Sr Recruiter

Senior Recruiter

The Senior Recruiter serves as a trusted advisor to the business, guiding hiring decisions and driving talent outcomes across a broad range of roles. They'll partner closely with Hiring Managers, Leaders, and Stakeholders to define hiring needs, facilitate recruiting strategies, and manage the full recruiting lifecycle while delivering a high-touch, people-first experience. They'll serve as a subject matter expert in applicant tracking systems, candidate sourcing methodologies, and recruiting effectiveness, while providing market insight, progress reporting, and guidance to support informed decision-making. The Senior Recruiter builds strong, trust-based relationships at all levels, leveraging influence, adaptability, and stakeholder partnership to drive alignment, support critical searches, and deliver high-quality talent outcomes for the business.

The culture of Southwest Airlines means we value the camaraderie, collaboration, and innovation that occurs when we come together and interact face-to-face at our vibrant Corporate Campus. Due to the nature of this role, you would be required to work from our Dallas, TX headquarters facility during business hours. U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. is required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available.

We're committed to fair hiring practices and to making employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics.

Responsibilities

• Recruit and source for Director level and above and complex roles across all of Talent Acquisition, regardless of Customer and/or Department
• Leading recruiting pods to effectively and efficiently address urgent hiring needs and manage high-volume recruitment efforts
• Screening, assessing, and conducting interviews with candidates for job fit and skills, level of interest, qualifications, and salary expectations
• Accountable for forecasting recruitment needs, aligning and executing recruitment efforts, influencing Customers, and strategically partnering with Sourcing, Pipelines, Programs, and other teams to build proactive recruiting plans to meet organizational goals
• Advocate for new Talent Acquisition processes and initiatives with an emphasis on proactive pipelining, driving the adoption of tool usage, and mentoring and coaching team members across Talent Acquisition to create more agility and efficiencies in the day-to-day work
• Partner with HRBPs and Compensation to craft, present, and negotiate employment offers, including complex compensation components, to the Executive level
• Develop reporting dashboards to track hiring and communicate to Talent Acquisition leadership and Customer leadership proactively
• Lead Talent Acquisition projects that expand beyond their pillar and support long-term continuous improvement
• Participates in Station staff meetings and/or workforce planning meetings as necessary
• Demonstrate agility to be called upon to work similar activities across all Talent Acquisition pillars
• May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems
• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources
• Deep industry knowledge and employment market awareness for specific departments, market segments, disciplines, and roles
• Skilled expertise in recruiting leadership-level talent
• Skilled in using Applicant Tracking Systems and Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to work with, and influence, multiple facets of the organization (i.e. across function, level, location, etc.) and tailor communication based on the audience
• Ability to communicate complex data into comprehensive narratives
• Ability to consider the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one
• Ability to collaborate, influence, and communicate information and ideas across the organization to develop strategies, demonstrate solutions to meet needs and gain buy-in and action
• Ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense
• Ability to interpret market data and employment trends, and leverage that understanding to create strategies aligned with business needs

Education

• Required: High School Diploma or GED

Experience

• Advanced-level experience, seasoned and specialized knowledge in Human Resources
• Preferred: Experience supporting Vice President searches with an understanding of high-touch, confidential hiring processes
• Preferred: Expertise in niche sourcing strategies
• Preferred: Experience in identifying, engaging, and converting specialized talent pools across hard-to-fill roles
• Preferred: Full-cycle recruiting across complex functions
• Preferred: Demonstrated success managing corporate, technical, and/or executive searches end-to-end

Physical Abilities

• Ability to perform work duties from limited space workstation/desk/office area for extended periods of time
• Ability to communicate and interact with others in the English language to meet the demands of the job
• Ability to use a computer and other office productivity tools with sufficient speed and accuracy to meet the demands of the job

Other Qualifications

• Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must be able to travel to support any additional Sr Recruiter needs across all of Talent Acquisition including weekends and/or overnights.

Pay & Benefits

• Competitive market salary from $98,650 per year to $109,600 per year* depending on qualifications and experience. For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the company.
• Benefits you'll love: Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights (your eligible dependents too) Southwest will help fund your Retirement Savings Plan with Company contributions up to 9.3% of your eligible earnings** Potential for annual ProfitSharing contribution in the Southwest Retirement Savings Plan- when Southwest profits, you profit*** Competitive health insurance for you and your eligible dependents (including pets) Southwest offers health plan coverage options that start from the very first day of employment. You will have 30 days to select and enroll in your health plan with coverage retroactively available to your first day of employment.

*Pay amount does not guarantee employment for any particular period of time.

**401(k) match contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and applicable IRS limits

***ProfitSharing contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and are made at the discretion of the Company.

Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Please print/save this job description because it won't be available after you apply.

Job Posting End Date 07/06/2026