Senior Director, Talent Acquisition

Thanks for your interest in Success Academy! Running a large, fast-growing, and high-performing network of public charter schools takes a village - families, children, teachers, staff and faculty, advocates, and supporters alike. We are growing fast in New York and expanding to Florida, and we would love to welcome you to our community! We work tirelessly every day to ensure children have access to a fun, rigorous, whole-child education regardless of zip code or economic status. When you join SA, you play a part in giving every student who walks through our doors a fair shot at reaching his or her potential.

We are looking for a results-obsessed Senior Director, Talent Acquisition to run the day-to-day of our recruiting org outside the Academic Teacher and TA Enablement (Operations & Systems) engines. We run TA like a high-performing sales organization — daily activity targets, pipeline and conversion management, and relentless coaching to the number — and we are looking for a leader who has thrived in exactly that kind of environment. This is a hybrid position based out of our NYC Financial District office. The schedule requires working on-site Tuesday through Thursday, with remote work on Monday and Friday. We are only accepting applications from candidates who live locally to the NYC area and can commit to that commute.

The Role

Reporting to the Head of Talent Acquisition, who will continue to lead Academic Teacher recruitment, along with TA Enablement (Operations & Systems), the Senior Director, Talent Acquisition will lead all of Success Academy's non-instructional recruiting, corporate recruiting, and arts & athletics recruiting — and run it as one high-performing, metrics-driven operation. You lead through a bench of Leads and managers, hold your teams to hiring goals, and personally set the pace and energy of the floor.

This is a hands-on, high-energy operating role — not an advisory or process-design seat. The right person leads from the front, is energized by targets and metrics, and knows how to get discretionary effort out of a fast-moving team. You will inherit established teams and stand up new ones, growing the team as Success Academy grows.

What You Will Own

You will lead several recruiting teams — roughly 20+ recruiters and managers through a bench of 3–5 Leads — spanning:

• Non-instructional recruiting — full-cycle recruiters who source and hire school operations, registrar, data, and other non-teaching roles.
• Corporate/Executive recruiting — full-cycle recruiting for the corporate office.
• Arts & athletics recruiting — specialized hiring for music, chess, dance, theater, and athletics roles - to name a few.
• Florida expansion — partner with TA leadership to build the Florida TA Team and operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day leadership, execution, and results across non-instructional, corporate, and arts & athletics — and represent the function when the Head is out.
• Run your teams like a high-performing sales organization: set daily and weekly activity targets, monitor pipeline, conversion, and quality-of-hire metrics in real time, and coach Leads and recruiters to the number.
• Lead, hire, and develop a bench of recruiting Leads and managers; set a high performance bar, give direct feedback, and act quickly on both top performers and under-performance.
• Forecast hiring demand and set capacity, headcount, and coverage plans; reallocate resources across your teams to hit aggressive volume goals.
• Partner with TA leadership to build the Florida TA Team and operations.
• Optimize and streamline the end-to-end recruiting process to improve candidate experience, reduce corporate time-to-hire, and raise the quality of hire — moving fast and iterating.
• Own vendor and agency relationships and drive agency reduction.
• Partner with the Head of TA and the TA strategy/operations function to turn enterprise plans into weekly results.
• Build strong, credible relationships with school and corporate hiring managers, People partners, and senior leaders to align on needs and deliver.

Who You Are — Required Experience

• 10+ years in recruiting / talent acquisition, including 4+ years leading recruiters through managers in a high-volume, metrics-intensive environment.
• A track record leading a high-velocity recruiting engine in one of these settings, where you personally carried and hit aggressive activity and hiring targets:
• a search firm or staffing/recruiting agency (senior leadership over a producing team — ideal given the full-cycle, high-volume scope of this role), or
• a fast-paced, technology-forward, high-growth (small-to-mid-sized) company running high-volume recruiting.
• Demonstrated ability to manage recruiting like a sales floor — activity metrics, pipeline and conversion discipline, quotas, and daily coaching that lifts a team's output.
• Hands-on across the full recruiting lifecycle, from sourcing through close.
• Proven builder and scaler who has stood up new teams, markets, or functions in a fast-growth setting.
• Fluency with a modern recruiting tech stack (Greenhouse strongly preferred; GEM, BrightHire, or similar) and a bias for adopting new technology quickly.
• Bachelor's degree, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Who You Are — Traits

• High-energy, competitive, and results-obsessed; you lead from the front and set the pace for the room.
• A motivational people leader who sets a high bar and consistently gets discretionary effort from a team.
• Data-driven; you make daily decisions off the funnel and hold yourself and your team to the numbers.
• Bias to action; you thrive in a fast, changing, matrixed environment and prefer iterating over over-planning.
• Low ego, high EQ; you roll up your sleeves and collaborate at all levels of the organization.
• Connected to Success Academy's mission of creating high-quality educational experiences for our students, families, and educators.

At Success Academy, we invest boldly in our Network team with a comprehensive package designed to support your health, financial future, and overall well-being:

• Day-One Health & Wellness: Medical, dental, and vision coverage starting your first day (SA covers 82% of our core medical plan), plus a free One Medical membership and confidential mental health support via EAP/Talkspace.
• Financial Security: 403(b) retirement plan with a 3% employer match, up to $2,400/year in employer HSA contributions, employer-paid life/disability insurance, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligibility.
• Time to Recharge: Generous paid time off, paid holidays, and paid parental leave.
• Perks & Stipends: A $50/month cellphone stipend ($600/year), pre-tax commuter benefits, backup family care, and performance-based earning incentives.

This is a hybrid position based out of our NYC Financial District office, requiring on-site work Tuesday through Thursday, with remote work on Monday and Friday.

Compensation Range:

$230,000 - $275,000 + bonus

Exact compensation may vary based on skills and experience.

Success Academy Charter Schools is an equal opportunity employer and actively encourages applications from people of all backgrounds. Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience. Success Academy offers a full benefits program and opportunities for professional growth.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We actively seek applications from people of all backgrounds to strengthen our community and the perspectives needed to flourish in a multicultural world. Success Academy offers a full benefits program and opportunities for professional growth.

Success Academy Charter Schools does not offer employment-based immigration sponsorship.