Senior Director, Talent Acquisition

Relay • Raleigh, NC

13d • Onsite

About The Position

Relay is building the next generation of human-in-the-loop Physical AI — intelligent systems that don't just live in data centers and dashboards, but operate in the real world: embedded in the workflows of the people who build, move, and maintain the physical infrastructure of the modern economy. Our Relay platform brings AI-native situational awareness, real-time operational intelligence, and automated decision support to frontline environments. Where legacy software stops at the edge of the office, Relay's platform goes all the way to the floor — turning unstructured operational data into coordinated action, at scale, in real time.

As the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, you will lead a team of six to eight recruiters organized into three specialties — GTM, Corporate, and Product/Engineering — and you'll be accountable for the strategy, the standard, and the analytical rigor that is needed to keep up with our growth and feel confident in our ability to provide top talent as we scale the business. This role will report to the SVP, People Services, and is responsible for setting the vision for what world-class talent acquisition looks like at Relay, coaching a team that is talented and hungry for structure, and carrying a small, high-stakes requisition load yourself — because at our size, we lead with a servant mindset and would like this person to be close to the process.

Requirements

• 10+ years in talent acquisition, including 4+ years leading and developing recruiting teams.
• Experience at the Senior Director level in a high-growth environment is strongly preferred.
• Deep GTM recruiting expertise. You have personally hired Enterprise AEs and revenue leaders; you know what separates a great enterprise seller from a well-rehearsed one.
• You understand the POD structure and how to strategically execute the recruiting engine to support this model.
• Genuine analytical fluency. You are comfortable with data — building models with the support of finance, defending assumptions, and presenting to a CFO.
• Hands-on experience with Greenhouse and recruiting analytics. Are comfortable in building this for our growing team.
• A track record as a player-coach. You've carried requisitions while leading a team and can speak to what you closed, not just what your team closed.
• Demonstrated finance and business partnership. You've built headcount plans and partner with finance on a monthly basis to have strong communication and clear expectations.
• Executive presence and influence. You can challenge a hiring manager, reset an unrealistic timeline, and have both land as a partnership.
• Builder's orientation. You are energized by putting structure in place where it doesn't exist yet, and you'd rather write the playbook than inherit one.
• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience scaling a company through a Series B/C growth stage and/or experience leading through M&A or IPO phases of a company.
• Background hiring for hardware-plus-software or technical enterprise products.
• Experience in standing up recruiting operations, ATS optimization, or a BI/reporting layer for talent.
• Prior ownership of early-career, intern, or campus programs.

Responsibilities

• Own Relay's talent acquisition strategy end-to-end: sourcing, employer brand, process, tooling, and the operating cadence that ties them together.
• Build a hiring roadmap alongside Finance, Sales, CS, and Engineering leadership, translating revenue targets and pod coverage models into a defensible, time-phased recruiting plan.
• Define the recruiting function's charter: what we own, what we partner on, and what "excellent" means at each level of the team.
• Lead the hiring engine for Relay's most complex and most consequential roles: Enterprise Account Executives, Sales Directors and first-line Managers, Senior Managers and Directors in Customer Success, and the full POD structure — SDR/BDR, Solutions Engineering, and CS — that surrounds each seller.
• Partner with GTM leadership on ramp-readiness math: work backward from when a seller needs to be productive to when the offer needs to be signed, and hold the org and hiring teams to that calendar.
• Build and own the recruiting analytics — time to fill and time to hire by role, seniority, and department; funnel pass-through at every stage; source effectiveness; interviewer load; recruiter capacity.
• Serve as the recruiting counterpart to Finance: own the capacity and demand model, forecast fill timelines using historical data, and deliver exec-ready reporting for business reviews using automated tools, embedded AI functionality, and operational rigor.
• Bring rigor to the build-versus-buy and agency-versus-fractional decisions, and defend the spend with real unit economics.
• Lead, coach, develop, and mature the recruitment function, transforming the team into talent acquisition partners.
• Establish and implement recruiting operations and coordination systems to remove friction from the hiring process at scale.
• Establish clear, numeric definitions of success at every level, and a consistent cadence in which priorities and metrics are reviewed in the same place, the same way, every week.
• Build the TA function’s career paths — coordinator to recruiter, recruiter to senior, senior to lead — that keep strong people here.
• Grow the early-career and intern programs into a durable pipeline, including a career fair strategy and campus partnerships.
• Standardize the interview process, scorecards, and core competencies for Sales, CS, and leadership roles, where consistency matters most and is hardest to hold.
• Own compensation benchmarking in partnership with People Ops, so offers land, and hiring managers have the current market context before a req opens.
• Protect a candidate experience that reflects how we treat people once they're here.

Benefits

• 100% Paid Insurance: Health, Dental, Vision, Long/Short Term Disability, and Life Insurance for you and your dependents
• Generous Paid Time Off
• 401(k) Savings Plan + Company Match
• Baby Cash Reward + Paid Parental Leave
• Wellness Perks: A world-class onsite fitness center with instructor-led classes, plus tennis, basketball, pickleball, and cycling
• Team Events & Culture: From company celebrations to team outings, we work hard and have fun doing it
• Latest tech, standing desks, and all the tools and software you need to thrive

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior