Sr. Talent Acquisition & HR Specialist (TEMP to HIRE)

About This Job

Talent Acquisition and HR are central to how iCrossing builds the capabilities, teams, and leadership needed to grow. We are building teams of people who combine deep craft expertise with commercial judgment, client empathy, cross-functional collaboration, practical AI fluency, and ownership for measurable outcomes.

The Sr. Talent Acquisition and HR Specialist will execute full-cycle recruiting across strategy, engagement leadership, engineering, content, experience design, data and AI, performance marketing, and corporate functions. Reporting to the HR Director, this person will help define what strong talent looks like, identify candidates from both expected and adjacent markets, and create selection processes that distinguish polished interviewers from people who can solve problems, build solutions, and deliver results. Additionally, this role will support related talent programs under the direction of the HR Director. This is a great role for someone with TA experience who wants to grow their talent advisory and partnership skills and have an opportunity to support broader HR and talent initiatives.

This i s a full-time temporary to hire role, based in New York, NY. The role requires on-site attendance a minimum of two days per week. Our in-office policy is currently Tuesday and Wednesday with additional days where required.

Essential Job Duties

- Manage the delivery of full-cycle recruiting, from intake to onboarding for iCrossing US’s permanent and short-term hiring needs, for example, roles in engagement leadership, digital product, engineering, content strategy, experience design, data analytics, performance marketing and corporate and business functions.
- Partner with hiring managers and leaders to translate business needs into outcomes and evidence-based candidate personas, sourcing strategies, adjacent market mapping, assessment criteria, and candidate propositions.
- Build proactive pipelines by developing sourcing strategies for passive and underrepresented talent, maintain relationships and create reusable talent communities around priority capabilities.
- Design recruiter screens, interview plans, scorecards, work samples, and feedback practices that allow hiring teams to evaluate candidates consistently against the outcomes of the role. Synthesize and coordinate interview feedback.
- Create pre-boarding packages, send and track offers, initiate and monitor background screenings, resolve or escalate verification issues, and ensure candidates are cleared before starting.
- Coordinate with various partners (Hearst HR, iCrossing HR Ops, Hiring Managers, Office Management, IT, etc) to ensure high-quality onboarding, first-day readiness and 90-day success.
- Provide talent advisory to leaders and hiring managers. Challenge approaches that may narrow the candidate pool, steer stakeholders and interviewers to consensus, guide hiring teams on connecting staffing to client outcomes and provide market intelligence that evolves our talent, location and compensation strategies.
- Continuously improve the function and create a high-quality candidate experience by tracking recruiting outcomes, identifying recurring obstacles, and iterating on processes based on search results, hiring quality, stakeholder feedback, and new-hire experience.
- Administer, support and contribute to talent, development and HR programs as needed.
- Contribute to other iCrossing and/or Hearst projects, programs and initiatives as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

- 4+ years of in-house full-cycle recruiting experience, including in-house experience and direct ownership of professional, technical, or client-facing searches. Agency recruiting/staffing firm recruiting will be considered separately.
- Demonstrated success sourcing passive candidates for specialized or difficult-to-fill roles
- Strong proficiency in LinkedIn Recruiter and a full-suite applicant tracking system (ATS).
- Working knowledge of laws and regulations governing interviewing, selection, candidate privacy, and fair hiring practices.
- Experience using talent-market data, recruiting analytics, AI-assisted research, or workflow automation to improve search effectiveness.
- Bachelor’s degree or four years of additional equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

- Current working knowledge of recruiting across iCrossing’s role portfolio
- Experience recruiting in a consultancy or in environments with highly fluid workforce planning needs
- Experience with Greenhouse, and background screenings, including relevant screening and data-handling requirements.

Successful Behaviors

- You translate the business need, client context, and intended role outcomes into a clear success profile before launching a search. You measure progress by hiring outcomes and decision quality, not recruiting activity alone.
- You clarify ambiguous needs, diagnose constraints, weigh evidence and tradeoffs, and recommend a path forward. You challenge unrealistic profiles, inconsistent evaluations, and unsupported decisions with evidence, and avoid raising concerns without a plan.
- You own the recruiting outcome from intake through a cleared, ready-to-start hire. You keep work moving, make ownership and next steps explicit, surface risks early, close loops across handoffs, and apply lessons from each search and early new-hire feedback. You are invested in the success of the new hire and the business after they start.
- You proactively align hiring managers, interviewers, candidates, Hearst, HR Operations, vendors, and leaders around solving problems, making decisions, progressing requests. You anticipate handoff gaps, resolve friction, and turn complex or conflicting input into a focused recommendation.
- You use data, AI, and automation to improve sourcing, research, market mapping, assessment, reporting, and recruiting operations. You validate outputs, protect confidential information, and apply human judgment where it matters.
- You evaluate talent based on the ability to strengthen client trust, solution quality, delivery performance, and growth. You recognize capability, adaptability, and operating ability beyond familiar titles, credentials, company names, or presentation polish.

The estimated hourly range for this position in New York, NYC is between $59 and $73. The range for the position in other geographies may vary based on market differences.   The actual compensation will be determined based on experience and other factors permitted by law.

Benefits (What We Offer)

- Work with the Best : Collaborate with top-tier professionals across media, advertising, tech, fashion, lifestyle, and publishing, shaping the future of these dynamic industries.
- Grow Your Skills : Unlock your potential with access to innovative training programs, immersive workshops, and exclusive industry events.
- Work-Life Harmony : Enjoy the flexibility of hybrid work, empowering you to balance professional success with personal priorities.
- Foster Connection & Belonging : Join our Employee Resource Groups and help create a welcoming workplace where everyone feels valued and empowered.
- Wellness First : Prioritize your well-being with a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance from Day 1.
- Plan for Your Financial Future : Enjoy competitive financial perks, including a 401(k) plan with a generous company match (check with Benefits Team for eligibility requirements)