Director of Talent Acquisition, Field Operations

October 15, 2026
Rock Hill, SC, US
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Position Summary

The Director of Talent Acquisition will lead, scale, and optimize the company's Craft recruiting function supporting nuclear services, construction, power generation, DoD, industrial maintenance, commercial projects, and specialty technical services. This role requires a hands‑on, strategic problem solver who can dive into daily operations, build strong partnerships with project and operational leaders, and drive a proactive workforce planning strategy to support company growth. The ideal leader has deep experience building high‑performing recruiting teams in the construction or heavy industrial sectors and understands the field qualifications, labor markets, and relationships required to recruit skilled craft, specialty technical, supervisory, and project leadership personnel. This is an operationally engaged leadership role: the Director must hold the recruiting organization accountable and personally work through difficult staffing requirements with Operations, not simply manage recruiting activity and reports. The successful candidate will demonstrate experience optimizing the company's ATS and recruiting processes. This is a fully remote position with occasional travel to the corporate office and/or project sites.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead, develop, and hold the Talent Acquisition team accountable for staffing execution supporting multiple business units and large project portfolios.
  • Build and scale recruitment strategies to meet current and future workforce demands, including skilled craft, specialty technical personnel, field supervision, and project leadership positions across RPG's business lines.
  • Partner closely with operations leaders, HR, project managers, and corporate leadership to translate field execution needs, qualification requirements, and long-range project forecasts into actionable staffing plans.
  • Drive workforce planning processes, ensuring hiring plans accurately reflect project schedules, staffing needs, and market conditions.
  • Streamline and optimize recruiting processes, tools, workflows, and reporting to improve efficiency, consistency, and candidate experience.
  • Personally engage in sourcing and headhunting efforts for hard‑to‑fill roles; model strong recruiting fundamentals and take direct ownership of difficult staffing needs when standard sourcing methods fall short.
  • Build and maintain relationships with technical schools, trade programs, workforce development organizations, industry partners, and established craft and specialty technical talent networks.
  • Ensure compliance with DoD, nuclear, and other regulated industry requirements where applicable.
  • Use data and reporting to drive decisions, track qualified talent pipelines, staffing fulfillment, mobilization readiness, and workforce quality, and continuously improve recruiting performance.
  • Collaborate with HRIS teams to leverage and enhance ATS functionality; experience with UKG and SmartSearch preferred.
  • Champion employer branding initiatives to strengthen pipeline development and market presence.
  • Promote a culture of accountability, problem‑solving, and collaborative engagement across the Talent Acquisition team.

Leadership Skills

  • Proven ability to build and lead high-performing recruiting teams with clear performance accountability in fast‑moving, project‑driven environments.
  • Strong coaching and mentoring skills; able to develop team capabilities, elevate performance, and foster career growth.
  • Demonstrates a "roll‑up‑your‑sleeves" leadership style; able to work alongside recruiters, personally source qualified talent, and remove staffing barriers when needed.
  • Highly collaborative and able to influence leaders across operations, corporate functions, and project teams.
  • Skilled at navigating ambiguity, assigning ownership, removing obstacles, and driving measurable recovery actions in complex and highly regulated environments.
  • Strong communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder‑management skills.

Operational Effectiveness

  • Experience building scalable recruiting processes that support rapid project mobilization and long‑term workforce planning.
  • Keen understanding of staffing models for nuclear outages, long-term maintenance contracts, power generation, construction, industrial projects, DoD work, and specialty technical services.
  • Ability to analyze workforce data and labor market conditions, anticipate talent shortages across concurrent projects, and drive practical staffing solutions.
  • Skilled in process mapping, continuous improvement, and implementing best practices across recruiting operations.
  • Hands‑on experience improving ATS workflows, reporting, sourcing pipelines, and recruiter productivity.
  • Ability to lead long-term workforce planning while remaining directly involved in day-to-day recruiting execution in a high‑demand, deadline‑driven environment.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of progressive recruiting and workforce leadership experience, including direct accountability for leading and developing recruiting teams in the construction, power, nuclear, DoD, or heavy industrial sectors.
  • Demonstrated understanding of field operations, craft qualifications, and complex project workforce requirements; prior operations experience in power, nuclear, or industrial environments strongly preferred.
  • Demonstrated success leading recruiting teams to deliver qualified, job-ready personnel for large, complex, and time-sensitive projects; able to identify staffing shortfalls, establish ownership, and drive recovery.
  • Strong hands-on recruiting and sourcing capability, with established industry relationships across skilled craft and specialty technical labor markets; able to engage, attract, and close candidates for diverse field roles, including traditional trades, mechanical and electrical maintenance, specialty valve services, and instrumentation and controls (I&C).
  • Familiarity with UKG, SmartSearch, or similar ATS platforms.
  • Bachelor's degree preferred;. Will also consider applicable experience in lieu of degree.

Physical Work Environment

  • Office environment requiring extended periods of computer use, sitting, and in-person and virtual communication.
  • Frequent use of computers, keyboards, and other office equipment.
  • Ability to remain seated for extended periods of time.
  • Occasional standing, walking, or moving throughout the office or home office
  • May require occasional lifting of office materials up to approximately 10-20 pounds.
  • Noise level is generally quiet to moderate.

Equal Employment Opportunity

RPG is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in employment on account of race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship status, criminal history, ancestry, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, or discharge from military service. RPG provides its services to many clients in their various business sectors who may have physical, mental, pre-employment screening and/or citizenship requirements. These requirements are driven by contracts and/ or security requirements that RPG is required to adhere to, and which may vary between clients and their respective high-security industries. Misrepresentation or falsification of qualifications or background information is grounds for termination, denial of employment and/ or disqualification from future employment consideration.