Director of Talent Acquisition

Director of Talent Acquisition

New York

About Kalepa:

Insurance is a $7T global industry built on professional labor: underwriting, claims, pricing, operations, and distribution. Kalepa is building AI that can perform that work.

We create professional-grade AI systems for insurers: software that can read, reason, decide, and act inside real workflows and operate over long-time horizons. Kalepa begins by augmenting professionals with the tools to succeed at their jobs. That earns us the right to learn from real decisions, capture decision traces, and automate what can be automated successfully over time.

Our products are already in production with leading insurers, driving measurable outcomes and expanding across functions. The opportunity is far broader than any single workflow: to build the AI operating system for decision-making across insurance. For people who want to work on AI that matters, in a sector where correctness, trust, and real-world impact count, Kalepa is just getting started.

Kalepa is backed by leading investors such as IA Ventures and Inspired Capital, and our team brings experience from Facebook, Palantir, Google, Amazon, McKinsey, Mastercard, and Uber.

Our Values:

Many organizations have a dusty list of corporate values that no one ever follows. Kalepa is not one of those companies. Our values are designed to unlock the potential of our employees.

Success at Kalepa is bred from five core principles:

• Hustle and Determination - We hire people who take full ownership of their craft and relentlessly pursue excellence with speed and determination. We choose the hard problems and do not give up. This is the foundation of how we work and how we win.
• Deliver Customer Impact - We're obsessed with customer impact. Every feature, every line of code, every decision is measured against one question: does this help insurers make better decisions? If it doesn't drive speed, accuracy, or profitability for our customers, we don't build it.
• Meritocracy - We're building something exceptional, and that requires exceptional people and ideas. We have a high bar but we reward excellence with rapid growth. If you're the best at what you do, you'll thrive here.
• Transparency - We value honest, transparent communication over politics. We challenge ideas, not people. We say what needs to be said, even when it's hard. This is how we solve problems fast and find the truth.
• Experiment Relentlessly - Many of the problems we face have never been solved before. We tackle them by testing quickly, measuring rigorously, and iterating until we find the path forward. Speed of learning is our advantage.

In addition to our NY office, we have remote employees speaking 10+ languages across the globe. But we invest in bringing our people together both for regional meetups and global offsites (2021 - Playa Del Carmen | 2022 - Rome | 2023 - Buenos Aires | 2024 - Lisbon | 2025 - Cartagena).

Kalepa's culture isn't for everyone, and that's ok. But for the people who are a fit, they can't imagine working elsewhere.

About the Role:

Base Salary: $200K - $260K*

Location: New York, New York (Hybrid)

The Director of Talent Acquisition role is a foundational leadership position, responsible for shaping how Kalepa continues to scale its most valuable asset: people. It's a high-impact role for a strategic and hands-on recruiting leader who can set the talent acquisition vision, personally own hiring outcomes, build a high-performing team, and partner with executives to ensure Kalepa continues to attract A+ players aligned with our unique culture, values, and ambition to build a generational company disrupting a >$1T industry.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and shape Kalepa's talent acquisition strategy end-to-end, translating business goals into hiring plans across all functions globally - including Engineering, Product, GTM, Operations, and any other functional areas.
• Design and own the recruiting operating model: from intake and sourcing through assessment, offer strategy, and close — ensuring consistency, rigor, and a best-in-class candidate experience at every stage.
• Track and report on key recruiting metrics to drive continuous improvement and inform recruiting strategy and operations. Consistently make use of data to experiment with novel approaches and optimize Kalepa's recruiting practices.
• Lead and directly own searches across a variety of functions and levels, ensuring key roles are filled in a timely manner with A+ talent.
• Own and evolve Kalepa employer brand to position us as the employer of choice for top talent.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to executives and hiring managers, proactively surfacing opportunities and making data-driven recommendations.
• Build, lead, and develop the recruiting team — setting performance standards, providing ongoing coaching, and creating a high-accountability, high-support culture.

About You:

• You have 8+ years of recruiting / talent acquisition experience, with a proven track record of attracting and hiring A+ players across several functions at high-growth companies.
• You have 2+ years of people management experience, including building, coaching, and scaling in-house recruiting teams.
• You have owned hiring outcomes at high-growth companies and know what it takes to scale hiring in a fast-paced, high-standards environment.
• You are analytical and data-driven — you use recruiting metrics to diagnose problems, inform strategy, and continuously raise the bar.
• You lean heavily into building with AI, leveraging next generation tooling to multiply what talent and people can do.
• You are deeply aligned with Kalepa's culture and are excited to evangelize it with candidates and build a team that embodies it.
• You love to hustle: finding ways to get things done, destroying obstacles, and never taking no for an answer. "It can't be done" is not in your vocabulary.
• You are passionate, deeply motivated, and have a strong will to win. You are excited about building a world-class team.
• You value open, frank, and respectful communication.

What You'll Get:

• Competitive salary (based on experience level).
• Significant equity options package in a high-growth company.
• 401(k) plan with employer contribution (regardless of employee contribution)
• Excellent benefits: 100% covered medical, 100% covered vision and dental for yourself and your family.
• Work with an ambitious, smart, global, and fun team to transform a $1T global industry.
• 20 days of PTO a year.
• Global team offsites (2021 - Playa del Carmen, 2022 - Rome, 2023 - Buenos Aires, 2024 - Lisbon, 2025 - Cartagena)
• Healthy living/gym stipend. Mobile phone bill stipend.
• Continuing education credits.

*The salary range listed is an estimate and will vary based on a variety of factors. Final compensation will be determined during the offer stage based on relevant experience, performance during the interview process, and geographic location, and may therefore differ from the posted range.