Director, Talent Acquisition

Ayar Labs•San Jose, CA

6h•$197,000 - $220,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Talent Acquisition leads the recruiting strategy and delivery needed to support Ayar Labs as it scales over the next several years. The role translates business and workforce plans into hiring priorities, builds a flexible recruiting team of regular employees and contract partners, and establishes efficient, consistent processes and systems. It combines strategic leadership with hands-on recruiting, proactive sourcing, creative approaches, and metric-driven improvement of recruiting funnels and candidate experience. The Director partners closely with executives, hiring managers, Human Resources, and Finance to attract and hire technical and business talent while balancing hiring quality, speed, and candidate experience. The position is based on-site in San Jose, California.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree.
15 or more years of progressive experience in technical talent acquisition, including substantial recruiting experience across hardware and software roles and leadership of a recruiting team or function.
Experience building recruiting capacity and processes through rapid growth using a mix of regular employees, contractors, and external partners.
Demonstrated ownership of applicant tracking system selection or implementation, including process design, change management, and reliable reporting.
Ability to understand complex technical requirements, advise senior leaders, influence hiring decisions, and maintain high execution standards in a changing environment.
Strong communication, coaching, project management, and analytical skills.
Sound judgment and a balanced focus on quality of hire, hiring speed, and candidate experience.

Nice To Haves

Talent acquisition leadership experience in a semiconductor, photonics, data center, or other advanced hardware company.
Familiarity with optical I/O technology and talent markets relevant to Ayar Labs.
Experience supporting hiring across multiple locations or countries in partnership with local HR and business leaders.
Strong collaboration skills and demonstrated ability to lead teams and partner effectively across business functions and with external partners.

Responsibilities

Build and execute a multiyear talent acquisition plan aligned with company growth, organizational priorities, hiring capacity, and approved budgets; translate forecasts into quarterly hiring plans and adjust priorities as business needs change.
Design a scalable recruiting operating model using regular recruiting staff, contract recruiters, sourcers, coordinators, agencies, and other specialist support; plan for hiring surges and determine when work should be handled internally or by external partners.
Proactively recruit and source specialized semiconductor, optical I/O, hardware, software, and commercial talent, identifying talent-market constraints and using creative strategies.
Partner with executives, hiring managers, Human Resources, and Finance on workforce planning, role definition, leveling, interview plans, compensation alignment, and practical hiring timelines.
Hire, coach, and manage regular and contract talent acquisition team members; establish responsibilities, service expectations, quality standards, and performance measures.
Lead critical or senior searches as needed and guide the recruiting cycle from intake and sourcing through assessment, selection, offer, and transition to onboarding.
Build proactive pipelines and relationships with talent communities, referral networks, universities, search firms, and other external partners; manage agency and contractor selection, spend, and results.
Equip hiring managers with structured interviews, calibrated evaluation criteria, timely feedback practices, and clear decision processes; promote a respectful, inclusive candidate experience and consistent communication.
Lead selection, implementation, and adoption of a new applicant tracking system, including requirements, vendor evaluation, data migration, workflow design, integrations, training, and a practical transition plan.
Own recruiting workflows, data quality, and continuous improvement; establish dashboards for funnel details, hiring progress, pipeline health, time to fill, and source effectiveness.
Analyze recruiting activity and trends across teams and locations; provide leaders with regular metrics and forward-looking outlooks on hiring demand, pipeline coverage, likely bottlenecks, and recruiting resource needs.
Use market intelligence and recruiting insights to advise leaders on tradeoffs, remove bottlenecks, and improve hiring outcomes; introduce useful automation and tools with appropriate oversight of data privacy and candidate fairness.
Maintain accurate records and consistent recruiting practices with Human Resources and legal counsel, including applicable equal employment opportunity, recordkeeping, privacy, and OFCCP requirements where applicable.