Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition Strategy & Ops

Front Door Defense; Alameda, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 152,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

Sila is seeking a Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition in Alameda, CA to lead and scale the recruitment function as the company grows. You will own end-to-end recruitment, partner with the People & Culture team, and guide hiring priorities across units—from requisition to onboarding—while ensuring compliance.

The role emphasizes building a high-performing team, leveraging data, and driving AI/automation initiatives across the recruiting lifecycle to improve speed and quality of hires.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in talent acquisition with 5+ years leading high-performing teams.
• Startup experience preferred.
• Understanding of relevant employment laws and regulations.
• Experience with manufacturing, R&D, or tech roles is a plus.
• Proficiency with modern recruiting data and analytics.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of talent acquisition professionals across HR and the business to deliver timely, high-quality talent solutions.
• Drive scalable recruiting processes and ensure consistent execution across hiring initiatives.
• Collaborate with hiring managers to craft job descriptions and selection criteria and train interviewers.
• Advise leaders on talent market trends, risks, and recruiting effectiveness.
• Design and improve recruiting policies, processes, and governance to ensure a compliant, candidate-centered experience.

Tools

Greenhouse

Job description

Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition

Develop and execute a scalable talent acquisition strategy to support Sila's rapid growth

Location: Alameda, California

Compensation: $152,000 - 193,000 USD / year

About The Role

Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition

Alameda, CA

About Us

We are Sila, a next-generation battery materials company. Our mission is to power the world's transition to clean energy. To create this future, our team is building a better lithium-ion battery from the inside out today. We engineer and manufacture ground-breaking battery materials that significantly increase the energy density of batteries, while reducing their size and weight. The result? Smaller more powerful batteries that can unlock innovation in consumer devices and accelerate the mass adoption of electric cars to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. We're tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time every day, and together we're redefining what's possible. Are you ready to be a part of a team committed to changing the world?

Who You Are

The Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the recruitment process at Sila. Lead talent acquisition strategy, workforce planning, and recruiting priorities aligned with business objectives, organizational values, and hiring outcomes. Own the end-to-end recruitment process from job requisition to onboarding, ensuring compliance and efficiency at every stage. This role is a 'player coach' who will be responsible for sourcing and hiring within various business units.

The Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition works closely with the People & Culture team and other senior leaders to understand talent and create effective strategies to meet those needs.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of talent acquisition professionals, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture across HR and the business to deliver timely, high-quality talent solutions.
• Deliver against hiring targets, building scalable recruiting processes, and ensuring consistent execution across hiring initiatives.
• Partner with hiring managers to understand talent needs, create effective job descriptions and selection criteria, and provide training on interview techniques and candidate assessment.
• Advise leaders on talent market trends, workforce risks, recruiting effectiveness, and strategies to meet current and future talent needs.
• Raise the hiring bar through strong intake discipline, calibrated scorecards, structured interview practices, talent market insight, and decisive close strategies.
• Design and continuously improve recruiting policies, processes, service delivery, and governance to ensure a consistent, compliant, and candidate-centered hiring experience.
• Develop and drive the long-term talent acquisition roadmap for Sila, ensuring the organization can attract, hire, and retain the talent necessary to meet operational, growth, workforce planning, and customer service objectives.
• Develop employer branding, sourcing strategies that strengthen the organization's market presence and attract diverse talent pipelines.
• Leverage data, analytics, and market intelligence to identify trends, optimize performance, improve recruiting effectiveness, and influence enterprise workforce decisions.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on recruiting speed, scalability, process simplification, candidate experience, and operational efficiency.
• Use data to identify bottlenecks, forecast risk, challenge hiring plans, and guide executive level decisions.
• Drive AI and automation adoption across the recruiting lifecycle, including sourcing, workflow optimization, reporting, interviewer enablement, candidate engagement, and operational efficiency.
• Partner with HRBPs and FP&A to assist with headcount planning and management.
• Manage recruiting training programs, ensuring all participants are appropriately trained before participating in the hiring process.

Education and Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of talent acquisition experience with 5 years of leading high performing teams. Start-up experience preferred.
• Thorough understanding of recruiting methods and best practices, as well as applicable policies and federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
• Excellent ability to define problems and create efficient solutions in a fast paced startup environment.
• Understanding of manufacturing, research and development, and technology including the skills, knowledge, and abilities associated with those roles is preferred.
• Scaling high growth organization through continuous improvement, talent mapping, talent development, competitive analysis.
• Experience with Greenhouse preferred.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

• Move long distances (such as from building to building) and be stationary for extended periods of time
• Operate a computer and other office equipment, such as a laptop, copier/printer, etc in a fixed location

The starting base pay for this role is between $152,000 and $193,000 at the time of posting. The actual base pay depends on many factors, such as education, experience, and skills. Base pay is only one part of Sila's competitive Total Rewards package that can include benefits, perks, and equity. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

Working at Sila

We believe that building a diverse team at Sila helps us amplify our individual talents. We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to creating an inclusive environment where good ideas are free to come from anyone. We are proud to celebrate diversity and all qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, national origin, or any other status protected by law.