Talent Acquisition Specialist

At  KPFF Consulting Engineers , we are more than just an  engineering design firm . For 65 years , we have dedicated ourselves to  innovative, sustainable engineering  that shapes the  built environment  and tackles  complex infrastructure challenges . Our  team culture  emphasizes  balance, growth, and well-being , supporting each member’s professional journey with  flexibility, generous benefits,  and a  collaborative approach  to work-life integration. With over  1,500 professionals across 36 offices nationwide , KPFF’s  decentralized structure  allows each office the  flexibility to pursue projects  aligned with their  regional strengths . Learn more at  www.kpff.com . The Opportunity We are looking for an experienced Talent Acquisition Specialist who enjoys the strategy of recruiting just as much as the hands-on work. You will lead full-cycle searches across multiple KPFF offices, disciplines, and markets, helping teams find the engineers, designers, and business professionals who will shape the firm's next chapter. This is an individual-contributor role with meaningful ownership. You will have room to build a search strategy, test ideas, share market feedback, and guide hiring teams when the original plan needs to change. Some searches will move quickly. Others will require patience, creativity, and a well-timed follow-up. If you like solving recruiting puzzles and building genuine relationships, you will find plenty to dig into here. The Team You will join a collaborative Talent Acquisition team that shares candidates, sourcing ideas, market intelligence, and lessons learned. You will have support when you need a second opinion and the autonomy to run with your work when you know the path forward. Because we support independently operated offices, we spend a lot of time listening, asking good questions, and learning how each team works. We do not expect every search to follow the same formula, but we do care about clear communication, sound judgment, and a consistently strong candidate experience. What You Will Be Doing Lead Full Cycle Searches Independently lead full-cycle recruiting for technical, professional, and leadership positions across multiple offices, disciplines, locations, and experience levels. Start each search with a thoughtful intake that clarifies the business need, required and preferred qualifications, target candidate profile, decision process, timeline, and measures of success. Build and execute search strategies for difficult-to-fill roles using direct sourcing, talent mapping, referrals, professional networks, targeted research, and relevant recruiting platforms. Create personalized outreach that connects the opportunity and team with what matters to the candidate. Manage job postings, applicant flow, phone screens, interview coordination, feedback, references, offers, and search documentation in SmartRecruiters. Keep multiple searches moving while providing hiring teams and candidates with clear, timely communication. Partner With Hiring Teams Build trusted relationships with hiring managers and operational leaders, bringing practical recommendations and a clear point of view to the search. Use market research, sourcing results, candidate feedback, compensation information, and recruiting data to evaluate search viability and guide decisions. Help teams recognize when qualifications, compensation, title, geography, interview practices, or timing may be limiting the available candidate pool. Recommend thoughtful adjustments when a search is not producing the needed results. Help teams distinguish essential qualifications from preferences and establish consistent, job-related evaluation criteria. Adapt your approach to the needs of independently operating teams while introducing consistent practices where they improve quality, efficiency, or candidate experience. Know the Market and Build Relationships Apply knowledge of architecture, engineering, construction, consulting, or related technical talent markets to understand relevant skills, credentials, project experience, and career paths. Develop talent maps and competitive intelligence for priority disciplines, markets, locations, and experience levels. Build and maintain relationships with passive candidates, including people who may not be ready to make an immediate move. Translate market insight into clear guidance for hiring teams and realistic, relevant messaging for prospective candidates. Improve How We Recruit Partner with Talent Acquisition teammates, coordinators, and administrative or operational staff to keep recruiting activities accurate and moving efficiently. Share candidates, sourcing approaches, market findings, and lessons learned across the team. Identify and help implement improvements to recruiting workflows, technology use, data quality, candidate engagement, and hiring-team practices, and contribute to recruiting or employer-brand initiatives that support priority talent markets. What You Bring 5 or more years of full-cycle recruiting experience, including demonstrated ownership of complex or difficult-to-fill searches. Direct recruiting experience within architecture, engineering, construction, consulting, or a closely related technical environment is highly preferred. Demonstrated success finding and engaging passive candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter, Boolean search, talent mapping, professional networks, ATS or CRM databases, and other research methods. Experience partnering directly with hiring managers and business leaders to define needs, develop recruiting strategies, evaluate market conditions, and adjust search requirements when necessary. The ability to independently manage multiple searches with different disciplines, stakeholders, locations, priorities, and timelines. Strong judgment and the confidence to offer recommendations, raise concerns, and respectfully challenge assumptions when market information points to a diffe