Head of People

Ironsite AI•San Francisco, CA

4d•$175,000 - $225,000•Onsite

About The Position

Ironsite is building the intelligence layer for the physical world by designing wearable hardware, deploying it on construction sites, and transforming shift footage into actionable insights. The company focuses on accelerating construction speed, efficiency, and predictability for complex infrastructure projects. Ironsite's pro-worker philosophy emphasizes empowering the workforce through technology. The company has captured over 100,000 hours of construction footage across seven states and processes thousands of hours of site activity daily, with a worker opt-out rate below two percent. Ironsite is backed by leading investors and operators in technology and construction. The company envisions itself as the foundation for the future of construction, creating an operating system for building the physical world that values and better compensates the workforce, enabling autonomous construction. This role is for the Head of People, who will build the recruiting function to scale Ironsite from 40 to 200 employees within eighteen months. As the first talent hire, this individual will own everything from full-cycle recruiting and sourcing strategy to interview design and onboarding. They will build the systems, tooling, and playbook that will enable future talent hires to operate at scale. This position is ideal for someone with experience recruiting for challenging roles at a fast-growing startup, particularly in AI research and hardware engineering, who wants to build a recruiting function from the ground up.

Requirements

6-10+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience at fast-growing technology companies, with a track record of hiring for hard-to-fill technical roles at pace.
Deep experience recruiting AI research talent (research scientists, ML engineers, applied researchers) against top labs, including knowledge of the community, sourcing channels, compensation dynamics, and closing strategies.
Deep experience recruiting hardware engineering talent (firmware, electrical, mechanical, product design) against top consumer electronics and wearables companies, including knowledge of the ecosystem, specialties, and how to compete for talent.
Prior experience as a founding or early recruiting hire at a startup that scaled from 30-40 people to 150+.
Full-cycle ownership from sourcing through close; not a coordinator or a manager who has stopped recruiting.
Bias to action, with a preference for proactive outreach and timely decision-making.
Genuine intellectual honesty about candidates and process.
High autonomy and sound judgment.
Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to build processes as needed.

Nice To Haves

Experience recruiting for engineering roles at wearables, camera, or consumer electronics companies (Fitbit, Oura, Whoop, GoPro, Sesame, Apple, Meta, Snap, or similar).
Experience recruiting for AI research roles at frontier labs, applied AI startups, or research-heavy product companies.
Experience setting up and administering modern ATS systems (Ashby, Greenhouse, Lever, or similar) from scratch.
Experience building and closing offers in the $200k+ base range, including complex equity negotiations at Series A / B stage.
Experience partnering with founders and executives on workforce planning and hiring strategy.
Experience recruiting for construction, industrial, or physical AI roles.
Experience with immigration and visa processes (H-1B, O-1, TN, green card sponsorship) for technical hires.
Familiarity with modern sourcing tools (Gem, Ashby, HireEZ, or similar).
Experience building employer brand and content strategy.
Prior in-house recruiting experience (not just agency).

Responsibilities

Own the full recruiting cycle for every open role at Ironsite, from sourcing through offer close, including engineering, AI research, hardware, field operations, sales, and general and administrative roles.
Run the top-of-funnel motion yourself, including direct sourcing on LinkedIn, GitHub, arXiv, conference lists, and other relevant platforms.
Manage the full candidate experience from first outreach through onboarding, ensuring a high-quality experience.
Design and document interview processes for each function in partnership with hiring managers.
Build the sourcing playbook, outreach cadences, message templates, and channel strategy.
Establish the offer strategy, compensation philosophy, equity guidance, and negotiation playbook.
Set up the ATS, referral program, employer brand collateral, and other operational systems for the recruiting function.
Build direct relationships with the AI research and hardware engineering communities to source and close candidates.
Partner with the CTO, Chief Science Officer, and hardware leadership on messaging, positioning, and closing strategy for key hires.
Serve as a trusted talent partner to every hiring manager, assisting with defining roles, structuring interviews, and making hiring decisions.
Bring calibration and rigor to hiring conversations, providing objective feedback.
Partner with the founding team on workforce planning, hiring priorities, and organizational design.
Choose and set up recruiting tools, including ATS, sourcing tools, and scheduling systems.
Establish reporting and metrics for pipeline health, funnel conversion, and time-to-hire.
Build the initial version of Ironsite's employer brand in partnership with marketing.
Lay the groundwork for hiring additional recruiters and building out the People and Talent function.