Executive Recruiter

Sodexo; Bethesda (MD); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Sodexo is seeking an accomplished Executive Recruiter to lead high-impact searches for VP, SVP, C-suite, and other leadership roles. You will partner with senior business and HR leaders to shape market strategy and drive the full-cycle search process.

This 12-month contract role requires executive presence, disciplined execution, and a highly personalized candidate approach to build trusted relationships and deliver decision-ready recommendations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in executive recruiting or senior leadership talent acquisition.
• Proven track record leading VP/SVP/C-suite searches from strategy through offer.
• Executive presence and credibility to influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong assessment, engagement, project management, and communication skills.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with judgment.

Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle executive searches from intake and market strategy through assessment, offer, and close.
• Advise senior leaders on strategy, market competitiveness, and hiring risks.
• Conduct rigorous executive interviews and translate evidence into decision-ready recommendations.
• Build trusted relationships with passive executive talent and deliver high-touch candidate experiences.
• Create inclusive executive slates and support structured, consistent selection decisions.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, HR, Legal, and business leaders to navigate complex offers.
• Use market intelligence and search outcomes to improve internal recruiting capability.

Skills

Executive recruiting

Leadership hiring

Market strategy

Stakeholder management

Executive assessment

Project management

Communication

Confidential information handling

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

We are seeking an accomplished Executive Recruiter to lead high-impact searches for VP, SVP, C-suite, and other enterprise-critical leadership roles. You will work directly with senior business and HR leaders to define leadership needs, shape market strategy, assess executive talent, and guide selection decisions. This is a hands-on, full-cycle search role for a recruiter who combines executive presence, market judgment, disciplined execution, and a highly personalized candidate approach. This position is a 12-month contract.

What You Will Do

• Lead full-cycle executive searches from intake and market strategy through assessment, selection, offer, acceptance, and closeout.
• Advise senior leaders on search strategy, talent availability, market competitiveness, candidate tradeoffs, and hiring risks.
• Conduct rigorous executive interviews and translate evidence into clear, decision-ready candidate recommendations.
• Build trusted relationships with passive executive talent and deliver a confidential, high-touch candidate experience.
• Create inclusive, qualified executive slates and support structured, consistent selection decisions.
• Partner across Talent Acquisition, HR, Compensation, Legal, and business leadership to navigate complex executive offers and hiring requirements.
• Use market intelligence, pipeline data, and search outcomes to improve our in-house executive recruiting capability and reduce unnecessary external search dependency.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in executive recruiting, retained search, corporate executive search, or senior leadership talent acquisition.
• A record of successfully leading VP, SVP, C-suite, or other enterprise-critical searches from strategy through accepted offer.
• Executive presence and the credibility to influence senior stakeholders, challenge assumptions, and provide objective talent counsel.
• Strong executive assessment, candidate engagement, project management, and written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated judgment in handling confidential and sensitive information.

Preferred Experience

• Executive recruiting experience across multiple functions, industries, business segments, or geographies.
• Experience strengthening an internal executive search capability or reducing reliance on retained search firms.
• Exposure to executive succession, internal mobility, leadership assessment, or talent intelligence work.
• Experience using executive research tools, market intelligence platforms, recruiting systems, and search analytics.