Founding Lead Recruiter

Lantern • San Francisco, CA

6d • $200,000 - $200,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Lantern is hiring its first dedicated recruiting professional to own and scale hiring across the company. The Founding Lead Recruiter will recruit across Engineering, ML, and GTM, build the recruiting strategy and foundation, and help shape the teams supporting Lantern’s next stage of growth. The role reports directly to the Co-founder & CEO and partners closely with the founders on every hire. As the company grows, this person will help hire and lead the recruiting team.

Requirements

• At least 6 years of full life-cycle recruiting experience.
• Deep experience hiring engineers; ML or data recruiting experience is a plus, along with the ability to run strong GTM searches.
• Prior recruiting experience at an early-stage, high-growth startup that scaled quickly.
• A track record of closing top technical talent in the San Francisco market against competing offers.
• Built AI-powered recruiting workflows or tools that are in use and can be demonstrated.
• Experience building recruiting processes and tooling, rather than only operating within an existing system.
• Confidence influencing founders, managing expectations, and protecting the hiring bar.
• Ability to move quickly without sacrificing candidate experience or the hiring bar.
• Must be based in San Francisco and work in-office.

Nice To Haves

• Founding or first-recruiter experience at a Seed to Series B company.
• Experience mentoring or leading other recruiters.
• A Bay Area network in AI, ML, or data.
• Experience hiring forward-deployed engineers.
• Experience partnering with a VC talent team or an embedded recruiter on a search.
• Exposure to supply chain, distribution, or vertical software.

Responsibilities

• Own full life-cycle recruiting across Engineering, ML, and GTM.
• Build and execute creative, targeted sourcing strategies and provide a thoughtful, high-quality candidate experience.
• Partner with founders and hiring managers to define and run structured interview processes, including interview loops, scorecards, and calibration.
• Build the recruiting foundation, including Ashby, scalable processes, AI-powered workflows, and reporting.
• Own recruiting metrics and pipeline visibility, identify bottlenecks, improve hiring velocity, and keep leadership informed.
• Create a closing plan for every candidate and partner with the founders on closing candidates.
• Represent Lantern’s mission and culture and own employer branding across the careers page, LinkedIn, events, and founder networks.
• Partner with founders on headcount planning and leveling, then hire and lead future recruiters.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity.
• Opportunity to build Lantern’s recruiting function and team from the ground up, with ownership and autonomy.
• Direct partnership with the founders on every hire that shapes the company.
• A clear path to Head of Talent as the team scales.
• San Francisco office with a tight-knit, in-person team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed