HR & Talent Acquisition Manager

District Partners; Maryland; On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic food service organization is seeking an HR & Talent Acquisition Manager to lead recruiting and HR operations. This role involves enhancing employee onboarding, partnering with leadership on strategies, and ensuring compliance across all operations. The ideal candidate has over 5 years of HR experience, preferably in high-volume environments, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. The position offers visibility within a growing entrepreneurial company and the chance to significantly impact workplace culture and retention.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in HR and/or Talent Acquisition.
• Proven experience building or improving HR and recruiting systems.
• Strong knowledge of employment law and HR best practices.
• Experience managing benefits administration and onboarding at scale
• Bilingual English/Spanish strongly preferred
• Hands-on, adaptable leader who can operate strategically and close to execution

Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle recruiting for various roles in restaurant operations.
• Oversee employee onboarding and offboarding processes.
• Evaluate and optimize HR and recruiting processes.
• Manage employer branding and candidate experience from sourcing through onboarding
• Own onboarding, orientation, and offboarding processes for consistency and compliance
• Oversee benefits administration and HR documentation
• Evaluate and optimize HRIS, ATS, onboarding tools, and reporting processes
• Create policies, handbooks, and SOPs for restaurant and manufacturing environments
• Establish metrics and dashboards related to hiring, retention, compliance, and workforce trends
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local labor laws and support audits

Skills

Leadership

Talent Acquisition

HR Operations

Employee Relations

Bilingual (English/Spanish)

Bilingual English/Spanish

Onboarding

Tools

HRIS

ATS

Job description

District Partners has partnered with a rapidly growing food service company to identify an HR & Talent Acquisition Manager to lead and scale the organization’s people operations. This organization operates a multi-unit restaurant platform alongside a packaged food production facility, creating a unique opportunity for an HR leader who thrives in dynamic, frontline environments and enjoys building structure where it matters most.

This is a highly visible role responsible for end-to-end recruiting, onboarding, HR operations, and compliance, while also partnering closely with leadership to design and implement scalable systems, processes, and infrastructure to support continued growth.

What you’ll Do

Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning

• Lead full-cycle recruiting for hourly and salaried roles across restaurant operations and food manufacturing/production, including managers, supervisors, and corporate support roles
• Partner with operations and plant leadership to anticipate hiring needs, reduce turnover, and improve workforce planning
• Develop recruiting strategies, sourcing channels, and referral programs tailored to high-volume and specialized roles
• Manage employer branding efforts and improve the candidate experience from first touch through onboarding

HR Operations & Employee Lifecycle

• Own employee onboarding, orientation, and offboarding processes to ensure consistency and compliance
• Serve as a trusted HR resource for managers and employees on policies, employee relations, performance management, and workplace concerns
• Oversee benefits administration, including health insurance, time-off policies, and coordination with external brokers and vendors
• Maintain accurate employee records and HR documentation

Systems, Processes & Infrastructure

• Evaluate current HR and recruiting processes; identify gaps and design scalable, repeatable systems
• Implement or optimize HRIS, ATS, onboarding tools, and reporting process
• Create policies, handbooks, and SOPs that support both restaurant and manufacturing environments
• Establish metrics and dashboards related to hiring, retention, compliance, and workforce trends

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local labor laws (including wage & hour, FMLA, OSHA, EEO, and food manufacturing workforce regulations)
• Support audits, inspections, and regulatory inquiries as needed
• Partner with leadership to proactively mitigate employee-related risk

What you’ll Have

• 5+ years of progressive experience in HR and/or Talent Acquisition, ideally within restaurants, hospitality, food manufacturing, retail, or other high-volume labor environments
• Proven experience building or improving HR and recruiting systems and processes
• Strong working knowledge of employment law and HR best practices
• Experience managing benefits administration and employee onboarding at scale
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) strongly preferred
• Hands-on, adaptable leader who can operate strategically while staying close to day-to-day execution

Why This Role

• Opportunity to build the HR function within a growing, entrepreneurial organization
• High visibility and direct partnership with ownership and senior leadership
• Exposure to both restaurant operations and food manufacturing, offering a uniquely broad HR scope
• Ability to make a meaningful impact on culture, retention, and long-term scalability