Founding Recruiter
$150k - $220kLumova Talent
Job Description
Job Description
Founding Recruiter
Build the team before the recruiting playbook exists.
Lumova Talent is connecting with exceptional recruiters interested in founding and early stage opportunities with high growth startups across the San Francisco Bay Area.
These aren't roles built around managing inbound applications. You may be the first recruiter in the company, working directly with founders to identify who needs to be hired, find talent that isn't actively looking, build the company's story in the market, and create the recruiting engine from the ground up.
What you could own
- Full cycle recruiting across Engineering, Product, GTM, and other critical startup functions
- Proactive sourcing of senior, staff, and other hard to find technical talent
- Talent mapping, market intelligence, compensation insight, and hiring strategy for founders
- Translating company growth plans into clear hiring priorities and search strategies
- Building the employer value proposition and compelling passive candidates to take a conversation
- Creating interview processes, recruiting systems, metrics, and candidate experience from the ground up
- Closing candidates in competitive situations involving compensation, equity, and competing offers
Who tends to thrive in these roles
- 3+ years of full cycle technical recruiting experience , with meaningful ownership of engineering searches
- Direct experience in a high growth technology company, startup, or similarly demanding recruiting environment
- Proven success sourcing and closing senior or difficult to find technical talent
- Experience recruiting beyond Engineering, ideally across Product, GTM, or other startup functions
- Experience advising founders, executives, or senior leaders on talent strategy and hiring decisions
- Evidence that you have built or materially improved recruiting processes, sourcing programs, interview structure, or recruiting infrastructure
- Strong understanding of technical talent and the ability to credibly assess profiles before handing them to a hiring manager
- A proactive, high ownership approach. You build pipeline rather than wait for applicants
We're looking for experienced technical recruiters who have already demonstrated the sourcing depth, judgment, pace, and ownership needed to operate as an early talent partner.
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, with many opportunities onsite or hybrid
Compensation: $150K–$220K base + equity
This is an ongoing Lumova Talent network for current and future founding and early stage recruiting opportunities.
Vacancy posted 4 days ago
Similar jobs that could be interesting for youBased on the Founding Recruiter in San Francisco, CA vacancy
- ...to the physical economy, where the problems are hard, the data is complex, and the impact is immediate and tangible. Our Founding Recruiter will build the team that builds the LLM for the physical world. This is a hands-on role where you’ll hire exceptional engineers...SuggestedFull timeImmediate start
S.e. Specter
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago $140k - $200k
...’re tackling are difficult, and every person we hire will shape the future of Quanta. The Role We're looking for our founding recruiter to build one of the most important functions at Quanta. This isn't a recruiting role where you'll inherit mature processes...SuggestedFull timeWork at officeImmediate startQuanta
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago$135k - $200k
...Founding Recruiter ( In-House) Location: San Francisco (in-person, in-office, full-time ONLY) Compensation: $135K-$200K base + $25K-$50K cash bonus About Virio Virio is building the next-generation B2B GTM stack. Backed by investors and operators from...SuggestedFull timeWork at officeRelocation packageVirio
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago- ...become a unicorn next year by serving thousands of customers. Founded by Steijn Pelle (repeat founder, helped Robinhood and... ...to do it again. About the role We’re hiring a Founding Recruiter to build our entire talent acquisition function. This person will...SuggestedFull time
Lassie
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - ...Founding Recruiter About Us At FurtherAI, we are building next-generation AI agents for the insurance industry, a trillion-dollar sector ripe for change. Backed by over $30M from leading investors (Andreessen Horowitz, YC, Nexus, South Park Commons, Converge) and...SuggestedFull timeWork at office
Further AI
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago $150k - $225k
...company transforming how modern software companies go to market. Founded in 2022 and backed by $28M from leading venture firms , the... ...is growing quickly and is looking for its first Founding Recruiter to build recruiting from the ground up. About the Role As...Full timeWork at officeThomas Talent Network
San Francisco, CAa month ago- ...Description Our client, an AI company redefining how insurance operates , is seeking a Founding Recruiter to build and scale their talent engine from the ground up. This is a rare opportunity to own end-to-end recruiting across technical and go-to-market roles...Full time
Coastal Wave Recruiting
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - ...Healthcare AI startup, and currently looking for a first hire in recruiting! Who Are We We are a small team obsessed with deep... ...best care experience in healthcare with a 30-year horizon. The founding team brings deep expertise across medicine, product, operations...Full time
Stealth Hc
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - ...wait to be prompted: it observes, learns, and acts. Town was founded by Jean-Denis Greze (CEO), former CTO of Plaid, and Tony... ...next is the person who builds the team behind the revenue: the recruiter who helps us hire our sales, marketing, and operations org from...Full timeWork at office
Town.com, Inc.
