Talent Acquisition Manager - Power & Utilities
CARIAN · Somerset · $85,000–$115,000 (stated in the posting)
Talent Acquisition Manager - Power & Utilities
Location: Somerset, NJ
Job Type: Full-time
Schedule: Monday through Friday; hybrid, with three days per week on-site in Somerset
Experience Level: 8+ years
Travel: Occasional travel for recruiting events, company events, industry events, and other business needs
About Us
CARIAN is a purpose-driven, woman-owned consulting and advisory firm dedicated exclusively to the power sector. We partner with leading electric and gas utilities to provide strategic advisory and disciplined execution across program management, business intelligence, and field execution oversight. Guided by integrity, trust, excellence, and accountability, our team helps deliver complex capital programs and build the resilient energy infrastructure that communities depend on.
Position Overview
CARIAN is seeking a highly hands-on Talent Acquisition Manager to lead and strengthen the company's recruiting team while personally recruiting for priority and hard-to-fill positions.
This is a player-coach role. Approximately 75% of the role will remain directly focused on recruiting and sourcing, including personally owning CARIAN's most difficult technical, professional, and leadership searches.
The remaining focus will be on directly managing and developing the Talent Acquisition team, reviewing pipelines, improving sourcing and candidate quality, strengthening hiring-manager partnership, maintaining recruiting discipline and accountability, and ensuring recruiting activity translates into hires.
This is not a role for someone looking to move away from recruiting. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable sourcing a difficult candidate personally, reviewing a recruiter's pipeline, challenging an unrealistic requirement, advising leadership on compensation and market conditions, and closing a high-value candidate.
Key Responsibilities
Hands-On Recruiting
Personally own priority, difficult, technical, leadership, and confidential searches from intake through accepted offer
Proactively source passive candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter, industry networks, referrals, databases, direct outreach, and other channels
Develop targeted sourcing strategies for specialized power, utility, engineering, construction, project management, project controls, field services, consulting, digital, and business-development positions
Conduct recruiter screens and independently assess candidate qualifications, relevance, motivation, compensation expectations, and fit
Present qualified candidates to hiring leaders with clear recommendations and relevant market context
Build and maintain pipelines for recurring and strategically important positions
Manage candidate engagement, interviews, compensation discussions, offers, counteroffer risk, and closing
Personally intervene when difficult or stalled searches require additional sourcing or recruiting support
Team Leadership & Performance
Directly manage, coach, and develop Talent Acquisition team members
Conduct regular pipeline and requisition reviews
Establish clear expectations for candidate quality, sourcing activity, responsiveness, ownership, and follow-through
Review candidate submissions and help calibrate recruiter judgment when needed
Improve recruiter sourcing strategies, screening quality, hiring-manager communication, and candidate closing
Identify searches that are not progressing and require corrective action
Hold the recruiting team accountable for maintaining active pipelines and moving searches forward
Maintain ATS discipline and recruiting data quality across the team
Own and regularly review recruiting metrics, including pipeline health, requisition aging, time to fill, and offer acceptance, and report results to leadership
Hiring Manager Partnership
Lead effective intake discussions with hiring leaders
Clarify required qualifications, candidate profiles, compensation parameters, geography, and sourcing strategy before searches begin
Challenge unclear, unrealistic, or unnecessarily restrictive requirements when market evidence supports a different approach
Advise leadership regarding candidate availability, compensation, competitive market conditions, and sourcing strategy
Establish clear expectations and accountability between Talent Acquisition and hiring managers
Escalate stalled decisions, compensation issues, and other hiring risks when appropriate
Qualifications
8+ years of progressive experience in talent acquisition, corporate recruiting, technical recruiting, executive search, staffing, or a related field
Demonstrated success personally sourcing and closing difficult professional and technical positions
Experience recruiting professional and technical talent within AEC, engineering, utilities, energy, infrastructure, construction, management consulting, technical professional services, or a specialized staffing/search firm serving these markets required
Demonstrated experience directly managing or formally leading recruiters, including responsibility for pipeline review, coaching, performance, and accountability
Strong passive-candidate sourcing capability and demonstrated proficiency with LinkedIn Recruiter or similar platforms
Demonstrated success recruiting engineering, project/program management, project controls, construction and field services, technical consulting, business development, or comparable specialized talent
Strong candidate-assessment and interviewing judgment
Demonstrated ability to advise and constructively challenge hiring managers
Strong understanding of compensation discussions, candidate motivation, offer management, counteroffers, and closing
Experience using applicant tracking and recruiting systems
Strong analytical, organizational, communication, judgment, and follow-through skills
Ability and willingness to remain personally involved in day-to-day sourcing and recruiting
Bachelor's degree preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered
Ability to work on-site at CARIAN's Somerset, NJ office three days per week
Preferred Experience
Direct recruiting experience within electric or gas utilities, power delivery, transmission and distribution, energy, or infrastructure
Experience recruiting within an engineering, AEC, technical consulting, management consulting, or specialized search environment
Experience recruiting both specialized individual contributors and senior leadership positions
Experience with Ashby or another modern applicant tracking system
Experience using AI-enabled sourcing, research, recruiting, and productivity tools effectively
Experience improving recruiter performance through direct coaching, pipeline review, sourcing calibration, and accountability
Why CARIAN
Purpose-driven work – Help deliver infrastructure that powers communities
Industry reputation – Trusted by leading utilities for our reliability and results
Career growth – Lead and strengthen a critical function with significant opportunity to grow as CARIAN continues to expand
Collaborative culture – Join a team that values delivery excellence and long-term relationships
Competitive total rewards – Strong compensation, full benefits, 401(k) match, and meaningful work
Equal Employment Opportunity
CARIAN is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We hire and develop talent based on qualifications, performance, and business needs. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. As a woman-owned firm dedicated to the power sector, we are committed to building a team that reflects professionalism, expertise, and integrity at every level.
Compensation
The base salary range for this role is $85,000 - $115,000 annually. This range represents a good-faith estimate at the time of posting; actual compensation will depend on experience, qualifications, technical recruiting background, sourcing capability, leadership experience, demonstrated recruiting results, and business needs. CARIAN offers a competitive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, holidays, and 401(k) participation with company match. This position may also be eligible for discretionary bonus incentives or other compensation programs based on company and individual performance.