Recruiting Lead

Foundational Industries•San Francisco, CA

12h•Hybrid

About The Position

Foundational is building a network of AI-native autonomous factories for modern contract manufacturing, with the goal of reshoring critical supply chains and producing high-quality products domestically. The Recruiting Lead will build and lead the recruiting engine needed to hire hardware engineers, AI and software builders, and factory operators quickly, at a high bar, and at scale. Hiring execution directly supports factory timelines and the company’s ability to deliver its plans. Within six months, the role is expected to hire, onboard, and ramp recruiters and coordinators, establish clear ownership across hardware/manufacturing, AI/software, and G&A/operations, and set weekly pipeline and hiring goals. Within 12 months, the role is expected to close critical hardware and factory-operations hires on the timelines required by the build plan and win senior AI and software talent in a competitive market. A stretch outcome is to establish a repeatable sourcing and employer-brand engine through universities, communities, referrals, and targeted outbound. The Recruiting Lead will recruit hands-on while building the team and systems that allow recruiting to scale. The role partners with founders and engineering leaders, develops recruiting operations and processes, leads recruiters and coordinators, and exercises sound talent judgment across a wide range of disciplines. Foundational describes the environment as demanding, fast-moving, and ambiguous, and emphasizes ownership, direct communication, resilience, high standards, and execution. Foundational offers base compensation, bonus, and equity. The company is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers qualified applicants without regard to protected characteristics under applicable law.

Requirements

At least 3 years of experience managing recruiters and coordinators.
Track record recruiting mechanical, electrical, controls, robotics, and manufacturing engineers.
Track record closing ML, perception, autonomy, and software engineers in a competitive market.
Ability to assess technical depth in partnership with hiring managers and compete with top AI labs on offers.
Experience with sourcing, assessment, closing, and offer negotiation, including senior and leadership hires.
Experience building interview processes, scorecards, and funnel reporting from scratch.
Fluency with a modern applicant tracking system and sourcing tools.
Ability to partner with founders and engineering leaders as a peer and challenge hiring standards, processes, and plans when needed.

Nice To Haves

Hardware and manufacturing recruiting experience in robotics, automotive, aerospace, semiconductors, or advanced manufacturing.
Experience with Ashby or a similar modern ATS.
Experience building university, community, referral, and targeted outbound sourcing channels and employer-brand programs.

Responsibilities

Build and lead the recruiting engine to hire hardware engineers, AI/software builders, and factory operators at speed, at a high bar, and at scale.
Hire, onboard, and ramp a team of recruiters and coordinators, with clear ownership by function and weekly pipeline and hiring goals.
Recruit and close critical hardware hires, including robotics, mechanical, electrical, controls, and manufacturing engineers, as well as factory operations leaders.
Win senior AI and software talent, including ML/perception, robotics software, autonomy, and platform engineers.
Build a repeatable sourcing and employer-brand engine using university, community, referral, and targeted outbound channels.
Lead full-cycle recruiting, including sourcing, assessment, closing, and offer negotiation, for senior and leadership hires.
Build interview processes, scorecards, and funnel reporting.
Partner with founders and engineering leaders on hiring standards, processes, and plans, pushing back when appropriate.
Recruit hands-on while building the team and systems needed to scale recruiting.