Recruiter

About the Role

Columbia Safety Services is building a dedicated internal recruiting function to support rapid growth across its fire and life‑safety businesses in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West. This zero‑to‑one recruiting role will create the processes, tools, and pipelines needed to attract and retain skilled tradespeople, professionals, and leaders. You will work closely with hiring managers, develop employer branding, and turn recruiting into a competitive advantage.

Responsibilities

• Build the recruiting function from the ground up—including sourcing, screening, interviewing, pipelines, tools, processes, and metrics.
• Select and implement recruiting and applicant tracking tools.
• Develop proactive pipelines for skilled trades, professional, sales, and leadership positions.
• Source passive candidates rather than relying solely on inbound applications.
• Develop relationships with trade schools, apprenticeship programs, union halls, veterans’ networks, and industry organizations.
• Partner with hiring managers to define positions and write compelling job postings.
• Own the candidate experience from first contact through placement.
• Represent the companies at career fairs, schools, industry events, and in the field.
• Develop recruiting strategies that support retention and long‑term workforce planning.
• Track time‑to‑fill, quality of hire, source effectiveness, cost‑per‑hire, and retention metrics.
• Help build an employment brand that attracts top talent.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications:

• 3+ years of full‑cycle recruiting experience in agency, placement, or high‑volume corporate recruiting.
• Proven success sourcing and placing candidates you found yourself, not simply processing inbound applicants.
• Strong passive candidate sourcing and relationship‑building skills.
• Experience recruiting positions with licensing, certification, or credential requirements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience with ATS platforms, sourcing tools, and job boards.
• Ability to build recruiting processes and select appropriate tools.
• Residence in the Greater Seattle area or willingness to relocate before starting.
• Valid driver’s license and clean driving record.
• Fluent spoken and written English.
• Ability to pass a background check and pre‑employment drug screen.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Recruiting experience in fire protection, construction, mechanical/electrical contracting, skilled trades, or field service.
• Agency or direct‑placement recruiting experience.
• Experience building a recruiting function from scratch.
• Union recruiting experience.
• Multi‑state recruiting experience.
• Trade school or apprenticeship partnerships.
• Military/veteran recruiting experience.
• Recruiting during acquisitions or integrations.
• Employer branding or recruitment marketing experience.
• Bilingual — Spanish or another language.

Who May Not Thrive Here

This role is not suited for candidates who need an established process to follow, rely primarily on inbound applicants, or prefer to stay behind a desk. Success requires comfort building relationships in shops, trade schools, union halls, career fairs, and the field, and measuring success by great people hired and retained rather than by requisitions closed.

Pay

Base Salary: $70,000–$85,000 annually, depending on experience.

Uncapped placement bonuses ranging from approximately $1,500 to $10,000 per successful hire, based on role type (field/technician hires at the lower end, designer/estimator/PM/sales hires in the middle, leadership/management/finance hires at the upper end). Bonuses are earned after the placement completes 90 days and are paid on a retention‑based schedule. There is no cap on earnings.

Benefits

• Medical insurance through Regence BlueShield
• Dental insurance through Delta Dental of Washington
• Vision insurance through VSP
• Benefits available to employees scheduled 30+ hours per week; coverage effective the first of the month following or coinciding with the hire date

Schedule

Full‑time, salaried, non‑exempt position. Hours are tracked and overtime is paid for hours worked over 40 per week. Travel: regional travel across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and future markets.