Manager Vendor Acquisition

Safeguard is seeking a highly strategic and data-driven Manager of Vendor Acquisition to transform and lead our independent contractor recruitment infrastructure.

Unlike traditional corporate talent acquisition, this role is a high-volume network development and inside sales operation . You will treat recruiting as a marketing and sales funnel—optimizing lead generation, driving rapid conversion, enforcing recruiter accountability, and ensuring we onboard high-quality independent contractors in the precise geographic zones where capacity is needed.

The ideal candidate has a proven track record of managing a disciplined, data-driven acquisition funnel, ideally within mortgage field services, national home-service networks, or high-volume logistics and staffing environments.

Make sure to apply with all the requested information, as laid out in the job overview below.

Key Responsibilities

As the Director, you will design and execute the recruiting strategy, technology stack, and performance management systems across Safeguard. Your core duties include:

• Funnel Optimization: Oversee the end-to-end contractor acquisition funnel, from paid lead generation through vetting, onboarding, and initial work completion.
• Team Leadership & Accountability: Establish rigorous daily routines and performance metrics for a team of recruiters, driving culture around speed-to-contact, persistent follow-up, and conversion.
• Strategic Lead Generation: Direct paid advertising spend (Indeed, Google Ads, social media) and manage specialized agencies to maximize high-quality applicant volume while lowering customer-acquisition costs.
• Geographic Targeting: Partner with Vendor Account Management to identify capacity gaps by zone, season, and service line, dynamically shifting recruiting resources to critical areas.
• Quality & Retention Assurance: Ensure recruiters vet vendors for true capability and performance metrics rather than simply adding names to a database, prioritizing 60/90-day vendor productivity.

Performance Metrics & Evaluation Scorecard

Your success will be measured by the output of the acquisition funnel, with an emphasis on vendor quality over raw application volume. Key performance indicators (KPIs) include:

• Cost per Productive Vendor: Total advertising and recruiting cost relative to vendors who successfully perform and retain work.
• Lead Response Time: Meeting strict internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to contact new leads within minutes.
• Conversion Rates: Maximizing the transition percentage from qualified lead to activated, productive vendor.
• 60/90-Day Productivity: Evaluating newly recruited vendor work volume, quality, timeliness, and retention.
• Critical Zone Coverage: Eliminating capacity gaps in targeted understaffed geographic zones.

Management Routines Expected

You will introduce structure and discipline to the daily operations of the recruitment team:

• Daily: Review incoming leads, lead aging, recruiter contact attempts, onboarding bottlenecks, and individual recruiter conversion performance.
• Weekly: Analyze performance data by sourcing channel, geography, and recruiter. Reallocate advertising budgets to top-performing channels and conduct recruiter coaching (e.g., via call reviews).
• Monthly: Audit the 30/60/90-day performance of new vendors alongside the Vendor Management organization to align recruiting pipelines with real field capacity needs.

Required Skills & Qualifications

Candidates will be rigorously evaluated across the following six core capabilities:

1. Recruiting Funnel Management (25%): Proven ability to improve lead-to-activated and activated-to-productive conversion metrics.
2. Sales Management & Accountability (25%): Experience managing teams using daily activity targets, pipeline reviews, structured coaching, and performance plans.
3. Digital Lead Generation (20%): Practical knowledge of paid channels (Indeed, Google Ads, social media) with the ability to direct ad specialists, track attribution, and manage cost-per-qualified-acquisition.
4. Contractor Acquisition Experience (15%): Specific background recruiting independent contractors, 1099 workers, or independent service businesses across multiple regional markets.
5. CRM, Automation, & Analytics (10%): Experience building performance dashboards and automating follow-up workflows to eliminate lead leakage.
6. Recruiting Economics & Operations (5%): Solid understanding of geographic capacity constraints, contractor profitability, and geographic deployment.

Preferred Backgrounds

• Priority 1: Leadership experience within Mortgage Field Services preferred (e.g., network recruiting, vendor development, or multi-state contractor network coverage).
• Priority 2: Leadership in National Home-Service Networks (e.g., home warranty, residential/commercial facilities maintenance, or distributed trade services). xhyhwjd
• Priority 3: Operations management in High-Volume Sourcing / Inside Sales (e.g., staffing, logistics/delivery contractor networks, or franchise development).