Talent Acquisition Leader

Our client is a fast-growing, well-funded enterprise AI company building next-generation AI agents for global organizations. Founded by experienced Silicon Valley technology leaders, the company operates across India and international markets. It is scaling its engineering, product, AI and go-to-market capabilities while maintaining a lean, high-ownership organizational model.

• The Opportunity:
• The company is looking for a Talent Acquisition Leader to own its talent acquisition strategy and build a high-quality, globally aligned hiring engine.
• The individual will lead the existing talent acquisition function and partner closely with the founders, India leadership, global functional heads and senior business stakeholders.

This is not a role for someone accustomed to managing a large recruitment team or operating primarily through layers of recruiters. The company is looking for a hands-on leader who can personally drive critical searches, coach a small team and deliver high-quality hiring outcomes with limited resources.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the overall talent acquisition strategy across India, while supporting hiring requirements involving global stakeholders and markets.
• Partner with founders and functional leaders on workforce planning, organization design and hiring prioritization.
• Lead and develop the existing talent acquisition team while maintaining a lean operating structure.
• Personally drive critical leadership, product, engineering, AI/ML and niche technology searches.
• Build strong pipelines for senior and difficult-to-hire talent rather than relying primarily on inbound applications or agencies.
• Partner with global stakeholders to define role requirements, calibrate candidate quality and close senior candidates.
• Establish structured recruiting processes, interview frameworks and decision-making mechanisms.
• Build recruiting dashboards covering funnel quality, speed, conversion, source effectiveness and candidate experience.
• Improve the company's talent brand among AI, engineering, product and enterprise technology professionals.
• Use AI tools, automation and recruiting technology to improve sourcing, assessment, productivity and candidate engagement.
• Develop a long-term talent intelligence view across competitors, talent pools and emerging AI skill areas.
• Selectively manage external search partners for highly specialized or leadership mandates.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• Over 10 years of experience in talent acquisition, with experience leading hiring for technology or product organizations.
• Currently operating at a level above an individual recruiter or TA Lead, with ownership of a broader talent acquisition charter.
• Strong track record of hiring across engineering, product, AI/ML, design and go-to-market functions.
• Experience partnering directly with founders, CXOs and senior global stakeholders.
• Meaningful exposure to international stakeholders, particularly in the US or other major technology markets.
• Experience working in a fast-growing startup, SaaS business, global capability centre or technology product company.
• Demonstrated ability to operate successfully with a small team and constrained resources.
• Strong hands-on sourcing and assessment capabilities, including for senior and niche roles.
• Practical understanding of AI talent markets and emerging technology skill sets.
• Exposure to AI-enabled recruiting, automation, talent intelligence or recruitment analytics.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management and influencing capabilities.

The strongest candidates are likely to have experienced both:

• The process discipline and stakeholder complexity of a global organization; and
• The speed, ambiguity and resource constraints of a startup or high-growth technology company.