Principal Specialist - Recruitment

Description & Requirements

The Principal Recruiter, Professional Talent Stream serves as a senior individual contributor responsible for advancing talent acquisition outcomes across Maximus' corporate and shared services functions. This role supports the Professional Talent Stream by providing deep recruiting expertise, stakeholder advisory support, labor market intelligence, and strategic leadership for complex and business-critical hiring initiatives. The Principal Recruiter partners closely with Talent Acquisition leadership, business stakeholders, and cross-functional Talent Acquisition teams to support hiring priorities across HR, Finance, IT, Legal, Contracts, and Program Support, as well as talent pipeline and strategy support across Talent Acquisition's Centers of Excellence. This individual influences outcomes through expertise, consultation, and enterprise partnership rather than formal people leadership. The ideal candidate is a strategic, data-informed talent acquisition professional who brings operational discipline, stakeholder credibility, and advanced recruiting expertise. This individual will help advance professional recruiting toward a more consultative, agile, and AI-enabled operating model while maintaining focus on candidate experience, compliance, and recruiting excellence.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities Professional Talent Acquisition - Lead recruiting efforts for highly specialized, executive, confidential, business-critical, and difficult-to-fill positions across the Professional Talent Stream. - Support execution of Professional Talent Stream priorities by developing and implementing recruiting strategies aligned with current hiring demand and future workforce needs. - Build and maintain pipelines for critical professional talent segments and emerging skill areas. - Partner with recruiters and hiring leaders to address complex hiring challenges and improve recruiting outcomes. - Support talent acquisition efforts across corporate functions, shared services, adjacent Talent Streams, and Talent Acquisition Centers of Excellence, including but not limited to enterprise talent programs and international professional hiring. Program Leadership - Serve as a strategic recruiting lead for professional hiring initiatives and provide talent pipeline and strategy support across Talent Acquisition's Centers of Excellence and adjacent Talent Streams, as needed. - Partner with internal and global Talent Acquisition stakeholders to support program objectives, talent attraction strategies, and workforce priorities. - Identify opportunities to strengthen professional talent pipelines and improve program effectiveness. - Support enterprise talent initiatives aligned to business growth and workforce planning objectives. Stakeholder Advisory and Market Intelligence - Serve as a trusted advisor to business leaders by communicating labor market realities, hiring risks, pipeline insights, and recruiting recommendations with credibility and business context. - Translate labor market intelligence, talent availability, compensation trends, competitor activity, skills demand, and workforce constraints into actionable recruiting strategies. - Partner with Workforce Planning, HR Business Partners, and Talent Acquisition leadership to provide workforce insights and talent market guidance. - Support strategic workforce discussions through market intelligence and talent acquisition expertise. Operational Excellence and Transformation - Promote consultative recruiting practices that improve hiring decisions, stakeholder outcomes, and candidate experience. - Support adoption of AI-enabled recruiting practices, workflow improvements, and evolving recruiting technologies. - Utilize recruiting data, talent intelligence, and labor market insights to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. - Contribute to initiatives that improve recruiting effectiveness, process efficiency, quality of slate, and talent acquisition