Head of Talent

Foundry Robotics•San Francisco, CA

19h•Onsite

About The Position

Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. We are reimagining manufacturing through advanced robotics. Our mission is to rebuild the American manufacturing industry as an AI-first, assembly-focused, dual-use contract manufacturer. We aim to empower manufacturers with intelligent, efficient, and adaptable robotic systems that redefine productivity and quality. As a founding member of our team, you will have a direct and significant impact on our product, culture, and ultimate success. This role is 100% in-person at our office in the Mission, SF. The Role This role is for a Head of Talent who can build a recruiting function from first principles and then build the team that runs it. You will own hiring end to end — strategy, process, employer brand, and headcount planning — and hire, coach, and manage the recruiters and sourcers underneath you. You will be the in-house authority on how Foundry hires, and the person leadership trusts to fill the roles that determine whether we make our production commitments. We hire across an unusually wide surface: robotics researchers, mechanical and software engineers, manufacturing operators, technicians, and quality staff. You will be accountable for all of it.

Requirements

8+ years of recruiting experience, including 3+ years leading and managing recruiters
Demonstrated experience building or materially rebuilding a recruiting function, not just operating inside a mature one
Track record hiring deep technical talent — robotics, hardware, or software engineers — and closing candidates against competing offers
Experience hiring non-engineering operational talent at volume: technicians, operators, and shop floor staff
Fluency in recruiting systems and metrics. You can instrument a funnel, diagnose where it's leaking, and fix it
Strong enough technical judgment to scope a role with an engineering lead and screen candidates credibly without a hiring manager in the room
Equally effective in a comp discussion with the founders and on the shop floor talking to a technician about second shift
Bias toward action, scrappy problem solving, and moving fast without lowering the bar

Nice To Haves

Experience recruiting in robotics, aerospace, defense, or another hardware-rich industry
Experience hiring into ITAR-controlled or cleared programs, and familiarity with the constraints that come with them
Experience owning people ops adjacencies — onboarding, performance, or early HR infrastructure — in addition to recruiting
Experience at an early-stage company where the talent function was built rather than inherited

Responsibilities

Own Foundry Robotics' talent strategy end to end, from headcount planning and role scoping with hiring managers to offer close
Hire, manage, and develop a team of recruiters and sourcers, and build the infrastructure — ATS, scorecards, interview loops, comp bands — they operate inside
Build repeatable, high-signal interview processes for technical, manufacturing, and operations roles, and hold hiring managers to them
Own the executive and hard-to-fill searches personally, including senior research and manufacturing leadership
Build the top-of-funnel: sourcing strategy, employer brand, university and technician pipelines, and referral programs
Own recruiting data and report hiring performance — pipeline health, time to hire, pass-through rates, offer acceptance — to leadership on a regular cadence
Partner with Finance and leadership on compensation philosophy, leveling, and equity bands
Serve as the steward of Foundry's culture and hiring bar as the team scales