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Head of Talent

Build and own the full recruiting function from scratch at a fast-growing AI startup. Partner with founders and Finance on hiring strategy while executing full-cycle recruiting for engineering, product, AI, and GTM roles.

170k – 200kNew York, NYPeople OpsHybrid6+ YOE

About the role

What You’ll Do

  • Own full-cycle recruiting across functions, with an emphasis on engineering, product, AI, deployment, and GTM roles.
  • Build the recruiting engine from the ground up: sourcing strategy, pipeline architecture, interview process, scorecards, candidate experience, offer process, and close strategy.
  • Partner with leadership and Finance on headcount planning, role prioritization, comp bands, recruiting budget, and agency ROI.
  • Bring a sales mindset to candidate engagement, including outbound messaging, narrative-building, objection handling, and close strategy.
  • Build strong pipelines in competitive talent markets, especially NYC and SF engineering, AI, product, and GTM ecosystems.
  • Create lightweight but rigorous recruiting systems, including ATS hygiene, reporting, funnel metrics, source quality, and hiring manager accountability.
  • Act as a talent brand ambassador for F2, helping candidates understand the size of the opportunity, the quality of the team, and the urgency of the market.
  • Help the company scale thoughtfully across New York, San Francisco, and London while keeping talent density high.

You Might Be a Great Fit If

  • You have 6+ years of recruiting experience, including meaningful time in an early-stage or high-growth startup environment.
  • You have built a hiring function or recruiting engine from scratch, not just operated inside an established recruiting machine.
  • You have hired across technical and go-to-market roles, ideally including software engineering, product, AI, sales, and customer-facing roles.
  • You understand what it takes to recruit in low-brand-leverage environments where candidate selling, precision, persistence, and market mapping matter.
  • You are fluent in the NYC and SF talent markets and understand how competitive engineering and AI recruiting have become.
  • You are highly commercial: you can build a candidate narrative, sell the company, navigate objections, and close top talent.
  • You are analytical and comfortable with headcount plans, recruiting funnels, comp calibration, and basic recruiting finance.
  • You move quickly, operate with precision, and thrive in ambiguity.
  • You are energized by AI, private markets, and the chance to help build a category-defining company.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience scaling a startup from pre-seed, seed, or Series A through a major growth phase.
  • Experience hiring for AI, fintech, B2B SaaS, infrastructure, or vertical software companies.
  • Strong track record recruiting in both New York and San Francisco talent markets.
  • Experience partnering with founders, Finance, and senior leadership on headcount planning.
  • Familiarity with Ashby or similar modern ATS platforms, plus comfort building recruiting dashboards and pipeline reporting.

Skills

Full-Cycle RecruitingTalent Acquisition StrategySourcingPipeline DevelopmentInterview Process DesignATSAshbyHeadcount PlanningCompensation CalibrationTalent BrandingOffer Negotiation

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