About NYLAG:

Founded in 1990, NYLAG is a leading civil legal services organization combatting economic, racial, and social injustice by advocating for people experiencing poverty or in crisis. Our services include comprehensive, free civil legal services, financial empowerment, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community partnerships. NYLAG exists because wealth should not determine who has access to justice. We aim to disrupt systemic racism by serving individuals and families whose legal and financial crises are often rooted in racial inequality. NYLAG goes to where the need is, providing services in more than 150 community sites (e.g., courts, hospitals, libraries) and on our Mobile Legal Help Center. NYLAG’s staff of over 400 impacted the lives of nearly 129,000 people last year.

Job description

The Associate Director, Recruitment is a strategic and operational leader responsible for driving an innovative, data-driven talent acquisition function. This role leads end-to-end recruitment strategies, evaluates and transforms existing processes, strengthens the organization’s talent pipeline, and ensures the recruitment team delivers exceptional results aligned with business goals. The ideal candidate brings a modern, analytical approach to hiring, strong stakeholder influence, and expertise in optimizing systems, tools, and workflows.

The ideal candidate for this role enjoys reading resumes, meeting new people at job fairs, and casting a wide net to find the best candidate for open positions.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Planning

• Develop and execute a comprehensive recruitment strategy aligned with organizational priorities, future workforce needs, and REDI commitments.
• Partner with HR leadership and business leaders to forecast talent needs, identify gaps, and create proactive sourcing strategies.
• Serve as a subject matter? expert on talent market trends, competitive intelligence, and recruitment best practices.

Recruitment Operations & Process Optimization 

• Conduct full assessments of current recruitment processes, workflows, technology, and vendor partnerships; design and implement process improvements to enhance effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability. 

• Lead the optimization and continuous improvement of JazzHR (our applicant tracking system) usage, automation opportunities, and candidate experience standards. 

• Ensure recruiting practices are compliant with federal, state, and local employment laws. 

• Establish recruitment standards, service-level expectations, and consistent processes across the team. 

Data, Analytics & Reporting 

• Build and maintain dashboards, reports, and scorecards using advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, formulas, data modeling). 

• Analyze pipeline health, time?to?hire, source effectiveness, recruiter performance, and other KPIs to guide decision-making. 

• Communicate data?driven insights and recommendations to NYLAG leadership and executive stakeholders. 

• Present data?driven insights and recommendations to HR team, leadership and executive stakeholders. 

Interviewing & Candidate Assessment 

• Conduct and oversee competency-based interviewing for all roles, including - critical, high impact, and leadership roles. 

• Train hiring managers and interview teams in structured interviewing, assessment methods, and reducing bias in selection. 

• Ensure consistency, fairness, and quality across all candidate evaluation processes. 

Career Fairs, Events & External Engagement 

• Lead planning and execution of participation in career fairs, recruitment events, and university partnerships. 

• Represent the organization at key hiring events, ensuring a strong and engaging presence. 

• Develop long?term relationships with external partners, professional associations, and institutions to strengthen talent pipelines. 

Team Leadership & Collaboration 

• Collaborate closely with the Director of HR and Chief Diversity and People Officer, Senior Leadership team, and department leaders to ensure alignment, partnership, and role clarity throughout the hiring process. 

• Lead cross?functional projects related to workforce planning, technology enhancement, and organizational initiatives. 

Full-Cycle Recruitment Oversight 

• Manage full?cycle recruitment for all NYLAG positions, including executive level, temporary, and mission?critical roles. 

• Partner with Staffing agencies, as needed. 

• Champion an exceptional, inclusive candidate experience across all stages of the hiring process. 

Qualifications

Required 

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, or related field (or equivalent experience). 

• 7+ years of progressive recruitment experience, including at least 3 years in a leadership or managerial role and successful experience with hiring for a direct legal services organization.  

• Demonstrated experience evaluating, redesigning, and optimizing recruitment processes and systems. 

• Strong analytical skills, with advanced Excel proficiency (e.g., pivot tables, complex formulas, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, dashboards, modeling). 

• Expertise using applicant tracking systems (Expertise in JazzHR is a plus) and HR analytics platforms. 

• Proven ability to use data to drive strategy, highlight trends, and influence decisions. 

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and change?leadership skills. 

Preferred 

• Certification in HR or Talent Acquisition (PHR, SPHR). 

• Experience leading recruitment transformation or implementing new HR technologies. 

Core Competencies 

• Strategic and critical thinking 

• Operational excellence and process improvement 

• Data?driven decision making 

• Team leadership and coaching 

• Stakeholder management and executive presence 

• Project management 

• Adaptability and innovation 

NYLAG’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

NYLAG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and those with lived experiences in the communities we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.

Employment type:

? Full-time

Professional Level:
? Managerial

Salary Range: NYLAG is a unionized workplace, and salaries are set pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. The current salary range for this position is between $110,000 - $120,000.

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance, long term disability, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for Medical and Dependent care.

Application Instructions: Please save resume and cover letter on one pdf.

NYLAG is committed to a hybrid work policy for staff whose work does not require their full-time presence in the office. NYLAG’s current policy is that most staff are required to work in NYLAG’s offices or do other in-person work at least two days each week. This policy is subject to change.

Organization Details