Manager Vendor Acquisition

Safeguard is seeking a highly strategic and data-driven Manager of Vendor Acquisition to transform and lead our independent contractor recruitment infrastructure.

Unlike traditional corporate talent acquisition, this role is a high-volume network development and inside sales operation . You will treat recruiting as a marketing and sales funnel—optimizing lead generation, driving rapid conversion, enforcing recruiter accountability, and ensuring we onboard high-quality independent contractors in the precise geographic zones where capacity is needed.

The ideal candidate has a proven track record of managing a disciplined, data-driven acquisition funnel, ideally within mortgage field services, national home-service networks, or high-volume logistics and staffing environments.

Key Responsibilities

As the Director, you will design and execute the recruiting strategy, technology stack, and performance management systems across Safeguard. Your core duties include:

• Funnel Optimization: Oversee the end-to-end contractor acquisition funnel, from paid lead generation through vetting, onboarding, and initial work completion.
• Team Leadership & Accountability: Establish rigorous daily routines and performance metrics for a team of recruiters, driving culture around speed-to-contact, persistent follow-up, and conversion.
• Strategic Lead Generation: Direct paid advertising spend (Indeed, Google Ads, social media) and manage specialized agencies to maximize high-quality applicant volume while lowering customer-acquisition costs.
• Geographic Targeting: Partner with Vendor Account Management to identify capacity gaps by zone, season, and service line, dynamically shifting recruiting resources to critical areas.
• Quality & Retention Assurance: Ensure recruiters vet vendors for true capability and performance metrics rather than simply adding names to a database, prioritizing 60/90-day vendor productivity.

Performance Metrics & Evaluation Scorecard

Your success will be measured by the output of the acquisition funnel, with an emphasis on vendor quality over raw application volume. Key performance indicators (KPIs) include:

• Cost per Productive Vendor: Total advertising and recruiting cost relative to vendors who successfully perform and retain work.
• Lead Response Time: Meeting strict internal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to contact new leads within minutes.
• Conversion Rates: Maximizing the transition percentage from qualified lead to activated, productive vendor.
• 60/90-Day Productivity: Evaluating newly recruited vendor work volume, quality, timeliness, and retention.
• Critical Zone Coverage: Eliminating capacity gaps in targeted understaffed geographic zones.

Management Routines Expected

You will introduce structure and discipline to the daily operations of the recruitment team:

• Daily: Review incoming leads, lead aging, recruiter contact attempts, onboarding bottlenecks, and individual recruiter conversion performance.
• Weekly: Analyze performance data by sourcing channel, geography, and recruiter. Reallocate advertising budgets to top-performing channels and conduct recruiter coaching (e.g., via call reviews).
• Monthly: Audit the 30/60/90-day performance of new vendors alongside the Vendor Management organization to align recruiting pipelines with real field capacity needs.

Required Skills & Qualifications

Candidates will be rigorously evaluated across the following six core capabilities:

1. Recruiting Funnel Management (25%): Proven ability to improve lead-to-activated and activated-to-productive conversion metrics.
2. Sales Management & Accountability (25%): Experience managing teams using daily activity targets, pipeline reviews, structured coaching, and performance plans.
3. Digital Lead Generation (20%): Practical knowledge of paid channels (Indeed, Google Ads, social media) with the ability to direct ad specialists, track attribution, and manage cost-per-qualified-acquisition.
4. Contractor Acquisition Experience (15%): Specific background recruiting independent contractors, 1099 workers, or independent service businesses across multiple regional markets.
5. CRM, Automation, & Analytics (10%): Experience building performance dashboards and automating follow-up workflows to eliminate lead leakage.
6. Recruiting Economics & Operations (5%): Solid understanding of geographic capacity constraints, contractor profitability, and geographic deployment.

Preferred Backgrounds

• Priority 1: Leadership experience within Mortgage Field Services preferred (e.g., network recruiting, vendor development, or multi-state contractor network coverage).
• Priority 2: Leadership in National Home-Service Networks (e.g., home warranty, residential/commercial facilities maintenance, or distributed trade services).
• Priority 3: Operations management in High-Volume Sourcing / Inside Sales (e.g., staffing, logistics/delivery contractor networks, or franchise development).