Samantha Portillo

About

Talent Acquisition/Recruiting Operations leader who has repeatedly built and rebuilt TA infrastructure—writing end-to-end processes, migrating ATSs to Lever, and integrating with HRIS/background check systems. Has managed teams up to 30 (indirect) and delivered measurable outcomes, including doubling headcount in a year by standardizing and streamlining interview workflows while training technical hiring managers on best practices.

Experience

Key Strengths

• Led recruiting operations teams at scale (30 indirect reports; later 5 direct reports)
• Built recruiting operations from scratch as first TA hire (process + Lever implementation)
• Overhauled undocumented/inefficient TA ops and implemented ATS + integrations (Lever, background check, HRIS) with 2 direct reports
• Streamlined interview process from 5 steps to 3 steps with final-step assessment to reduce candidate drop-off
• Doubled company headcount in first year through standardized, efficient hiring workflow
• Created monthly executive reporting for CFO (candidate flow by location, 12-month running totals, sourcing/hire analytics, recruiter conversion rates, turnover)

Reference Highlights

• Goes above and beyond in leading and developing teams
• Results-driven
• Provides tools, resources, education, and training to the team
• Keeps team aligned with weekly metrics and clear benchmarks
• Proactive in learning tools before rollout
• Thorough implementation approach to avoid bugs/issues
• Creates training guides and ensures adoption across recruiters and ops support
• Strong process improver
• Collaborative with hiring managers and stakeholders to align goals/metrics
• Focuses on strong candidate experience within interview workflows
• Effective at scaling processes for future growth (next quarter/year planning)
• Balances numbers and empathy in decision-making
• Communicates with executives frequently and prepares researched options
• Thoughtful and data-informed budgeting/resource allocation
• Strong vendor relationship management and transparency with management
• Strong leader
• Balances individual contribution with managing others
• Responsive and supportive (quick to jump on calls)
• Effective at guiding teams through difficult hiring situations
• Teaches and develops others' skills
• Creates solutions in challenging contexts
• Advocates for Talent Acquisition
• Builds recruiting processes from scratch
• Drives decisions with data and regular reporting
• Takes ownership of tools and implementations