Recruiting and Onboarding Manager

Position Summary

The Recruiting and Onboarding Manager leads Optimal’s recruiting and onboarding functions for field and office operations. This role manages and develops the recruiting team, partners with operational leaders to meet workforce needs, and ensures new employees are hired and prepared for work efficiently and compliantly.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on leader with high-volume recruiting experience in construction, industrial, petrochemical, or field-service environments.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Recruiting

Lead, coach, and develop the recruiting and onboarding team
Establish hiring priorities, performance expectations, and recruiting goals
Partner with operations and project leadership to forecast workforce needs
Manage full-cycle recruiting, including sourcing, screening, interviewing, offers, and placement
Build candidate pipelines for recurring and high-demand positions
Support staffing for projects, maintenance, turnarounds, shutdowns, and outages
Develop relationships with trade schools, workforce organizations, and other recruiting partners
Serve as an escalation point for complex hiring and onboarding matters

Onboarding and Compliance

Oversee onboarding from offer acceptance through job-site readiness
Ensure timely completion of:
- Employment documentation
Drug testing and background checks
MVR reviews
Safety orientations
License and certification verification
OSHA, NCCER, TWIC, and site-specific requirements
Partner with safety, payroll, human resources, and operations to ensure employees are ready for assignment
Maintain accurate, confidential, and audit-ready recruiting and onboarding records
Ensure compliance with company policies and applicable employment requirements

Reporting and Improvement

Track key measures such as time to fill, time to onboard, offer acceptance, source effectiveness, and new-hire turnover
Provide recruiting and staffing updates to company leadership
Identify hiring challenges and recommend practical solutions
Improve recruiting and onboarding processes to increase efficiency and strengthen the candidate experience

Qualifications

High school diploma or equivalent required
Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, construction management, or a related field preferred
Five or more years of recruiting, staffing, onboarding, or workforce-coordination experience
At least two years of direct people-management or team-leadership experience required
Experience with high-volume or skilled-craft recruiting
Construction, industrial, petrochemical, or field-workforce experience strongly preferred
Turnaround, shutdown, or outage staffing experience preferred
Experience with applicant-tracking or workforce-management systems

Key Competencies

Team leadership and employee development
Workforce planning and recruiting strategy
Strong communication and relationship-building skills
Sound judgment and problem-solving ability
Knowledge of employment practices and hiring compliance
Strong organization, follow-through, and attention to detail
Ability to manage changing priorities in a fast-paced environment

Why Join Optimal?

At Optimal, you will lead the team responsible for attracting, hiring, and preparing the workforce behind critical industrial projects. Your leadership will directly influence project readiness, employee experience, and company growth.

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