PhD Sourcing Specialist

IMC•Chicago, IL

15h

About The Position

As a PhD Sourcing Specialist, you will be focused on mapping the research talent landscape, building relationships with academics before they enter the job market, creating programs that strengthen IMC’s presence in research communities, assessing candidates against our technical and cultural standards, and partnering with recruiters by delivering strong pipelines. Your Core Responsibilities Talent Landscape & Market Intelligence Map the PhD and postdoc talent landscape across the technical disciplines relevant to IMC's business — understanding which programs, labs, and research communities are producing the talent that matters to us Track competitive hiring trends, fellowship programs, and academic community dynamics to keep IMC's strategy current and proactive Serve as an internal expert on the research talent market, regularly sharing insights with recruiting leadership and business stakeholders Attraction & Community Building Develop and maintain relationships with faculty advisors, lab leads, and student researchers at target institutions — building IMC's presence and credibility in academic communities over time Represent IMC at key academic conferences and research events (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and others) with a candidate-facing focus: building connections, identifying talent, and deepening relationships — not managing logistics Partner with our APAC and European recruiting teams on shared talent pools, ensuring a coordinated global approach to PhD-level attraction Programs & Initiatives Own IMC's PhD-focused programs end-to-end: our PhD Fellowship, conference travel grants, and lab partnership initiatives — from strategy and design through execution and iteration Identify gaps in our current PhD engagement approach and develop new initiatives that strengthen our position with research communities Build and maintain a strong alumni and fellow network, cultivating ongoing relationships that generate referrals, advocacy, and re-engagement over time Pipeline Development Source and pipeline PhD candidates across IMC's technical hiring areas, partnering with teams across the business as PhD recruitment continues to grow in scope and demand Develop and execute creative outreach strategies — direct engagement, conference follow-up, research community participation — to identify high-potential candidates at all career stages: PhD students, postdocs, and selectively, experienced researchers Hand off qualified, engaged candidates to recruiters with context, relationships, and momentum already built

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree
4–7 years of experience in university recruiting, talent strategy, research partnerships, or academic engagement programs, ideally within a technical, quantitative, or research-driven environment
Strong understanding of AI/ML research ecosystems, leading research labs, academic conferences, and influential advisors
Demonstrated ability to build authentic, long-term relationships within academic and research communities
Experience identifying and engaging talent through channels such as arXiv, Hugging Face, GitHub, Discord, Twitter/X, and other research and developer communities
Proven ability to develop and execute sourcing programs or strategic initiatives using data, feedback, and market insights
Collaborative approach with experience partnering closely with recruiters, hiring managers, and regional stakeholders in fast-paced environments
Strong communication, organizational, and stakeholder management skills, with a high degree of ownership and sound judgment

Responsibilities

Map the PhD and postdoc talent landscape across the technical disciplines relevant to IMC's business
Track competitive hiring trends, fellowship programs, and academic community dynamics
Serve as an internal expert on the research talent market
Develop and maintain relationships with faculty advisors, lab leads, and student researchers
Represent IMC at key academic conferences and research events with a candidate-facing focus
Partner with our APAC and European recruiting teams on shared talent pools
Own IMC's PhD-focused programs end-to-end: our PhD Fellowship, conference travel grants, and lab partnership initiatives
Identify gaps in our current PhD engagement approach and develop new initiatives
Build and maintain a strong alumni and fellow network
Source and pipeline PhD candidates across IMC's technical hiring areas
Develop and execute creative outreach strategies to identify high-potential candidates
Hand off qualified, engaged candidates to recruiters with context, relationships, and momentum already built