Talent Acquisition & Retention Specialist
Talent Acquisition & Retention Specialist Position Overview The Talent Acquisition & Retention Specialist owns the full employee lifecycle at Ayoroa Simmons, LLC (A|S), from sourcing and hiring through onboarding, development, and retention. The role reports to the CEO and supports a 30+ person team of licensed surveyors, geomatics technologists, BIM and architectural technicians, UAV operators, and project managers across Lexington, KY, Nashville, TN, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. A|S is growing through new offices, federal contract awards, and teaming partnerships, and this role builds the workforce capacity that growth requires. It suits a self-directed HR generalist who builds programs from the ground up and represents the firm credibly to technical candidates in the AEC and federal contracting markets.
Key Responsibilities
Growth and Workforce Planning - Communicate regularly with executive leadership, project managers, and directors to monitor contract, client, and project requirements that will affect staffing needs, and respond with hiring timelines and headcount plans - Translate the firm's growth plan, including new office openings, contract awards, task orders, and joint venture work, into workforce forecasts reviewed with the principals - Build local candidate pipelines and recruiting relationships ahead of entry into new markets - Develop staffing plans in support of RFQs and RFPs in coordination with executive leadership, project managers, and directors, including key personnel, contingent hires, and letters of commitment - Maintain a current library of team resumes, organized and formatted (including SF 330 Section E) so marketing and proposal staff can access and use them in pursuits - Research labor markets, compensation benchmarks, and licensing requirements in target geographies and advise the principals on workforce cost and availability - Scale onboarding, EDP, and HR processes so each new office and remote team operates on the same standards - Identify the point at which added HR or recruiting headcount is warranted and present the case to the CEO Talent Acquisition - Partner with the principals and division leads to forecast hiring needs by office, service line, and contract - Draft and maintain job descriptions aligned with the Employee Development Plan (EDP) career ladder - Run sourcing and recruiting as an ongoing, year-round effort through job boards, LinkedIn Recruiter, university programs, professional societies, and the employee referral program, with weekly performance metrics (outreach volume, new candidates added, screens completed, interviews scheduled, offers extended) tracked and met - Maintain an active candidate pipeline for each recurring role, organized by position and location in the applicant tracking system and vetted through screening so qualified candidates are ready when a need opens - Screen applicants, coordinate technical interviews