Recruiting and Onboarding Manager

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.