Senior Manager Talent Acquisition

Buckingham Search; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Buckingham Search in Chicago seeks a Senior Manager of Talent to build scalable talent practices for the next growth phase. The role focuses on recruiting senior professionals while strengthening onboarding, development, and retention.

The ideal candidate blends executive recruiting instincts with practical programs, building long-term pipelines and partnering with leadership on high-impact searches.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in talent acquisition, executive recruiting, or related talent role.
• Proven success recruiting passive and difficult-to-reach professionals through direct outreach.
• Experience recruiting advisors, attorneys, accounting or tax professionals, or senior executives.

Responsibilities

• Lead recruiting across the organization, including senior advisors and professionals.
• Build long-term pipelines of passive candidates before needs arise.
• Manage searches from market research through offers and onboarding.
• Develop talent plans, onboarding, and retention initiatives.
• Partner with executives on high-impact searches.
• Deliver a confidential, warm candidate experience.

Skills

Executive recruiting

Talent pipelines

Stakeholder management

Onboarding design

Talent planning

Relationship development

Market mapping

Search management

Job description

A growing Chicago-based financial services organization is seeking a Senior Manager of Talent to build the talent practices needed for its next stage of growth.

This is not a traditional HR administration role. Recruiting will be the primary focus, particularly identifying and cultivating senior professionals who may take a year or longer to recruit. This person will also strengthen onboarding, development, talent planning, and retention.

The ideal candidate combines the instincts of an executive recruiter with the ability to build practical, scalable talent programs.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead recruiting across the organization, including senior advisors, attorneys, financial and tax professionals, operational employees, administrative support, and early-career talent.
• Build long-term pipelines of passive candidates before hiring needs become urgent.
• Personally manage searches from market research and direct outreach through assessment, references, offers, closing, and onboarding.
• Develop trusted relationships with senior professionals whose recruiting processes may extend 12 to 18 months.
• Create target lists, candidate scorecards, interview standards, and consistent selection practices.
• Partner closely with executive leadership on high-impact searches.
• Deliver an organized, responsive, warm, and confidential candidate experience.

Development and Retention

• Build structured onboarding and 30-, 60-, and 90-day plans for critical roles.
• Translate the practices of top performers into training materials, manager tools, and development programs.
• Help create career paths for advisors, professional staff, administrative employees, and interns.
• Coordinate talent reviews focused on performance, high-potential employees, succession needs, and retention risks.
• Equip managers with tools for coaching, feedback, and employee development.
• Identify gaps in leadership, performance, or engagement and escalated concerns with sound judgment.
• Build a practical knowledge library that supports employee effectiveness and organizational continuity.
• Research and map prospective firm leaders, senior advisors, and other strategically important professionals.
• Build relationships with individuals who could join, lead, or become affiliated with the organization.
• Support the assessment and talent integration of prospective affiliated teams.
• Learn the organization’s business model and communicate its opportunity credibly.
• Recognize when executive leadership should enter or lead a strategic recruiting conversation.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 90 days, this person will assess current talent practices, establish a disciplined recruiting process, develop target maps and scorecards, improve onboarding, and create a 12-month talent roadmap.

During the first year, the Senior Manager will:

• Build a market map of approximately 100 to 150 senior professionals.
• Establish meaningful relationships with 20 to 30 high-value candidates.
• Reduce reliance on inbound applicants and external agencies.
• Strengthen onboarding, manager development, talent visibility, and retention.
• Create repeatable talent practices that can scale with the organization.

Qualifications

• Approximately 7+ years of experience in talent acquisition, executive recruiting, professional-services recruiting, or a related talent role.
• Demonstrated success recruiting passive and difficult-to-reach professionals through direct outreach and relationship development.
• Experience recruiting advisors, attorneys, accounting or tax professionals, sales leaders, executives, firm principals, or similarly relationship-driven talent.
• Experience in financial services, wealth management, insurance, legal, accounting, consulting, executive search, or another high-trust professional-services environment is preferred.
• Strength in market mapping, candidate assessment, references, offer negotiation, and closing.
• Experience building or improving onboarding, training, manager resources, talent reviews, career paths, or development programs.
• Confidence partnering with executives and advising leaders on talent decisions.
• Strong commercial curiosity, discretion, organization, resilience, warmth, and follow-through.
• A builder mentality with the ability to introduce structure without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

This role will have lots of flexibility with the hybrid schedule, going into the office in downtown Chicago and then traveling a few times a year to Michigan.