What are the responsibilities and job description for the Founding Head of Talent position at C&D Talent Advisory - Academy?
About The Hiring Process
When you apply, our AI-powered matching platform considers you not only for this opportunity, but also for other relevant roles across our network, one application can unlock multiple career opportunities.
We only work with real companies hiring for live positions. Every opportunity on our platform is an active search. If there's a strong match, we'll guide you through the process; if not, we won't ignore you.
About The Company
Our client is building an AI-native coworker that works across the tools businesses already use, automating work across finance, operations, engineering, and go-to-market teams through autonomous AI agents.
Backed by rapid growth and ambitious founders, they're building one of the most exciting AI companies in Europe and the US, with teams across New York, Munich, and Warsaw.
We're looking for a Founding Head of Talent to build and own the entire hiring function from the ground up.
This is not a traditional recruiting leadership role. You won't inherit recruiters or existing processes, you'll personally source, assess, and close exceptional talent while designing the hiring systems that will scale the company from around 20 people to more than 100.
You'll work directly alongside the founders and become the person responsible for maintaining an exceptionally high hiring bar across every function.
What You'll Do
When you apply, our AI-powered matching platform considers you not only for this opportunity, but also for other relevant roles across our network, one application can unlock multiple career opportunities.
We only work with real companies hiring for live positions. Every opportunity on our platform is an active search. If there's a strong match, we'll guide you through the process; if not, we won't ignore you.
About The Company
Our client is building an AI-native coworker that works across the tools businesses already use, automating work across finance, operations, engineering, and go-to-market teams through autonomous AI agents.
Backed by rapid growth and ambitious founders, they're building one of the most exciting AI companies in Europe and the US, with teams across New York, Munich, and Warsaw.
- Location: New York, NY (On-site)
- Employment Type: Full-time
- Level: Senior Level
- Compensation: Competitive salary meaningful equity
- Work Authorization: Required for USA
We're looking for a Founding Head of Talent to build and own the entire hiring function from the ground up.
This is not a traditional recruiting leadership role. You won't inherit recruiters or existing processes, you'll personally source, assess, and close exceptional talent while designing the hiring systems that will scale the company from around 20 people to more than 100.
You'll work directly alongside the founders and become the person responsible for maintaining an exceptionally high hiring bar across every function.
What You'll Do
- Own full-cycle hiring across Engineering, GTM, Operations, and Corporate functions
- Build proactive outbound sourcing strategies and talent pipelines
- Design and optimize ATS, interview processes, scorecards, hiring workflows, and AI-powered recruiting systems
- Partner directly with founders on organizational design and hiring priorities
- Lead offer negotiations and close exceptional candidates
- Build employer branding, referral programs, and scalable hiring infrastructure
- Own hiring metrics including quality of hire, time-to-hire, offer acceptance, and retention
- Continuously improve recruiting processes using AI and automation
- Experience building a talent or recruiting function from scratch
- Proven success hiring technical, GTM, and operational talent
- Strong outbound sourcing and executive-level recruiting capabilities
- Experience designing ATS workflows, interview loops, scorecards, and hiring processes
- Exceptional candidate assessment and closing skills
- Experience partnering directly with founders or executive leadership
- High ownership mindset with a bias toward execution
- Based in New York City and able to work on-site full-time
- Existing authorization to work in the United States
- Experience recruiting within AI, Machine Learning, or high-growth SaaS startups
- International hiring experience across Europe and the US
- Experience using AI throughout recruiting workflows
- Employer branding and talent marketing experience
- Organizational design and workforce planning experience
- Competitive compensation
- Meaningful early-stage equity
- Direct partnership with founders
- Opportunity to build an entire talent function from day one
- High ownership and rapid career growth
- Fast-paced, AI-first startup environment
- Small team with significant impact