Director of Talent Acquisition and Employee Experience

Company Description

Running with Sasquatch is more than just a clever marketing campaign. As a Jack Link’s team member, Running with Sasquatch means we roll up our buffalo plaid sleeves and do the hard work first. We don’t shy away from challenges. In fact, we push hard and take risks. True to our North Woods roots, we're a bunch of ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things by driving results with innovation, creativity and a clear sense of urgency. Like our awesome protein products, we have an unwavering passion for quality, and you won’t find anything artificial here. What you see is what you get…authentic, humble and fun people who Run with Sasquatch!

Running with Sasquatch takes a team. We invite you to run with us, succeed with us, and celebrate with us. Most importantly, Feed Your Wild Side® with us on our journey to be the dominant global leader of branded protein snacks!

Jack Link's Protein Snacks is a global leader in snacking and the No. 1 meat snack manufacturer worldwide. Still family-owned and operated with headquarters in Minong, Wisconsin, Jack Link’s also has a large corporate hub in Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, and operates a total of 11 manufacturing and distribution facilities in four countries. Jack Link’s produces high-quality, great-tasting protein snacks that feed the wild sides of consumers around the world. Jack Link's Protein Snacks family of brands includes Jack Link's, LK, World Kitchens Jerky, Bifi and Peperami.

Job Description

Role Summary

The Director of Talent Acquisition & Employee Experience is a critical leadership role responsible for designing and executing strategies that attract top talent while fostering an engaging, inclusive, and connected employee culture.  The Director drives the effort to centralize and standardize production recruitment processes and programs to support organizational growth. This leader will help to cultivate a high-performance team. This role oversees end-to-end talent acquisition, employer branding, onboarding, and enterprise-wide engagement initiatives that enhance the employee lifecycle from first touchpoint to long-term retention. 

The ideal candidate is both strategic and hands-on—comfortable building scalable programs, influencing senior leaders, and rolling up their sleeves to activate initiatives across our manufacturing plants and distribution centers, corporate office, support center, and operations teams. 

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Build and lead a best-in-class TA function that supports high-volume manufacturing, corporate, support center, operations, technical, and leadership hiring. 
• Develop and implement a long-term talent acquisition strategy aligned with business growth and workforce planning.
• Oversee full-cycle recruiting, including sourcing, selection, assessment, and offer processes. 
• Optimize TA processes, workflow, and technology (ATS, talent intelligence tools, recruitment automation). 
• Drive employer branding and recruitment marketing efforts to strengthen Jack Link’s presence across digital channels, community partnerships, universities, and trade programs. 
• Partner with leaders and HR Business Partners across sites to anticipate talent needs and build proactive pipelines. 

Leadership and Cross Functional Influence

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of talent acquisition professionals and employee experience specialists. 
• Serve as a strategic partner to the HR Leadership Team and executive stakeholders. 
• Use data and analytics to inform decisions, track KPIs, and measure the impact of TA and engagement programs. 
• Manage budgets, external vendors, and key workforce-related partnerships. 
• Lead workforce planning initiatives across departments, establishing talent pipelines for critical manufacturing roles, skilled trades, and executive leadership positions. 
• Partner with Leadership, HRBP, and Communications teams to design and implement inclusive recruiting strategies and employment branding initiatives. 

Process Optimization

• Drive continuous improvement and automation of recruitment processes using data and technology to increase hiring speed, quality, and effectiveness. 
• Streamline and simplify the interview and hiring process to ensure speed and quality. 
• Implement recruiting metrics and dashboards to track performance and continuously improve outcomes. 
• Ensure compliance with employment laws and best practices. 
• Work closely with Legal and Finance to manage vendor relationships, negotiate recruiting-related MSAs/SLAs, and control recruitment technology and agency spending. 

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Marketing a