Talent Operations Specialist

Position Summary:   The Talent Operations Specialist, People Support owns full-cycle recruitment and the day-to-day employee lifecycle experience — from first interview through exit. At its core, this is a relationship and service role: this role is a consultative, trusted partner to hiring managers throughout the hiring process, and approaches every touchpoint — with hiring managers, candidates, and employees alike — as a customer-service relationship. This role leads sourcing and hiring for open positions, designs and delivers onboarding and orientation, conducts stay and exit interviews to surface engagement and retention trends, coordinates select training programs, and leads a periodic compensation benchmarking review to help the organization stay market competitive. Will partner closely with and reports to the Chief People Officer, keeping hiring, onboarding, pay competitiveness, and the overall employee experience consistent, timely, and mission-aligned.

Essential Job Functions:        

1. Full-Cycle Recruiting
   • Serve as a consultative partner to hiring managers — advising on role scope, realistic timelines, market conditions, and interview design rather than simply processing requests
   • Partner with hiring managers to scope open roles, write/update job descriptions, and set hiring timelines
   • Source, screen, and coordinate interviews for all open positions
   • Own requisitions and candidate pipeline in the applicant tracking system (ATS)
   • Extend offers and coordinate background checks, references, and pre-employment requirements
   • Track and report recruiting metrics: time-to-fill, source of hire, offer-acceptance rate, cost-per-hire
   • Build pipelines with local colleges, community and faith-based networks, and other talent sources aligned to the organization's mission
2. Hiring Manager Partnership & Customer Service
   • Act as the primary, dedicated point of contact for hiring managers throughout the hiring process, providing proactive status updates rather than waiting to be asked
   • Deliver a consistently high-touch, responsive experience for hiring managers, candidates, and new hires — treating every hiring, onboarding, and offboarding interaction as a customer-service relationship
   • Set clear expectations with hiring managers up front and follow through reliably, so managers experience the process as supported rather than self-service
   • Solicit feedback from hiring managers, candidates, and new hires after key milestones, and use it to continuously improve the experience
   • Build genuine working relationships across departments to understand each team's culture and anticipate hiring needs before they become urgent
3. Onboarding & Orientation
   • Design, schedule, and facilitate new-hire onboarding and orientation programs
   • Coordinate paperwork, systems access, equipment, and first-week logistics with IT, Facilities, and Payroll
   • Serve as the new hire's point of contact through their first 90 days
   • Gather onboarding feedback and continuously refine the experience
4. Exit & Stay Interviews
   • Conduct exit interviews for departing employees; identify themes and report findings to People Support leadership
   • Conduct proactive stay interviews with current employees to surface engagement and retention risk
   • Recommend retention actions based on interview data and trends
5. Training
   • Coordinate and/or deliver select training (new-hire training, required compliance training, development sessions)
   • Partner with subject-matter experts and the Senior HR Generalist to schedule training and track completion
   • Maintain training records and compliance documentation
6. Compensation Review & Benchmarking
   • Conduct a periodic (at minimum annual) review of the organization's compensation structure against Missouri/Midwest nonprofit market data
   • Benchmark current role salary ranges against comparable positions using reputable third-party salary sources and/or salary surveys
   • Identify roles or pay bands that are below, at, or above market and flag competitiveness gaps and pay equity concerns to the Chief People Officer
   • Maintain up-to-date market data and documentation to support budgeting and offer decisions
   • Partner with the Chief People Officer on any resulting pay structure recommendations
7. Diversity in Talent Management
   • Build and maintain candidate pipelines that reach a broad range of qualified talent, including partnerships with HBCUs, community colleges, professional associations, and other diverse talent networks alongside existing local college, community, and faith-based sources
   • Write and review job postings for inclusive language and structure screening and interview processes to support consistent, equitable evaluation of every candidate
   • Track diversity of applicants, interview slates, and hires across the recruiting funnel and report trends to the Chief People Officer
   • Partner with the Chief People Officer and Senior HR Generalist on workforce diversity goals and initiatives, ensuring recruiting practices support the organization's broader DEI strategy
   • Stay current on inclusive sourcing and talent-management practices and recommend improvements as the organization grows
8. Other
   • Support broader People Support projects and initiatives as needed
   • Maintain strict confidentiality of employee and candidate information
   • Perform other duties as assigned

Education: Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience

Experience & Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 2+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience; nonprofit or mission-driven organization experience preferred
• Experience facilitating onboarding, training, or employee-engagement programs preferred
• Strong interpersonal, active-listening, and communication skills — this role holds sensitive conversations (exit and stay interviews) that require discretion and good judgment
• A genuine customer-service mindset — patient, responsive, and solutions-oriented with hiring managers, candidates, and employees, even under competing deadlines
• Comfortable operating as a consultative partner rather than an order-taker — able to guide and push back on hiring managers when helpful, not just execute requests
• Comfortable working independently and prioritizing across multiple open roles and lifecycle touchpoints at once
• Proficiency with an ATS/HRIS and standard office software; comfortable working with salary survey data and spreadsheets for benchmarking
• Exposure to compensation benchmarking, market pricing, or pay equity analysis strongly preferred
• PHR, SHRM-CP, or similar certification a plus, not required

Work Environment & Physical Requirements 

Additional Information 

Work Environment: Office environment based on-site at Unity Village. Some early-morning, evening, or weekend flexibility may be needed to support onboarding cohorts, orientation sessions, or hiring events.