Talent AI Operator

About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a new kind of role at the intersection of recruiting and AI operations. A fast-growing, pre-seed AI startup is building autonomous agents that handle end-to-end recruiting — sourcing candidates, writing personalized outreach, managing conversations, qualifying fit, and scheduling interviews. The platform has already scaled to tens of thousands of candidates and hundreds of startup customers.

As a Talent AI Operator, you are not a traditional recruiter. You're the human who makes autonomous recruiting actually work. Think air traffic controller, not pilot. You'll supervise the agents, catch edge cases, step in for high-judgment moments, and close candidates who need a human touch. You'll also help define what AI-native recruiting operations looks like as the company scales.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Supervise AI agent pipelines: Monitor live candidate conversations, flag errors, and intervene when human judgment is needed

- Handle high-stakes moments: Senior candidates, complex objections, compensation negotiations — conversations where humans still win

- Train the agents: Review agent outputs, label good/bad responses, and write examples that make the AI smarter over time

- Quality control at scale: Audit candidate matches, outreach quality, and conversion rates across thousands of weekly touchpoints

- Close placements: Guide candidates through final stages, manage offers, and ensure successful hires

- Build the playbook: Document what works, create SOPs, and help define how humans and AI agents collaborate effectively

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Required:

- 2+ years of talent operations or recruitment experience at early-stage tech startups (pre-seed/seed stage)

- Extensive hands-on experience using AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, or similar) to evaluate quality, identify errors, and understand AI capabilities and limitations

- Proven ability to design and optimize end-to-end recruitment processes: sourcing, screening, interview coordination, offer management, and candidate experience

- Experience monitoring and quality-assuring high-volume candidate pipelines (hundreds to thousands of weekly touchpoints)

- Experience closing placements and managing final-stage candidate conversations, including offer negotiation and objection handling

- Experience training, labeling outputs, or providing structured feedback to improve AI/ML systems or agent performance

- Strong communication and collaboration skills; comfortable working cross-functionally with product, engineering, design, and leadership

- Data-driven mindset: experience using KPIs, dashboards, A/B tests, and conversion rate analysis to inform decisions

- Ability to work on-site in San Francisco as needed (hybrid arrangement)

Nice to Have:

- Experience at AI/ML-focused startups or with AI-native hiring processes

- Familiarity with TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, or Supabase to communicate effectively with engineers

- Experience documenting processes, creating SOPs, or building operational playbooks

GROWTH PATH

This role is a proving ground. Strong performers can move into:

- Account Lead: Own client relationships and agent performance for key accounts

- Agent Training Lead: Own the feedback loop that drives AI improvement

- Operations Lead: Build and manage the broader operational team

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

- Competitive base salary plus uncapped performance-based compensation tied to placements — top performers earn significantly more

- Performance-based equity: Equity grants awarded to top performers following a 90-day performance window, with potential for meaningful ownership as scope expands

- Health insurance

- Visa sponsorship available

- Optional: housing at a company hackerhouse in San Francisco

LOCATION

Hybrid role based in San Francisco, CA. Some on-site presence required. Visa sponsorship is available.