HR Manager, Talent Acquisition

Liberty Seeds; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

HSA employer contribution

Generous vacation and sick leave

Job summary

The Cato Institute in Washington, DC is seeking an HR Manager, Talent Acquisition to evolve how we attract and hire top talent. You will own the full-cycle process, design structured interviews, guide negotiations, and improve candidate experience while partnering with managers across the Institute.

Hybrid role based in Washington, DC, reporting to the Director of Human Resources. The role emphasizes process ownership, data-driven decisions, and a high-touch candidate experience.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in talent acquisition across internal HR or external recruitment.
• Experience managing hiring across a wide range of roles and levels.
• Ability to design structured interview processes and evaluation criteria.
• Ability to use data and metrics to drive improvements in time-to-fill and candidate experience.

Responsibilities

• Own the entire talent acquisition process from scoping through offer.
• Improve current talent acquisition processes and establish key hiring metrics.
• Collaborate with hiring managers to design roles, postings, recruitment strategy, and selection approach.
• Design structured interviews and train interviewers to use them consistently.
• Implement and manage the ATS to support efficient hiring workflows.
• Present Cato as an attractive employer and align postings with mission and culture.
• Partner with Educational Programs to build talent pipelines and engage alumni.
• Backup other HR colleagues as needed.

Skills

Talent acquisition

Interviewing & selection

Hiring manager collaboration

Data-driven decisions

Process improvement

Candidate experience

Tools

Greenhouse

Ashby

Lever

iCIMS

Job description

Washington, DC · Posted October 16, 2026

The Cato Institute is seeking an HR Manager, Talent Acquisition, to evolve the entire process of how Cato finds, attracts, and hires the best-aligned talent available. In this role, you will oversee the full-cycle talent acquisition process, but you will be more than an internal recruiter. Your biggest value-add will be improving and managing the complex and crucial process of interviewing and selecting talent, while ensuring the candidate experience is positive for all applicants throughout the process. This role is ideal for someone who has experience managing a highly diverse portfolio of roles with hiring managers at all levels of hiring expertise, and who wants to move beyond recruitment into greater ownership of how everything works together up to a signed offer.

This is a hybrid position based in Washington, DC, reporting to the Director of Human Resources. This is an exempt position.

The projected salary range for this role is $80,000 to $95,000 per year. Compensation is based on the successful candidate's background, experience, and skills.

About Cato

The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.

Founded in 1977, Cato owes its name to Cato's Letters, a series of essays published in 18th-century England that presented a vision of a society free from excessive government power. Those essays inspired the architects of the American Revolution. And the simple, timeless principles of that revolution — individual liberty, limited government, and free markets — turn out to be even more powerful in today's world of global markets and unprecedented access to information than Jefferson or Madison could have imagined. Social and economic freedom is not just the best policy for a free people, it is the indispensable framework for the future.

The Cato Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

• Own the entire talent acquisition process, from scoping the role through a signed offer letter, including developing offer strategies and guiding negotiations.
• Evaluate and improve Cato's current talent acquisition process with an eye toward better support for hiring managers, a shorter average time to fill, more efficient and effective interviewing, and a better candidate experience. Establish and report on key hiring metrics to measure progress over time.
• Collaborate with hiring managers across the Institute to design the role, job description, recruitment strategy, and selection approach, and coach managers at every level of hiring experience to make confident, well-informed hiring decisions.
• Design structured interview processes and evaluation criteria that let Cato compare candidates consistently and fairly, and train interviewers across the Institute to use them effectively.
• Implement and manage Cato's applicant tracking system, making sure it supports an efficient process for hiring managers, interviewers, and candidates alike.
• Shape how Cato presents itself as an employer, making sure job postings, careers content, and every candidate touchpoint reflect Cato's mission and culture.
• Partner with the Educational Programs team to develop talent pipelines and alumni engagement, and to build talent pools from past applicants and aligned individuals with an affinity for Cato, so we can fast-track top candidates for our most critical roles.
• Back up other HR team members occasionally when necessary.

Experience and Skill Sets

• 4+ years of experience in talent acquisition, either on an internal HR team or as an external recruiter, including experience managing hiring across a wide range of roles and seniority levels.
• Deep alignment with Cato's mission and principles.
• A track record of building, improving, and rebuilding hiring processes that balance the needs of all stakeholders involved, and of getting hiring managers and leadership to adopt the new processes.
• Comfort using hiring data and metrics to spot problems, measure progress, and make the case for change.
• Sound judgment in assessing candidates against clear, consistent criteria, the confidence to advise hiring managers at every level, and a knack for steering strong applicants toward their best-fit opportunities at Cato.
• A positive, outgoing demeanor and a polished professional presence. You are the first person new hires will interact with at Cato, so you must make a strong first impression on candidates and senior leaders alike.
• Working knowledge of other core HR processes like benefits administration, onboarding, and employee relations.
• Experience in implementing and using advanced ATS systems like Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever or iCIMS is preferred.

All Cato employees are offered the following benefits:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Employer contribution to a Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Generous vacation and sick leavePaid parental leave
• Employer-provided life and disability insurance
• 401(k) with employer match

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. This position does not offer visa sponsorship.

There is no application deadline for this position. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. This job will remain posted on our site until it is filled.

While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. Only direct applications will be considered. No phone calls, please.