Talent Acquisition Specialist - AI Labs

About the role

You will work directly with the Founder & CEO to identify, engage and recruit exceptional talent from leading AI labs and AI-native companies. This is a hands‑on, headhunting‑focused position where you will own priority searches from candidate identification through to hire.

Key responsibilities

• Proactively headhunt outstanding AI talent, building focused target lists across labs, companies and teams.
• Craft personalised outreach messages and use direct outreach, referrals and professional networks to start conversations.
• Manage candidate relationships, understand motivations, address objections and navigate competing offers.
• Partner with the founder and team leaders to define role requirements and assess candidate suitability.
• Own end‑to‑end execution: screening, interview coordination, offer discussions and post‑offer engagement.
• Maintain pipeline visibility and market intelligence, sharing compensation expectations and feedback.

Required profile

• 4+ years of hands‑on recruitment or headhunting experience, including at least 1 year focused on AI labs.
• Proven track record of sourcing and closing candidates from leading AI teams such as OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, Meta FAIR or comparable organisations.
• Experience convincing passive, well‑compensated candidates to move to early‑stage, founder‑led companies.
• Background recruiting across both technical and commercial AI functions.
• Strong judgement and credibility to hold substantive conversations with senior technical and commercial candidates.

Required skills

• Headhunting and direct outreach techniques.
• Deep knowledge of the AI ecosystem and talent landscape.
• Candidate assessment and evaluation of AI‑related accomplishments.
• Experience managing international searches, particularly in the UK and US markets.