San Francisco, CA25 days ago - ...hire — and we're looking for someone to help us hire the best people to do it. We're looking for an experienced, high-powered Founding GTM Recruiter who lives and breathes talent and is an expert working with early stage and high growth startups. You'll primarily be...Full timeInterim role
Paraform
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - ...The Role We're looking for a Founding GTM Recruiter to own hiring across sales, marketing, customer success, and business operations as we scale our GTM engine. You will partner closely with our founders to build the team selling into the world's top investment firms...Full timeWork at officeFlexible hours
Rowspace
San Francisco, CAa month ago - ...San Francisco | Work Directly with CEO & Founding Team | Report to CEO | OpenAI for Physics | 5 Days Onsite Founding GTM and Business Recruiter Location: Onsite in San Francisco Compensation: Competitive Salary + Equity Who We Are UniversalAGI is building...Full timeWork at officeFlexible hoursWeekend workAfternoon shift1 day per week
UniversalAGI
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago $150k - $200k
...0/yr Role Overview Intalex is partnered with a well‑funded AI healthtech SaaS startup in San Francisco that is looking for a Founding Recruiter to build their talent function from the ground up. Responsibilities Post–Series A AI / SaaS startup focused on automating critical...Full timeFlexible hoursIntalex
San Francisco, CA4 days ago- ...from finding better solutions others haven't seen. The Role Startups win by having great people. We're looking for a Founding Recruiter who'll lead all things recruiting. Not someone who just fills positions, but someone who thinks about what kind of team we need...Full timeWork at office
Short Story
San Francisco, CA3 days ago - ...the physical economy, where the problems are hard, the data is complex, and the impact is immediate and tangible. Our Founding Technical Recruiter will build the team that builds the AI revenue engine. This role combines strategic talent acquisition with hands-on...Full timeImmediate startSleeping nights
Netic
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - ...and Page One. The Role We're hiring our first dedicated recruiter. Nearly every open role at Stuut today is technical—AI/ML, voice... ...design—and the pace of hiring is only accelerating. As our Founding Technical Recruiter, you'll own the full recruiting lifecycle...Full timeWork at officeFlexible hours
Stuut
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - ...About the Role We’re looking for a founding Technical Recruiter to build and own our technical hiring function, both for our internal team and for our partner companies through Builders, a talent platform of Pensive. In this role, you’ll work directly with the founders...Full timeShift work
Pensive
San Francisco, CAa month ago - ...wait to be prompted: it observes, learns, and acts. Town was founded by Jean-Denis Greze (CEO), former CTO of Plaid, and Tony... ...deliberately, uncomfortably high. We're hiring our founding technical recruiter to own how Town finds, engages, and closes the engineers who...Full timeWork at office
Town.com, Inc.
San Francisco, CA25 days ago - ...Senior Technical Recruiter — Navigate AI Why Navigate At Navigate, we’re building the AI copilot for the physical world—bringing... ...—we’d love to work with you. Role Overview As the founding recruiter, you’ll play a foundational role in building Navigate...Full timeImmediate start
Navigate Ai
San Francisco, CAa month ago - ...Backed by a16z, BCV, General Catalyst, Y Combinator ~90+ employees ~ Office in San Francisco The Role As a founding technical recruiting hire, you'll play a mission-critical role in shaping our hiring strategy and scaling our technical and engineering teams...Full timeWork at office
Pylon
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago $110k - $145k
...Who is Recruiting from Scratch : Recruiting from Scratch is a premier talent firm that focuses on placing the best product managers... ...with teams across the United States to help them hire. Founding Recruiter & People Ops Associate Location - San...Full timeWork at officeRemote workVisa sponsorshipRelocation packageRecruiting From Scratch
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago$160k - $200k
...we're just getting started. Why This Role Exists The team we build right now will define Roger's trajectory. We need a Founding Recruiter who takes full ownership of how we find, attract, and close the exceptional talent that will accelerate this mission. This...Roger Healthcare
San Francisco, CAa month ago- Paraform is seeking an experienced Founding GTM Recruiter in San Francisco to help hire the best talent for our rapidly growing team. In this role, you'll own the entire recruiting process, from sourcing to closing candidates across various functions. The ideal candidate...
- ...day. Our team is small, flat, and ambitious. We value craft, intellectual rigor, and direct communication. About the role As Founding Recruiter, you'll help build the team that builds Lassie. You'll own recruiting end to end: finding exceptional talent, creating an...Work at office
- Own recruiting at Natural. You will build the hiring engine from scratch, source and close exceptional people across every function, and... ...that is building the first bank designed for agents. As a Founding Recruiter , you will work closest with: Kahlil is a second-time...
$145k - $185k
...Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and top AI CEOs. The Role This is a rare chance to build the talent function at CAIS from scratch. As our Founding Recruiter, you'll be the driving force behind who joins CAIS, running the full arc from first outreach to signed offer across research,...Full timeWork at officeLocal area- Flam is looking for a Founding Recruiter to build and scale our talent engine as we grow post‑Series A across India and global markets. You will work directly with the founders and business leaders to hire world‑class talent across engineering, AI, product, GTM and creative...Work at officeRemote work
- ...research, and go-to-market over the next two quarters. Hiring is now the bottleneck. This is an urgent hire. The Role Full-cycle recruiting ownership, working directly with the founder day to day. High autonomy on process and strategy, paired with hands-on execution:...Full timeFor contractors
Whyhirewrong?
San Francisco, CA1 day ago - ...months. Your north star is scaling a world-class engineering team without losing the bar. What You'll Own Full-spectrum recruiting - end-to-end ownership across Engineering and GTM, with a heavy center of gravity on scaling early-stage engineering teams fast....Full timeWork from homeShift work
Lightfield
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago - About Us Conversion is the AI-native marketing automation platform for modern software companies. Our platform lets growth teams run their entire go-to-market motion in one place, from acquisition through retention, with AI agents doing the work that legacy tools like...Full time
Conversion
San Francisco, CAmore than 2 months ago
Do you want to receive more vacancies?
Subscribe and receive similar vacancies to Founding Recruiter. Be the first to apply!
