Talent Lead - HR & Talent Acquisition - IT

What you'll own:
Talent Acquisition (~80%):
- Sourcing and pipeline: building and running sourcing strategy for open roles, keeping pipelines full enough that hiring managers are never waiting on you.
- Co-founder and hiring manager partnership: sharpening JDs, running intake calls, and holding HMs accountable for fast, clear feedback on candidates.
- Candidate experience: running a screening and interview process that moves fast and treats candidates well, from first outreach to offer.
- Agency and vendor coordination: managing external recruiting agencies where they're used (e.g., US hiring), keeping them accountable to quality and turnaround.
- Reporting and process: tracking pipeline health, time-to-fill, and source effectiveness; flagging bottlenecks before they become escalations.
- Onboarding handoff: working with the Ops/Admin teammate so new hires land well, not just get a laptop and a Slack invite.
HR mentoring and support (~20%):
- Mentoring the HR team: being a sounding board for the HR team on judgment calls, escalations, and how to handle things they haven't seen before.
- Helping figure out and guide HR, not run it day to day: working alongside the HR team on performance frameworks, policy, and process design, without owning execution of any of it.
- Connecting TA and HR: making sure what you're seeing in the market and in hiring (comp benchmarks, candidate expectations, attrition signals) actually informs how HR builds its frameworks.

What this role is:
- A doers seat: you're sourcing, screening, and closing candidates yourself, not just managing a dashboard.
- Coach and Manage: Manage the other TA and HR team members and their outcomes.
- Built for range: in a given week you might be closing a candidate, sitting in on a policy discussion, and coaching someone on how to handle a tricky HR conversation.
- A growth track: as the team and function scale, this role is a natural path towards TA/HR leader.
Best Fit:
- 9-12 years of experience in Talent Acquisition, with genuine curiosity or prior exposure to HR/HRBP work.
- Comfortable owning full-cycle recruiting independently - sourcing through offer - without heavy hand-holding.
- Experience managing a team of 2 or more people in TA/HR.
- Startup experience preferred: comfortable with ambiguity and building process as you go rather than inheriting one.
- Prior experience at a high-growth Series A-D B2B AI/SaaS company where you helped scale the TA motion during a growth phase.
- Have seen a headcount scale from 80 employees to 300+.
- Direct, plain communicator: with candidates, hiring managers, agencies, and the HR team alike.
- Experience hiring for US roles from India is a strong plus, given the market gap that makes this hard to run solo.
Location:
- Hybrid - 2 days per week (Tuesday, Thursday).
- Office Location: Indiranagar, Bengaluru.
- Address: 3rd Floor, A wing No 1, Carlton Towers, HAL Old Airport Rd, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560008.
Interview Process:
Our interview process is designed to be structured and efficient.
- R0 - Recruiter Screening: Quick conversation to assess basic fit and role expectations.
- R1 - Introductory Chat: We recommend reviewing the job description & Apurv's recorded videos before this step.
- Take-Home Assignment: Sent after the initial conversation with a 72-hour window.
- R2 - Assignment Discussion: 45-minute session with the team covering assignment walkthrough, CS operating depth, and problem-solving.
- R3 - Culture Fit (In-Office): 45-minute conversation, ideally in person if based in Bangalore.
- Reference Checks: Two former direct manager calls.
- R4 - Founder Round: 20-minute founder conversation.