Founding Recruiter

Remote (United States)

Job Details

Location: United States

Workplace: Remote

Employment Type: Full-time

Experience: 5+ years in in-house or agency recruiting

Core Areas: Technical Recruiting, Talent Sourcing, Passive Candidate Outreach, Full-Cycle Recruiting, AI-Powered Recruiting, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Recruiting Funnel Analytics, Hiring Manager Partnership

Compensation: $180,000–$220,000 annually, plus equity and performance bonus

About the Role

This opportunity is for an experienced Founding Recruiter to lead talent sourcing, candidate engagement, and recruiting operations across engineering, product, sales, customer success, and additional business functions as hiring needs evolve. As the first dedicated recruiter, this individual will independently manage multiple searches, identify and engage high-quality candidates, conduct initial screening, and connect qualified talent with hiring managers. The primary performance focus is converting passive candidate outreach into first conversations, while hiring managers retain responsibility for closing candidates.

The position combines hands-on technical and non-technical recruiting with ownership of the recruiting technology stack. Responsibilities include selecting and implementing an applicant tracking system, building AI-native sourcing workflows, optimizing outreach strategies, and measuring recruiting funnel performance. Engineering and product recruiting are immediate priorities, alongside sales and customer success hiring. Success requires strong technical recruiting judgment, independent execution, and demonstrated effectiveness engaging experienced passive candidates.

What You'll Do

• Source and engage passive candidates across software engineering, product management, sales, customer success, and other business functions, including operations, finance, and support as hiring needs develop.
• Develop highly personalized candidate outreach strategies that generate responses and convert qualified prospects into initial conversations with hiring managers.
• Research talent markets, identify relevant candidate profiles, and build targeted sourcing lists efficiently using AI-powered recruiting tools, including Juicebox, Metaview, and other sourcing technologies.
• Prioritize candidate engagement and outreach conversion over sourcing volume, applying thoughtful follow-up strategies rather than relying solely on automated sequences.
• Conduct initial candidate screening, evaluate qualifications and role alignment, and maintain a high-quality recruiting pipeline before advancing candidates to hiring managers.
• Partner directly with hiring managers to conduct role intake meetings, clarify hiring requirements, calibrate candidate profiles, and maintain alignment throughout the recruitment process.
• Manage multiple concurrent searches across technical and non-technical positions, prioritizing recruiting activity according to immediate hiring needs.
• Own the selection, implementation, configuration, and ongoing administration of the applicant tracking system (ATS), including potential adoption or migration to platforms such as Ashby, Greenhouse, or AI-native alternatives.
• Select and manage recruiting technologies for candidate sourcing, enrichment, research, outreach sequencing, scheduling, and recruiting workflow management.
• Build AI-native recruiting processes that automate market mapping, candidate research, sourcing list development, outreach drafting, note synthesis, and administrative tasks.
• Work with engineering resources when needed to develop or improve recruiting automation tools and workflows.
• Maintain accurate ATS records, implement practical candidate scorecards where useful, and establish efficient hiring workflows that support a timely, clear, and respectful candidate experience.
• Monitor and analyze recruiting performance, including outreach response rates, outreach-to-first-call conversion, screening-to-onsite progression, offer and acceptance rates, time in stage, and candidate source quality.
• Use recruiting funnel analytics to identify ineffective sourcing channels, refine outreach strategies, and continuously improve candidate conversion and hiring efficiency.
• Exercise independent judgment when evaluating candidate quality, challenging unclear hiring requirements, and improving recruiting processes without unnecessary administrative complexity.

Qualifications

Required Experience

• At least 5 years of professional recruiting experience in an in-house talent acquisition function or recruiting agency.
• Demonstrated success personally sourcing candidates for engineering, product management, and go-to-market positions who progressed to job offers.
• Proven experience managing full-cycle recruiting searches independently across technical and non-technical roles without extensive recruiting team support.
• Documented success engaging passive senior-level candidates through cold outreach, including measurable response rates and outreach-to-first-call conversion performance.
• Experience selecting, configuring, and independently managing recruiting tools and systems.
• Practical experience using AI-powered tools in daily recruiting activities, including talent market research, outreach development, note synthesis, and recruiting operations.

Required Skills

• Strong technical recruiting knowledge, including the ability to discuss engineering positions with hiring managers, assess technical candidate profiles, and distinguish demonstrated engineering capabilities from resume keywords.
• Advanced passive candidate sourcing and outreach skills, including personalized messaging, targeted follow-up, and the ability to generate meaningful conversations with experienced professionals.
• Proficiency in candidate sourcing and list-building methods, including AI-powered sourcing platforms such as Juicebox and Metaview and Boolean search techniques.
• Ability to manage independent recruiting searches from sourcing and screening through hiring manager coordination and subsequent recruiting stages.
• Working knowledge of applicant tracking systems, recruiting workflow design, candidate pipeline management, and ATS data maintenance.
• Ability to select and implement AI-enabled recruiting technologies for market mapping, sourcing, enrichment, outreach sequencing, research, and workflow automation.
• Strong recruiting analytics skills, including measuring candidate response rates, outreach conversion, funnel progression, time in stage, and sourcing effectiveness.
• Ability to conduct hiring manager intake meetings, calibrate candidate requirements, evaluate candidate quality, and provide informed recommendations on recruiting priorities.
• Independent decision-making, sound candidate assessment judgment, and the ability to execute recruiting initiatives without established processes or extensive supervision.
• Ability to prioritize multiple simultaneous recruiting searches and adjust sourcing activities according to changing hiring requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience as the first or sole recruiter at a seed-stage through Series B company during a period of increased hiring.
• Experience implementing an applicant tracking system from scratch or managing an ATS migration.
• An established professional network within software engineering, artificial intelligence, or related technical talent communities.
• Experience recruiting across engineering, product management, and go-to-market functions during the same hiring period.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Unlimited paid time off (PTO).
• Monthly wellness stipend.
• Laptop and work equipment of choice.
• Team onsite gatherings.
• Access to a pre-approved recruiting technology budget without a traditional procurement approval process.