Talent Lead - NYC

I am recruiting for an AI company building a teammate that works inside the tools teams already use, connects across their entire stack, and handles real work across finance, marketing, operations, and engineering. The goal is to replace half of a company SaaS stack with a single coworker. They are backed by prominent investors and operate as a small, high-trust team where decisions are made by owners, not committees.

Head of Talent / Talent Lead

New York, NY

• On-site
• $120k–$300k + meaningful equity

The role

You will own talent end-to-end across two fast-growing AI companies. This is not a role where you manage a team of recruiters and sit in meetings all day. You will source, screen, and close top-tier talent yourself while building the hiring system that lets the organization grow from 20 to 100 people without lowering the bar. Every hire goes through you. You work directly with the founders.

You will run full-cycle hiring for engineering, go-to-market, and operations roles across New York, Warsaw, and Munich. Outbound sourcing is the default. Inbound is a bonus. You will build target lists, write outreach that gets replies, and run your own pipeline from first contact to signed offer.

You will design the hiring system from scratch. That means AI workflows, scorecards, interview loops, calibration sessions, ATS setup, referral programs, and employer brand. You will close candidates yourself, negotiate offers, and sell the mission, the product, the equity, and the team. You will partner with founders on org design: who to hire next, when, and why. You will own talent metrics including time-to-hire, source quality, offer acceptance rate, and retention at six months.

What You Need

• Based in New York City and able to work on-site with the founders. Hiring is a contact sport and the best calibration happens in person, not over video calls.
• Experience setting up a hiring function from scratch or near-scratch. You have built systems, not just operated inside ones that already existed.
• Proven ability to hire across engineering, go-to-market, and operations. You can assess a software engineer and a sales lead with equal rigor.
• Hands-on experience with AI workflows, scorecards, structured interview loops, and ATS setup. You know how to use modern tools to move faster without sacrificing quality.
• High taste for talent and the ability to recognize exceptional performers. You can spot the difference between a good résumé and a person who will actually ship.
• Comfort sourcing proactively and owning your own pipeline. You do not wait for applicants to come to you.
• Experience negotiating offers and selling candidates on roles where the cash compensation may not be the highest in the market.

How You Will Know You Are Succeeding

• Founders trust your shortlists without re-screening.
• The people you hired are still with the company and still shipping work 12 months later.
• The hiring system runs effectively even when you are not in every loop, though you still are because you want to be.
• The company is hiring faster than competitors and losing fewer candidates at the offer stage.

What You Get

• $120,000 to $300,000 annually, plus meaningful equity. The equity matters here.
• A seat at the table with founders on org design and company direction.
• The chance to build the talent function for two AI companies that are actively changing how teams operate.
• High ownership, minimal bureaucracy, and decisions made by the people doing the work
• The expectation that you will run your first search in week one. No three-month onboarding theater.

No "people partner" language. No "culture carrier" buzzwords. No "strategic talent visionary" titles. This is a high-ownership recruiting role for someone who loves finding exceptional people, building systems that scale, and closing hard candidates in a competitive market.

If that is you, apply with a short note on the hardest role you have closed and the system you built that made it repeatable.