Lead Recruiter

Valence • New York, NY

46d • Hybrid

About The Position

Valence is seeking a Lead Recruiter to own and evolve the company's hiring processes during a critical growth phase. This is a high-ownership individual contributor role reporting to the VP of People & Talent. The position involves not only executing searches but also shaping hiring strategy, calibrating the talent bar, and influencing talent decisions across the company. The Lead Recruiter will act as a thought partner to hiring managers and leadership, assisting in defining role scope, prioritizing hiring needs, and ensuring the consistent hiring of individuals who raise the bar. This role is central to Valence's scaling efforts, offering direct visibility into business priorities and the opportunity to build a recruiting system that is fast, rigorous, and aligned with an AI-native company's operations.

Requirements

• 8+ years of full-cycle, in-house recruiting experience in high-growth B2B SaaS or AI environments, with exposure to both GTM and technical hiring.
• A clear, well-formed point of view on what great recruiting looks like - how to assess talent, design effective processes, and hold a high hiring bar.
• Genuine AI fluency: a real grasp on how AI changes recruiting, and a bias toward building it into the process.
• A track record of operating autonomously in ambiguous, fast-moving environments, and of building or materially improving recruiting systems.
• Demonstrated success hiring high-caliber talent in competitive markets through proactive sourcing and effective closing.
• Strong sourcing instincts and an actively cultivated network, you don't wait on inbound to build pipeline.
• Data fluency - you understand your funnel, use metrics to guide decisions, and hold yourself accountable to outcomes.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders, including challenging assumptions and driving alignment.
• Experience with Ashby (or a comparable ATS), with a commitment to maintaining clean systems and using them as a source of truth.

Nice To Haves

• Hands-on with AI sourcing/screening/ops tooling in your day-to-day workflow.
• Experience hiring the "consulting / professional-services → tech" profile, or recruiting in NYC's AI/tech market.
• Founding-recruiter DNA: you've stood up recruiting as an early or first dedicated hire.
• Exposure to employer-brand or talent-marketing work.
• Experience partnering on compensation benchmarking and levelling.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting across GTM (Sales, CS, Marketing) and technical roles as needed, from role definition through close.
• Partner with hiring managers and leadership to define role scope, calibrate level, and align on success criteria tied to business outcomes.
• Contribute to headcount planning and hiring prioritization, helping the company make informed tradeoffs on where and how to invest in talent.
• Design and run structured, high-signal interview processes; drive calibration across interviewers to ensure consistent and high-quality hiring decisions.
• Build proactive, high-quality pipelines through sourcing, referrals, and network mapping, with a focus on reaching top-quartile talent.
• Help shape Valence's employer brand and deliver a high-touch, high-integrity candidate experience that reflects Valence’s standards, regardless of outcome.
• Use funnel data (conversion rates, source quality, time-to-hire) to manage hiring performance and turn insight into action.
• Bring market intelligence (talent landscape, compensation, competitor dynamics) into hiring decisions and leadership conversations.
• Partner with leaders to turn what recruiting learns [about the talent market, comp, and competitors] into insight that sharpens decisions across the company.

Benefits

• Competitive salary including base + bonuses
• Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, vision) from day one
• Generous PTO, company-wide R&R shutdowns, and paid parental leave
• Retirement plan support for US and global employees
• Meaningful ownership in a venture-backed company at a growth inflection point
• Equity
• Top-up grants as we scale and you deliver exceptional performance
• A culture built for top talent: intensity to win, growth without limits, and a team that solves hard problems and celebrates big wins together

What This Job Offers

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