Talent Acquisition Manager

About Ascent Ascent Developer Solutions is a leading private lending platform, serving real estate developers nationwide in the acquisition, renovation, and construction of residential real estate. Founded by a leadership team with a deep understanding and personal experience in virtually every facet of real estate development, Ascent is uniquely positioned to create custom, innovative lending solutions for a variety of real estate development business strategies. Position Summary The Talent Acquisition Manager is a key driver of organizational success in our fast-paced, high-growth environment. This role is best suited for someone with strong recruiting experience and a passion for building top-performing teams, along with an interest in strategic talent planning. As a trusted advisor, the TA Manager will work closely with leaders to attract, hire, and retain exceptional talent across all levels of the organization. This is a highly visible, hands-on role that combines full-cycle recruiting execution with ownership of the company's talent acquisition strategy, systems, processes, analytics, and employer brand. The TA Manager will initially operate as a lean, hands-on function while establishing the scalable practices and infrastructure necessary to support future growth. The ideal candidate is more than an experienced recruiter. They are a trusted business advisor who understands how talent decisions impact organizational performance, challenges conventional thinking, uses market intelligence and data to influence decisions, and continuously improves how the company attracts and selects talent. This role will recruit across all functions and levels of the organization, including individual contributors, specialized professionals, managers, and executives, while ensuring an exceptional experience for candidates and hiring teams. The Work Talent Acquisition Strategy & Leadership Lead the company's Talent Acquisition function, establishing priorities, performance expectations, and consistent recruiting practices. Develop and execute talent acquisition strategies aligned with company growth objectives, workforce plans, and organizational priorities. Partner with HR and business leaders to anticipate hiring needs, understand critical talent requirements, and develop proactive recruitment plans. Serve as a trusted advisor to executives and hiring managers, providing talent market intelligence, compensation insights, and recommendations that inform hiring decisions. Evaluate recruitment capacity, resource allocation, and external recruiting partnerships to optimize effectiveness and cost. Establish scalable recruiting practices and continuously evolve the function to meet changing business needs. Provide leadership, coaching, and development to Talent Acquisition team members as the function grows. Full-Cycle Recruiting & Talent Assessment Personally manage full-cycle recruiting across all business functions and organizational levels, from requisition intake and sourcing through selection, offer negotiation, and onboarding transition. Partner with hiring managers to define position requirements, success profiles, competencies, and selection criteria. Develop targeted recruitment strategies for specialized, high-priority, and difficult-to-fill positions. Conduct comprehensive candidate assessments, including structured, competency-based and behavioral interviews. Evaluate candidates beyond technical qualifications, considering business impact, motivation, transferable skills, leadership potential, and alignment with company values. Provide objective, evidence-based candidate recommendations that improve selection quality and long-term hiring outcomes. Facilitate hiring team discussions, challenge assumptions constructively, and drive timely, informed hiring decisions. Manage offer development, negotiation, and candidate closing in partnership with HR and business leaders. Ensure effective transitions from recruitment through preboarding and onboarding. Proactive Sourcing & Talent Pipeline Development Build and execute proactive sourcing strategies that identify and engage high-quality talent before hiring needs become urgent. Develop and maintain talent pipelines for critical, specialized, and recurring roles across the organization. Leverage LinkedIn Recruiter, professional networks, industry associations, referrals, and emerging sourcing technologies to identify both active and passive candidates. Build long-term relationships with prospective candidates and develop talent communities that support future hiring needs. Monitor competitor talent trends, labor market conditions, and compensation practices to identify opportunities and inform recruitment strategies. Develop creative approaches to attracting talent in competitive or specialized markets. Establish sourcing effectiveness measures and continuously optimize channels based on candidate quality, conversion, and return on investment. Recruiting Operations, Process Optimization, ATS & Vendor Management Own the administration, optimization, and integrity of the company's Applicant Tracking System (ATS), including workflows, data accuracy, reporting, user adoption, and system improvements. Establish and maintain consistent, efficient, and compliant recruitment processes across all departments. Develop and implement recruiting standards, service-level agreements (SLAs), interview processes, assessment tools, and documentation requirements. Create and maintain standardized recruiting playbooks, interview guides, competency-based scorecards, and hiring manager resources. Identify opportunities to automate administrative activities and improve recruiting efficiency through technology, AI, and workflow enhancements. Ensure recruitment activities comply with applicable employment laws, company policies, and fair hiring practices. Train and support hiring managers and interviewers on recruiting processes, ATS utilization, interviewing techniques, and effective candidate evaluation. Continuously assess and improve recruitmen