Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Engineering Recruiter
💰 $85,000 - $150,000+
🎯 Role Definition
As an Engineering Recruiter, you are the engine of our growth and the architect of our technical teams. You'll go beyond simply filling open positions; you will act as a strategic partner and talent advisor to our engineering leadership. Your mission is to identify, attract, and secure the best and brightest engineers, data scientists, and technical leaders in the industry. You will be responsible for creating a seamless, positive, and memorable candidate journey, acting as a brand ambassador and ensuring we build diverse, high-performing teams that drive innovation. This role requires a unique blend of technical curiosity, strategic sourcing skills, and the ability to build genuine, lasting relationships.
📈 Career Progression
Typical Career Path
Entry Point From:
- Technical Sourcer / Sourcing Specialist
- Junior Recruiter / Talent Coordinator
- Sales Development Representative (SDR) with an interest in HR
Advancement To:
- Senior Engineering Recruiter or Lead Technical Recruiter
- Recruiting Manager / Talent Acquisition Manager
- Head of Talent / Director of Talent Acquisition
Lateral Moves:
- HR Business Partner (HRBP)
- People Operations Specialist
- Recruitment Marketing or Employer Branding Manager
Core Responsibilities
Primary Functions
- Manage the entire, end-to-end recruiting lifecycle for a variety of technical roles, including Software Engineering, DevOps, SRE, Data Science, and Engineering Management.
- Act as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to hiring managers and engineering leaders, helping them define role requirements, craft compelling job descriptions, and develop effective hiring strategies.
- Proactively source, identify, and engage top-tier passive technical talent using a variety of innovative tools and platforms such as LinkedIn Recruiter, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and niche technical communities.
- Build and maintain robust, long-term talent pipelines for critical and frequently-filled engineering positions to support future growth.
- Conduct thorough initial screening calls and interviews to assess candidates' technical skills, cultural alignment, and genuine interest in the role and company.
- Champion an unparalleled candidate experience, ensuring every applicant receives timely, transparent, and respectful communication throughout the entire hiring process.
- Skillfully guide candidates and hiring managers through the interview process, from initial contact to final-stage interviews, providing coaching and feedback along the way.
- Structure, negotiate, and extend compelling employment offers, demonstrating a strong ability to close top candidates in a competitive market.
- Meticulously track all recruiting activities and candidate data within our Applicant Tracking System (ATS), such as Greenhouse or Lever, ensuring high data integrity.
- Leverage data and key recruiting metrics (time-to-fill, source-of-hire, offer acceptance rate) to provide insights, measure performance, and drive continuous process improvements.
- Develop and execute creative, multi-channel sourcing strategies to attract a diverse pool of qualified candidates.
- Coordinate complex interview schedules across multiple stakeholders and time zones, ensuring a smooth and efficient process.
- Serve as a passionate brand ambassador, representing the company's culture, values, and technology at industry events, career fairs, and online forums.
- Train and advise hiring panels on best practices for structured interviewing, bias reduction, and effective candidate evaluation.
- Stay deeply connected to the tech industry landscape, keeping a pulse on market trends, competitor intelligence, and compensation benchmarks.
Secondary Functions
- Analyze and report on recruiting metrics to identify trends, diagnose challenges, and provide data-driven recommendations to the talent acquisition strategy.
- Contribute to the organization's broader talent acquisition roadmap by providing market insights and feedback from candidates and hiring managers.
- Collaborate with compensation and HR teams to benchmark salaries and create equitable, competitive offer packages that attract and retain top talent.
- Participate in sprint planning, regular team meetings, and strategy sessions to align on hiring priorities and share best practices with the wider recruiting team.
- Support the continuous improvement of our employer brand by contributing to content creation and recruitment marketing initiatives.
- Champion Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goals by implementing inclusive sourcing strategies and ensuring an equitable hiring process for all candidates.
- Manage and nurture relationships with external recruiting agencies or third-party partners as needed to supplement sourcing efforts.
Required Skills & Competencies
Hard Skills (Technical)
- Deep proficiency with modern Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) such as Greenhouse, Lever, or Workday.
- Expertise in advanced sourcing techniques using tools like LinkedIn Recruiter, Gem, SeekOut, or Entelo.
- Proven ability to source technical candidates from non-traditional platforms, including GitHub, Stack Overflow, technical blogs, and open-source communities.
- A strong foundational understanding of technical concepts, software development lifecycles, and various engineering roles (e.g., Backend, Frontend, Full-Stack, DevOps, ML).
- Mastery of Boolean search logic and crafting complex search strings to uncover hidden talent pools.
- Experience analyzing recruitment data to generate reports and provide actionable insights on pipeline health, sourcing effectiveness, and other key metrics.
Soft Skills
- Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with a natural ability to build rapport and trust with both candidates and senior leaders.
- Superior negotiation and closing skills, with a track record of successfully hiring candidates in a competitive market.
- High degree of emotional intelligence, empathy, and professionalism in all interactions.
- Outstanding organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to manage 10+ active requisitions simultaneously without sacrificing quality.
- Resilience, adaptability, and a positive attitude in a fast-paced, dynamic, and often ambiguous environment.
- A strategic and consultative mindset, capable of acting as a true talent partner to the business.
- A strong sense of urgency and a relentless drive to achieve results and meet hiring goals.
Education & Experience
Educational Background
Minimum Education:
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent practical/work experience in a related field.
Preferred Education:
- Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field of study.
Relevant Fields of Study:
- Human Resources
- Business Administration
- Communications
- Psychology
Experience Requirements
Typical Experience Range:
- 3-8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience.
Preferred:
- At least 3 years of demonstrated success specifically recruiting for highly technical roles (e.g., Software Engineers, SREs, ML Engineers, Data Scientists) within a high-growth technology company or a reputable tech-focused agency. Proven experience partnering directly with VPs and Directors of Engineering is highly desirable.