AI solely as a support tool to assist with early-stage reviews and process efficiency. We do not use AI in ways that discriminate based on protected characteristics, nor do we use ZIP codes or similar data to target or exclude protected groups. Our hiring practices are designed to be fair, consistent, and aligned with equal employment opportunity standards.

Benefits

• Compensation:
  •  If hired for this position, the base salary range is $103,649 to $140,231 per year. Most new hires enter the range at a specific point based on their qualifications and the role level. For this position, the standard starting salary is $121,940, which is based on meeting the minimum requirement of 8 years of relevant experience.
  • If you have more than 8 years of directly relevant experience, your starting salary may be adjusted higher within the range, up to a maximum starting salary of $129,779. This approach ensures that candidates with additional experience beyond the minimum are recognized in the initial salary offer.
• Benefits:
  • 100% paid medical, dental, and vision coverage for individual employees. Additional premium costs are covered 60% by Leading Educators for partners and dependents on medical, dental, and vision plans. 4% matching 401k plan, Flexible Spending Accounts for medical, childcare and commuter expenses, and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Benefits are valued at or above $9,000 for employees.
• Time Off: 
  • First three years of employment, full time staff accrue 22 days a year. 
  • Five additional days are accrued after the third and sixth year of employment.
  • Leading Educators also offer 16 additional paid days off for various holidays, including three floating holidays staff may use at their discretion.

Equal Opportunity Employment 

Leading Educators is an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.

Apply: https://leadingeducators.org/careers/opportunities

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