Senior Recruiter

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America; Town of Bethlehem (NY); Hybrid; USD 86,000 - 142,000; Full time

Job summary

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is seeking a strategic recruiter to lead talent acquisition across business groups, partnering with senior leaders and HR partners to shape hiring strategies and deliver high-impact outcomes. The role emphasizes data-driven insights, modern recruiting technologies, and an exceptional candidate experience.

Responsibilities include leading full-cycle recruitment for senior roles, leveraging AI-enabled tools, and collaborating with Talent Partners to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
• 7+ years in professional and/or executive-level recruiting.
• Experience recruiting across multiple functions, business units, and geographies.
• Proficiency using AI-enabled recruiting tools and talent data to generate insights, improve sourcing and workflow efficiency, and support informed, equitable hiring decisions.
• Strong relationship-building, communication, negotiation, and closing skills with excellent judgment and business acumen.
• High proficiency with Applicant Tracking Systems.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Talent Advisory: Advise leaders on role design, talent availability, and hiring tradeoffs; translate workforce plans into actionable strategies.
• End‑to‑End Recruiting Execution: Own full-cycle recruiting from intake to offer; ensure high-touch engagement for senior searches.
• Modern Sourcing & Talent Intelligence: Design sourcing strategies using direct outreach and AI tools; leverage labor market insights.
• Data, Technology & Process Excellence: Translate recruiting metrics into insights; ensure data integrity and use of Workday Recruiting.
• Collaboration & Vendor Management: Manage relationships with HR partners, COEs, and external vendors where applicable.

Skills

Executive-level recruiting

Cross-functional recruiting

AI-enabled recruiting

Relationship building

Communication

Negotiation

Closing skills

Applicant Tracking Systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Workday Recruiting

Job description

Is the opportunity to join a culture where “We Do the Right Thing” and “We Courageously Shape Our Future Together” important to you? If so, Guardian is seeking a strategic, experienced recruiter to join our Talent Acquisition team. This role supports Guardian’s growth strategy by delivering high-impact recruiting outcomes across business groups. The position works closely with senior leaders, Talent Partners, and Centers of Expertise to shape hiring strategies aligned to business priorities, workforce plans, capability needs, and evolving labor‑market conditions. Operating with a high degree of autonomy, this role blends deep recruiting expertise, data‑driven insight, and modern recruiting technologies to attract, assess, and close top talent—while delivering an exceptional, human‑centered candidate experience and serving as a trusted advisor in complex or ambiguous hiring situations.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Talent Advisory Serve as a trusted advisor to leaders, providing consultative guidance on role design, talent availability, competitive landscapes, and hiring tradeoffs. Partner with HR and business leaders to translate workforce plans, capability gaps, and future skill needs into actionable recruiting strategies. Lead comprehensive intake and needs‑analysis conversations to define success profiles, sourcing strategies, and assessment approaches.
• End‑to‑End Recruiting Execution Own full‑cycle recruiting for a portfolio of roles, from intake through offer acceptance and onboarding partnership. Deliver high‑touch, personalized candidate engagement for critical and senior‑level searches. Partner with Compensation and Talent Partners to develop market‑competitive, equitable offer packages and successfully close top talent.
• Modern Sourcing & Talent Intelligence Design and execute sourcing strategies using direct outreach, referrals, talent communities, social platforms, and AI‑enabled recruiting tools. Leverage labor‑market insights to advise stakeholders on emerging skills, geographic considerations, and workforce trends. Apply skills‑based hiring methodologies to define success profiles, assess talent against role‑critical capabilities, and support fair, consistent hiring decisions. Build and maintain strong internal and external talent networks to support both immediate and future hiring needs.
• Data, Technology & Process Excellence Leverage AI‑enabled recruiting tools to streamline workflows, enhance sourcing effectiveness, and improve overall recruitment efficiency. Translate recruiting metrics into clear, actionable insights for business and HR leaders. Ensure well‑adapted use of Workday Recruiting and Guardian’s recruitment platforms, maintaining data integrity, compliance, and reporting standards. Identify opportunities to test, adopt, and improve recruiting technologies, workflows, and candidate engagement practices based on data, user feedback, and business outcomes.
• Collaboration & Vendor Management Partner cross‑functionally with HR partners, COEs, and external vendors, including search firms and other external partners where applicable. Manage vendor relationships to ensure accountability, quality, and alignment with Guardian standards.

Qualifications

• Required qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience. 7+ years of experience in professional and/or executive‑level recruiting. Experience recruiting across multiple functions, business units, and geographies in corporate recruiting and/or search firm environments. Proficiency using AI‑enabled recruiting tools and talent data to generate insights, improve sourcing and workflow efficiency, and support informed, equitable hiring decisions. Strong relationship‑building, communication, negotiation, and closing skills with excellent judgment and business acumen. High proficiency with Applicant Tracking Systems.
• Preferred qualifications: Insurance Industry/Asset Management experience preferred. Experience with Workday Recruiting.

Location & Salary

Location: Hybrid role: 3 days in Hudson Yards, NYC; Stamford CT; Pittsfield MA; Boston, MA; Bethlehem, PA; or Holmdel NJ office. 2 days WFH. Travel to other Guardian offices as determined by the People Leader.

Salary Range: $86,210.00 - $141,635.00 The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill‑building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Well‑Being & Benefits

As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well‑being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits. Benefits apply to full‑time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.

Accommodations

Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship.

If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [e-mail]. Please note: this resource is for accommodation requests only. For all other inquires related to your application and careers at Guardian, refer to the Guardian Careers site.

Visa Sponsorship

Guardian Life is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment‑based visas (e.g., such as an H‑1B). In order to be a successful applicant, you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship/support now or at any time in the future.

Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

As part of Guardian’s job application process, Guardian may use artificial intelligence tools ("AI Tools") to automate the sorting and filtering of information provided by applicants as part of its preliminary screening. This preliminary screening may be used to help identify applicant materials and resumes relative to their indication that the applicant meets the requirements for the specific job for which they are applying, as specified in the listing posted on Guardian’s jobs website (Careers at Guardian at https://www.guardianlife.com/careers). At Guardian, we do not use AI Tools to substantially assist or replace human judgment or discretionary decision making in our hiring process. All hiring decisions will be made by Guardian colleagues. Please be aware that if you apply for a specific position with Guardian, you will have the choice of opting out of Guardian’s use of AI Tools during the job application process. If you would like to request an alternative process that does not utilize AI Tools or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, within ten business days of your position application, you must email your request to [e-mail], making sure to provide your name and job requisition identification number.

Guardian will retain your applicant materials and resume and all information therefrom in accordance with Guardian’s document retention policy, a copy of which you may request via [e-mail]. Additionally, at applicable times, Guardian will make public the most recent bias audit results for such AI tools, which may be found here.

Guardian Colleagues

Every day, Guardian helps our 29 million customers realize their dreams through a range of insurance and financial products and services. Our Purpose, to inspire well‑being, guides our dedication to the colleagues, consumers, and communities we serve. We know that people count, and we go above and beyond to prepare them for the life they want to live, focusing on their overall well‑being — mind, body, and wallet. As one of the largest mutual insurance companies, we put our customers first. Behind every bright future is a Guardian™. Learn more about Guardian at guardianlife.com.