Senior Talent Acquisition Partner - Operations

September 17, 2026
Columbus, OH, US

Recruiting Areas of Focus

  • Operations Leadership
  • Contract Logistics
  • International Freight Forwarding
  • Brokerage

The Senior Talent Acquisition (TA) Partnerworks closely with hiring managers, Talent leaders and HR Business Partners to understand staffing needs and develop, implement and refine a well-rounded recruitment strategy that delivers quality candidates to assigned regions/business units. The Senior TA Partner drives all full-cycle recruiting activities, including client intake meetings, job postings, outbound sourcing, engaging past applicants/prospects, conducting hiring events, leveraging community/professional partnerships, screening/interviewing, scheduling interviews, delivering offers, and executing key preboarding tasks.

Responsibilities

  • Partner with assigned hiring managers and business partners to assess current and future staffing needs and develop recruitment strategies.
  • Facilitate recruitment strategy/intake meetings and candidate debrief meetings with hiring teams to ensure focused searches and efficient, compliant interview processes.
  • Publish job postings via the company’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and leading job boards to generate inbound applicants.
  • Proactively source and engage passive candidates, past applicants and prospects via resume databases and social media to develop deeper candidate pipelines.
  • Conduct in-depth research and market intelligence initiatives focused on competitors and industry trends to identify top talent and develop strategic hiring recommendations.
  • Represent the company at career fairs, professional conferences, community networking events, and targeted colleges and universities, as needed.
  • Pre-qualify resumes, conduct phone/video interviews and present qualified applicants to assigned hiring managers for further consideration.
  • Manage candidates throughout the hiring process, developing strong candidate relationships to ensure a positive candidate experience.
  • Conduct structured interviews and evaluate candidates’ leadership capabilities, cultural fit, and potential impact on Forward Air.
  • Deliver frequent communication, provide feedback and deliver insights to assist hiring managers in the selection process while focusing on delivering a positive candidate experience.
  • Actively contribute and participate in the continuous improvement processes, assisting with projects as requested.
  • Maintain or exceed established KPIs, including time to fill, hiring target goals, quality of hire metrics, and hiring manager satisfaction scores, etc.
  • Extend verbal and written offer packages of varying levels of complexity.
  • Facilitate the preboarding process, which may include but not be limited to, background check/drug screen initiation and adjudication, Form I-9 verification, pre-hire paperwork completion, etc.
  • All other duties as assigned to meet evolving business needs.

Requirements

  • Education: Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration, marketing or other related field required; Recruiting/HR Industry certifications (AIRs, etc.) preferred.
  • Experience: 7+ years’ experience working in an internal talent acquisition program and/or third-party staffing agency/search firm preferred.
  • Proven experience leading and delivering on VP+ level searches.
  • Working experience in a global or Americas-focused role (including U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America) preferred.
  • Proven ability to proactively source, pre-qualify, and interview candidates using a variety of leading recruitment resources, including Indeed, LinkedIn Recruiter, CareerBuilder, Monster, ZipRecruiter, Handshake, and others.
  • Expertise in quickly building and leveraging strong business relationships with internal and external clients.
  • Strong skills in behavioral interviewing and assessing leadership capabilities
  • Ability to identify and influence leaders in prioritizing culture-add attributes and long-term talent potential for the organization
  • Ability to negotiate and close complex offers for senior-level candidates, including employment agreement terms, equity packages, etc.
  • Technical experience with leading Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) technologies is highly preferred; we use Oracle Recruiting and HCM Cloud.
  • Demonstrated discretion and confidentiality in handling and protecting sensitive information.
  • Technical: Proficient with common office technologies, including Windows PCs, Microsoft O365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and web conferencing (Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.).
  • Environment: Comfort commuting to/from and working in a 100% on‑site setting (listed in this posting), with flexibility to travel for related meetings, events, and client engagements.

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