Lead Technical Recruiter - 90410602 - Washington DC / Philadelphia / Wilmington / Chicago / New York

Your success is a train ride away!

As we move America’s workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees.

Are you ready to join our team?

Our values of ‘Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First’ are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, ‘Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security’ are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future.

SUMMARY OF DUTIES:
The Lead Technical Recruiter is responsible for sourcing, attracting, and hiring top technical talent to support Corporate Functions with a strong emphasis on Digital Technology roles in management and non-agreement. As a key member of the Amtrak Talent Acquisition team, this recruiter partners closely with hiring managers across the Digital Technology organization and collaborates with HR Business Partners to understand workforce needs and deliver high-quality recruiting solutions. This role involves developing and executing targeted sourcing strategies for a wide range of technical positions—from early‑career to executive‑level roles. The Technical Recruiter will conduct market and talent pool analyses, advise hiring managers on recruitment best practices, streamline and influence end‑to‑end hiring processes, and monitor pipeline quality, candidate experience, and cycle time throughout the recruitment lifecycle. Additional recruiting initiatives and special projects may be assigned as organizational needs evolve. A Lead Technical Recruiter drives hiring strategy, oversees the end‑to‑end recruitment lifecycle for technical roles, and ensures alignment between talent needs and business goals. Their role blends strategic workforce planning, candidate sourcing expertise, stakeholder management, analytics, and team leadership.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Manage all phases of recruiting for complex technical roles (e.g., software engineering, cybersecurity, cloud, data science, enterprise architecture).
• Conduct in‑depth technical screens or coordinate qualified technical interviews.
• Guide hiring teams on interview best practices, competency‑based assessments, and bias mitigation.
• Deliver an outstanding candidate experience from first contact through onboarding.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to technical leaders and HR partners.
• Facilitate intake sessions and job calibration meetings.
• Develop and execute effective sourcing strategies
• Screen and evaluate candidates for technical competencies, experience, and cultural fit through resume review, phone screens and structured interview processes
• Drive alignment, challenge assumptions, and provide data‑backed recommendations.
• Mediate candidate debriefs and ensure consistent decision‑making.
• Improve recruiting workflows, SLAs, and hiring velocity.
• Drive recruitment outcomes by managing assigned requisitions to meet or exceed established performance metrics including time-to-fill, monthly hires, quality of hire, and candidate and hiring manager satisfaction
• Maintain data quality and compliance in ATS/CRM platforms.
• Standardize interview structures, scorecards, and selection criteria.
• Develop competitive, compliant offers; effectively manage the end-to-end competitive offer process, including candidate positioning and engagement through the recruitment lifecycle, to successfully secure talent while maintaining negotiation posture, fiscal responsibility and internal equity, particularly in high‑demand technical markets.
• Partner with compensation teams to align offers with internal equity and market data. Provide guidance to candidates on role expectations, career growth, and culture

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of training, education and relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
• 6+ years of full-cycle recruiting with 4+ years focused on technical roles in high-growth or enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated success filling senior and niche technical roles (e.g., Staff/Principal Engineers, Cloud/SRE, Security, Data/AI, Architecture).
• Expertise with ATS/CRM systems
• Strong command of structured interviews, competency modeling, and bias mitigation.
• Data fluency: ability to build and interpret recruiting dashboards, forecast pipelines, and advise leaders using evidence.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, negotiation, and closing skills.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 8+ years of relevant experience focused on technical roles high-growth or enterprise environments
• Experience with SuccessFactors – ATS system
• Experience in a fast-paced, high requisition load recruitment environment

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of full-cycle technical recruiting practices, including sourcing, screening, interviewing, offer creation and negotiation
• Knowledge of IT and technology roles, skill sets and terminology (e.g. software engineering, cloud platforms, cybersecurity, data, product, infrastructure).
• Knowledge of applicant tracking systems (ATS), candidate relationship management (CRM) tools and recruiting analytics
• Knowledge of employment laws, compliance requirements and hire hiring practices
• Ability to lead and prioritize multiple technical recruiting workflows simultaneously while meeting established performance metrics
• Advance sourcing skills using applicant tracking systems (ATS), LinkedIn Recruiter, professional social platforms, Boolean search techniques, referrals, and pipeline management.
• Ability to lead technical recruiting initiatives that align with organizational goals and workforce strategies.
• Ability to influence and advise hiring managers on talent availability, realistic requirements, and hiring timelines.

The salary/hourly range is $94,300.00 – $122,256.00. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. Depending on an employee’s assigned worksite or location, Amtrak may consider a geo-pay differential to be applied to the employee’s base salary. Amtrak may offer additional incentive and pay programs to recognize and reward our employees, including a short-term incentive bonus based upon factors such as individual and company performance that is commensurate with the level of the position. 

Learn more about our benefits offerings here.

Requisition ID: 166526

Work Arrangement: 06-Onsite 4/5 Days Click here for more information about work arrangements at Amtrak.
Relocation Offered: No
Travel Requirements: Up to 25%

You power our progress through your performance.

We want your work at Amtrak to be more than a job. We want your career at Amtrak to be a fulfilling experience where you find challenging work, rewarding opportunities, respect among colleagues, and attractive compensation. Amtrak maintains a culture that values high performance and recognizes individual employee contributions.

Amtrak is committed to a safe workplace free of drugs and alcohol. All Amtrak positions requires a pre-employment background check that includes prior employment verification, a criminal history check and a pre-employment drug screen.

Candidates who test positive for marijuana will be disqualified, regardless of any state or local statute, ordinance, regulation, or other law that legalizes or decriminalizes the use or possession of marijuana, whether for medical, recreational, or other use. Amtrak's pre-employment drug testing program is administered in accordance with DOT regulations and applicable law.

In accordance with DOT regulations (49 CFR § 40.25), Amtrak is required to obtain prior drug and alcohol testing records for applicants/employees intending to perform safety-sensitive duties for covered Department of Transportation positions. If an applicant/employee refuses to provide written consent for Amtrak to obtain these records, the individual will not be permitted to perform safety-sensitive functions.

In accordance with federal law governing security checks of covered individuals for providers of public transportation (Title 6 U.S.C. §1143), Amtrak is required to screen applicants for any permanent or interim disqualifying criminal offenses.

Note that any education requirement listed above may be deemed satisfied if you have an equivalent combination of education, training and experience.

Amtrak is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race/color, to include traits historically associated with race, including but not limited to, hair texture and hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions, such as lactation), national origin/ethnicity, disability (intellectual, mental and physical), veteran status, marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, genetic information, citizenship or any other personal characteristics protected by law.