Director, Driver Engagement & Recruiting

Do you have a track record of success in driver recruitment and a passion for leading high-performing recruitment teams?

Roadrunner is seeking a bold, results-driven Director of Driver Recruiting to join our award-winning freight network and help redefine what smart logistics looks like. This is a highly visible leadership role responsible for scaling capacity, strengthening our contractor value proposition, and building a best-in-class driver acquisition engine.

The Director of Driver Recruiting is responsible for leading the strategy, execution, and performance of Roadrunner's national driver owner operators hiring programs across multiple markets for linehaul teams, linehaul solos and local pick-up and delivery drivers.

This role oversees driver recruitment initiatives, manages a recruiting team of 6 recruiters, and develops innovative sourcing strategies to attract qualified owner-operators for both local and linehaul.

The Director partners closely with Operations, Safety, Marketing, and Executive Leadership to ensure driver hiring aligns with business growth objectives while improving recruiting efficiency, driver quality, and retention outcomes.

This leader owns the full driver acquisition strategy, including recruiting funnel performance, cost-per-hire optimization, and 30/60/90-day retention alignment.

The role directly impacts fleet growth, revenue expansion, and network density strategy.

What you'll do

1. Lead & Manage the Team

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of driver recruiters across multiple locations and remote environments.
• Establish performance expectations, hiring targets, and accountability standards for recruiting staff.
• Build a high-performance recruiting culture focused on results, responsiveness, and candidate experience.
• Design incentive structures and performance scorecards tied to seat count, quality, and early-stage retention.
• Develop leadership bench strength within the recruiting organization.

2. Fleet Growth & Planning

• Develop and execute driver recruiting strategies to meet fleet growth and capacity demands.
• Forecast hiring needs based on operational expansion, turnover trends, and market conditions.
• Create scalable recruiting pipelines for Local and Linehaul owner operators
• Partner with Finance and Operations to model capacity demand and build predictive hiring plans aligned with revenue goals.
• Own driver acquisition performance against annual fleet growth targets.

3. Recruiting Operations

• Optimize recruiting workflows, processes, and technologies to improve hiring speed and effectiveness.

• Monitor and manage recruiting KPIs including:

• Cost per hire

• Time to fill

• Lead-to-hire conversion

• Recruiter productivity

• Driver retention metrics

• Cost per lead (CPL), cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on advertising spend (ROAS)

• Implement continuous improvement initiatives to increase recruiting efficiency.

• Build and manage a full-funnel recruiting analytics dashboard to track sourcing performance, drop-off points, and conversion optimization opportunities.

• Implement lead scoring and automated candidate engagement strategies to increase recruiter efficiency.

4. Marketing Campaigns Contribution

• Oversee driver lead generation strategies including job boards, digital advertising, referrals, social media, and third-party vendors.
• Partner with marketing team to develop targeted driver advertising campaigns.
• Evaluate sourcing channel performance and allocate recruiting spend for maximum ROI.
• Collaborate on driver value proposition messaging, contractor earnings positioning, and competitive market differentiation.
• Develop and scale structured driver referral programs to reduce acquisition cost and increase retention.

5. Technology & Vendor Management

• Manage recruiting platforms, applicant tracking systems (ATS), CRM tools, and advertising vendors.
• Identify and implement new technologies that enhance candidate engagement and recruiter productivity.
• Maintain strong relationships with recruiting partners and external vendors.
• Evaluate and optimize third-party lead providers to ensure quality, compliance, and cost efficiency.

6. Compliance & Qualification Standards

• Ensure recruiting processes align with FMCSA regulations, DOT requirements, Clearinghouse compliance, PSP/MVR review standards, and insurance qualification criteria.
• Partner with Safety and Risk teams to maintain strict adherence to contractor onboarding requirements and documentation standards.

7. Cross-functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Operations and Safety leadership to understand hiring requirements and driver qualifications.
• Align recruiting initiatives with onboarding, orientation, and retention programs.
• Provide executive leadership with regular reporting on hiring performance and labor market trends.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to executive leadership on labor market dynamics, contractor compensation competitiveness, and capacity risk mitigation.

What you bring

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, business administration, marketing, or related field preferred.
• 5-8+ years of experience in driver recruiting or transportation talent acquisition, including leadership experience.
• Proven success managing high-volume recruiting operations.
• Strong knowledge of DOT regulations awareness, and transportation industry hiring practices.
• Experience leading remote or multi-site recruiting teams.
• Advanced analytical and performance management skills.
• Demonstrated experience recruiting 1099 owner-operators in both linehaul and local environments.
• Hands-on experience with recruiting analytics, funnel optimization, and digital performance marketing metrics.
• Experience managing recruiting budgets and vendor contracts preferred.
• Proven ability to improve early-stage driver retention through cross-functional alignment.

How you operate

• Strategic leadership
• Data-driven decision making
• High-volume recruiting expertise
• Vendor and budget management
• Process optimization
• Relationship management
• Capacity planning and workforce forecasting
• Recruiting funnel architecture and performance analytics
• Executive-level communication and influence
• Change management

About Roadrunner

We're not just moving freight; we're reimagining long-haul shipping. Our Smart Network offers more direct long-haul metro-to-metro routes than any other nationwide LTL carrier in the United States, with service extending into Canada and Mexico and terminals across 40+ metro markets. Powered by AI and machine learning, our operations platform ensures real-time tracking, custodial control, and full shipment visibility. With driver teams executing over-the-road (OTR) moves - and no freight moving on rail - customers experience industry-leading transit times, minimal rehandling, and dramatically reduced risk of loss or damage.

Our 900+ owner-operators benefit from scheduled freight, fewer touches by design, consistent long-haul density, and a differentiated metro-to-metro model that creates predictable earning opportunities.

This precision and performance have earned Roadrunner national recognition by over 3,000 shippers, and was ranked this year #1 in Operations, #1 in Technology, and #1 in Value in the Quest for Quality Awards, as well as honors as a Top 100 Trucking Company by Inbound Logistics and a Top Tier Service Carrier by Mastio.

We're growing fast. Roadrunner is building something special with great people, a winning culture and a differentiated service offering in the marketplace. Join us today to grow your career!

We Run Safe. We Run Smart. We Run Together.

Compensation & Setup

• Pay: $100,000 - $130,000 base salary
• Location: Onsite - Downers Grove, IL
• Benefits: Full benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and paid time off

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Demands

• Moderate physical activity performing non-strenuous daily activities of an administrative nature.
• While performing the duties of the job, the employee is regularly required to sit, reach/handle items, work with the fingers, and talk and hear others in conversations via the phone or in person.

Work Environment

• The noise level is moderate based on general conversation tones, ringing phones and laser printer operation.
• Work in well-lighted, heated and/or air-conditioned indoor office setting with adequate ventilation.
• Possible 25% traveling to learn new OpCo's, train or recruit at truck stops, job fairs, or trade shows.
• The above statements reflect the general details necessary to describe the principal functions of the position and are not intended to be all inclusive. The position and any of the requirements listed above are subject to change at any time according to the changing needs of the company.
• Roadrunner is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind.
• We will not accept unsolicited candidates from external recruiters or recruiting agencies. Thank you!

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