Founding Recruiter

AI overview

As the Founding Recruiter, you'll play a critical role in defining the company culture and scaling the team from 5 to over 15 hires through innovative recruiting processes and AI tools.

Founding Recruiter (Early-Stage AI Startup)

Location: Remote / Hybrid
Stage: Seed–Series A
Team Size Today: ~5 → Target: 15+
Focus: Product & Technical Hiring

We’re building an AI-native company transforming technology for state and local governments—and we’re looking for a Founding Recruiter to help scale the team from the ground up.

This is not a “post jobs and screen resumes” role. You’ll be a core operator, working directly with the founder, owning hiring end-to-end, and shaping how recruiting and people operations work as we grow.

If you thrive in early chaos, move fast without a playbook, and want real ownership—keep reading.

What You’ll Do

  • Own full-cycle recruiting end-to-end: sourcing, outreach, screening, interviews, offers, and closing

  • Partner directly with the founder to scale the team from ~5 to 15+ hires

  • Lead hiring for key early roles, starting with a Forward-Deployed Product Manager

  • Design and iterate on lean, high-signal recruiting processes (no bloated bureaucracy)

  • Leverage modern AI tools (e.g., Claude, AI sourcing tools, automation) to move faster and smarter

  • Gradually take on people ops responsibilities as the company grows (e.g., contractor management, onboarding basics)

Requirements

What We’re Looking For

Experience

  • 4+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience

  • Background in:

    • Early-stage tech startups (Seed–Series C) or

    • High-performing recruiting agencies working with startups

  • Proven experience hiring product and/or technical roles

  • Demonstrated success scaling teams (e.g., from ~5 to 15+)

Education

  • Bachelor’s degree required

Must-Have Traits

  • Builder mindset—you like starting from zero and iterating

  • Comfortable operating with ambiguity and speed

  • Strong judgment on talent, not just keyword matching

  • Genuinely curious about AI tooling and willing to use it daily

  • High ownership: you don’t wait to be told what to fix

Not a Fit If You…

  • Have only worked at large companies (FAANG-style environments)

  • Need heavy structure, brand recognition, or established processes

  • Prefer maintaining systems over building them

Why This Role Matters

  • You’ll help define the company’s DNA through the people you hire

  • You’ll work directly with the founder, not through layers

  • You’ll have real influence on tooling, process, and strategy

  • This is a true ground-floor opportunity with growth into Head of Talent / People Ops

Equal Employment Opportunity

TopTechTalent.ai believes that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunities. TopTechTalent.ai recruits, hires, trains, promotes, disciplines and provides other conditions of employment without regard to a person's race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, marital status or other classifications protected under law or Company policy. This includes providing reasonable accommodation for team members' disabilities or religious beliefs and practices.

The government requires TopTechTalent.ai to maintain information on those who seek employment with the company, including their race and sex. Accordingly, to help us comply with this requirement, we encourage you to provide us with the following self-identification information. However, submission of this information is voluntary and refusal to provide it will not affect your opportunity for employment or terms and conditions of employment, if hired. If you do submit this information, it will be kept confidential and will be used in the compilation of data for reporting requirements.

🚫 Third-party recruiters, please do not reach out for this role.

Salary
$100,000 – $160,000 per year
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