Founding Recruiter - Skilled Trades & Talent Acquisition

Job Description

Job Description

Company: Columbia Safety Services, LLC
Location: Seattle, WA — In-Market Required | Not Remote
Reports To: President & CEO
Employment Type: Full-Time | Salaried, Non-Exempt | Overtime Eligible
Base Salary: $70,000–$85,000
Incentive: Uncapped per-placement bonuses of approximately $1,500–$10,000 per hire
Travel: Regional travel across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and future markets

About Columbia Safety Services:

Columbia Safety Services is the parent company of a growing group of fire and life safety businesses across the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West:

• Columbia Fire, LLC — Seattle, WA
• Valley Fire Control, LLC — Albany and Newport, OR + Spokane, WA
• FFF Protection — Greater Boise / Nampa, ID

Our companies design, install, inspect, and service fire sprinkler, fire alarm, suppression, extinguisher, and other life safety systems.

We are growing organically and through acquisition, with a focus on long-term stewardship and building companies where great people want to work and stay.

Our core values are: Customer First, Grit, Effective Communication, Own the Outcome, Take Pride in the Work, and Do the Right Thing.

Why This Role Exists:

Every other hire we need depends on this one.

Over the next two years, we anticipate hiring dozens of field technicians, inspectors, fitters, designers, estimators, project managers, sales professionals, and leaders.

Today, we do not have a dedicated internal recruiting function. Hiring managers recruit between service calls, outside agencies cost 15%–20% of first-year salary, and strong candidates can go cold while someone finds time to follow up.

Your job is to change that.

This Is a Zero-to-One Recruiting Role

There is no established recruiting department or finished playbook waiting for you. You are being hired to build it.

We will teach you our culture, businesses, trades, and markets. You bring the recruiting expertise.

We want someone who sees a blank whiteboard as an opportunity: someone who can hunt for talent, build passive pipelines, create processes, measure results, and turn recruiting into a competitive advantage.

What Success Looks Like:

You are a recruiter at heart. You enjoy the thrill of the hunt — finding the person everyone else says is impossible to find, getting them on the phone, understanding what motivates them, and creating an opportunity they want to explore.

You understand that recruiting is not posting a job and waiting.

You build passive relationships for the long term. A conversation today may produce a great hire six months from now. You develop relationships with tradespeople, trade schools, apprenticeship programs, union halls, veterans' organizations, transitioning military programs, industry associations, and professional networks.

You recruit for retention. A placement is not successful simply because someone starts. You build processes that improve quality of hire, candidate expectations, onboarding, and ultimately how long great employees stay.

You understand talent marketing and employer branding. Every job posting, candidate conversation, career fair, referral, and interview shapes our reputation. You know how to position an opportunity and communicate why someone should choose our organization.

You have a point of view. If compensation is hurting recruiting, the interview process is losing candidates, or our expectations do not match the market, we expect you to respectfully say so. We are hiring your expertise, not just your ability to take orders.

You experiment and adjust. Try things that could improve our employee base. Measure the results. Keep what works. If something does not work, change direction without being attached to the original idea.

What You'll Own:

• Build our recruiting function from the ground up — sourcing, screening, interviewing, pipelines, tools, processes, and metrics
• Select and implement recruiting and applicant tracking tools
• Build proactive pipelines for skilled trades, professional, sales, and leadership positions
• Source passive candidates rather than relying solely on inbound applications
• Develop relationships with trade schools, apprenticeship programs, union halls, veterans' networks, and industry organizations
• Partner with hiring managers to define positions and write compelling job postings
• Own the candidate experience from first contact through placement
• Represent our companies at career fairs, schools, industry events, and in the field
• Develop recruiting strategies that support retention and long-term workforce planning
• Track time-to-fill, quality of hire, source effectiveness, cost-per-hire, and retention
• Help build an employment brand worth applying to

Who You'll Recruit:

Your searches will range from the field to the leadership team, including:

Skilled Trades: Sprinkler fitters, fire alarm and suppression technicians, inspectors, foremen, and apprentices.

Professional & Leadership: Designers, estimators, project managers, sales professionals, operations and finance professionals, and leadership positions.

You should be equally comfortable talking with a first-year apprentice, experienced tradesperson, or seasoned general manager.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 3+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience in agency, placement, or high-volume corporate recruiting
• Proven success sourcing and placing candidates you found yourself, not simply processing inbound applicants
• Strong passive candidate sourcing and relationship-building skills
• Experience recruiting positions with licensing, certification, or credential requirements
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience with ATS platforms, sourcing tools, and job boards
• Ability to build recruiting processes and select appropriate tools
• Residence in the Greater Seattle area or willingness to relocate before starting
• Valid driver's license and clean driving record
• Fluent spoken and written English
• Ability to pass a background check and pre-employment drug screen

Preferred Qualifications:

• Recruiting experience in fire protection, construction, mechanical/electrical contracting, skilled trades, or field service
• Agency/direct-placement recruiting experience
• Experience building a recruiting function from scratch
• Union recruiting experience
• Multi-state recruiting
• Trade school or apprenticeship partnerships
• Military/veteran recruiting
• Recruiting during acquisitions or integrations
• Employer branding or recruitment marketing
• Bilingual — Spanish or another language

Who May Not Thrive Here:

This probably is not the right opportunity if you need an established process to follow, rely primarily on inbound applicants, or have no interest in recruiting skilled trades.

You should also be comfortable getting out from behind the desk. Building relationships in shops, trade schools, union halls, career fairs, and the field is part of the job.

Most importantly, we want someone who measures success by great people hired and retained, not simply requisitions closed.

Compensation:

Base Salary: $70,000–$85,000 annually, depending on experience.

Uncapped Placement Bonuses: Approximately $1,500–$10,000 per successful hire, depending on the position:

• Field/technician hires — lower end of range
• Designer, estimator, PM, and sales hires — middle range
• Leadership, management, and finance hires — upper range

Bonuses are earned after the placement completes 90 days and become fully earned over time under a retention-based schedule.

There is no cap on placement bonus earnings.

This plan is designed to reward both your ability to find great people and recruit people who stay. Bonus earnings are performance-driven and are not guaranteed. Full plan details are provided during the hiring process.

Classification: Full-time, salaried, non-exempt. Hours are tracked, and overtime is paid for hours worked over 40 per week.

Benefits:

• Medical insurance through Regence BlueShield
• Dental insurance through Delta Dental of Washington
• Vision insurance through VSP
• Benefits available to employees scheduled 30+ hours per week
• Coverage effective the first of the month following or coinciding with the hire date

EEOC Statement:  We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.