Founding Talent Lead

Location: San Francisco, CA

Work Model: Onsite (5 days per week)

Industry: AI for insurance and claims

Compensation: $100K-$140K base, plus equity and benefits (higher for very senior candidates)

About the Company

Our partner is a hyper-growth AI startup in insurance and claims, growing roughly 50% month over month and at multi seven-figure ARR within its first year. Hiring is now one of the primary constraints on how fast the company can move.

The Opportunity

This is a build role, not a coordinate role. There is no recruiting function to inherit: you would create it, owning recruiting company-wide and reporting directly to the chief executive on who the company hires and how it wins them. That includes the hunting, the closing, and the infrastructure underneath both.

The company competes for people who have other offers, so the work is closer to selling than to processing. The person who does well here is the one who can find someone who was not looking, form a fast and accurate judgment about them, and then actually close them. Visa sponsorship is available.

Responsibilities

• Build the recruiting function from the ground up, including process, tooling, and standards
• Partner directly with the chief executive on hiring priorities and candidate decisions
• Source proactively and creatively rather than relying on inbound flow
• Close high-quality candidates against competing offers
• Build scalable recruiting systems, including ATS setup, pipelines, and automations
• Keep hiring quality high as volume grows

Requirements

• Proven ability to close talented people against real competition, whether in recruiting, sales, or another high-stakes persuasion role
• Strong judgment for identifying top-tier talent quickly
• Real experience with proactive sourcing and creative candidate hunting beyond inbound
• Systems thinking, with the ability to build scalable infrastructure and process
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco, and willing to work in person five days per week
• Bonus: high-growth startup recruiting, engineering or GTM recruiting, Ashby experience, or a consulting, banking, or operating background