Founding Recruiter

Founding Recruiter / Founding Talent Partner – AI/Startup, SF (in‑office)

This is a rare opportunity to be the first recruiter in a high‑growth AI startup, building the recruiting function from scratch and owning how the company scales. You’ll take full ownership of hiring across engineering and product operations, from first outreach through to offer, working directly with founders and senior technical leaders in their SF HQ.

You’ll spend your time:

• Building and running a repeatable recruiting engine across engineering and product ops
• Sourcing and closing world‑class AI/ML, research and deeply technical talent
• Jumping between outbound sourcing, screens, onsite loops, and closing conversations
• Designing and hosting meetups/recruiting events to keep the pipeline talent‑dense
• Experimenting with AI tools (Claude, Cursor, etc.) to supercharge your own workflow

You’ll be a great fit if you:

• Have 3\+ years of technical recruiting experience (agency and in-house works)
• Know the AI/ML/research talent market and where top people actually spend their time
• Are happy in‑person in San Francisco (this is an SF‑based, high‑collaboration role)
• Thrive in ambiguity, move fast without sacrificing quality, and love building from zero
• Bonus: You’ve been a founding/first recruiter before, or hosted your own recruiting events
• Bonus: You’re already using AI tools to work smarter, not just harder

Compensation: base in the region of $150k – $180k plus equity, depending on experience and impact.