
Head of Talent
Required skills
- direct sourcing
- referrals
- relationships
- accepted offer
- hiring managers
- technical hires
- high standards
- move quickly
- sourcing
- follow-ups
Nice to have
- high-growth startup
- systems to keep up
- earned their trust
- distinguish a great candidate
- interviews well
Role summary
Wafer is seeking a Head of Talent to build and lead their recruiting function, focusing on finding and closing exceptional engineers and operators for their AI systems that optimize inference workloads. This role involves direct sourcing, managing the full recruitment cycle, defining hiring processes, and building the talent team. The ideal candidate has several years of recruiting experience, preferably in high-growth startups, with a strong understanding of technical hiring, particularly in infrastructure, systems, or AI. This is an on-site role in San Francisco, requiring autonomy and a hands-on approach to building the talent function.
Head of Talent
At Wafer, we are building AI systems that automatically optimize inference workloads across silicon. The quality of our team determines how fast we can build.
We're looking for a Head of Talent to find and close exceptional people, and build the recruiting function that lets Wafer scale without lowering the bar. You'll work directly with the founders, Chief of Staff and hiring managers, and personally own our most important searches.
What you'll do
- Find and recruit exceptional engineers and operators through direct sourcing, referrals and relationships.
- Own searches from the first conversation through an accepted offer. You know the candidates, what matters to them and what it will take to close them.
- Work with hiring managers to define what great looks like, design useful interviews and make decisions quickly.
- Help candidates understand Wafer's technical work, ambition and the impact they can have here.
- Keep the recruiting process fast and organized: clear ownership, timely feedback, reliable scheduling and accurate data in Ashby.
- Manage recruiting partners, understand which channels produce strong hires and spend accordingly.
- Build the talent team and recruiting systems as the company grows.
- What we look for
- You have several years of experience in talent or recruiting, preferably at a high-growth startup. You've seen what breaks as hiring accelerates and have built the systems to keep up.
- You have personally sourced and closed exceptional technical hires. You can explain how you found them, earned their trust and helped them make the decision.
- You understand technical hiring. Experience recruiting for infrastructure, systems, AI or similarly demanding engineering roles is especially valuable.
- You have strong judgment and high standards. You can help a hiring manager distinguish a great candidate from someone who interviews well.
- You build trust with candidates and move quickly without losing the details. You are willing to do the sourcing, follow-ups and coordination yourself.
- You work without a spec. You can turn an ambitious hiring goal into a clear plan and execute it.
- How we evaluate
We score every candidate on seven values
- Infinitely Resourceful
- Exceptionalism
- Unreasonable Standards
- Company Over Self
- High EQ
- Learns Quickly
- First Principles Thinker
Benefits
- Fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance.
- Daily lunch and dinner, unlimited PTO, and parental leave.
- $1K/month housing stipend (post-tax) if you live within walking distance (0.5 miles) from the office.
- Relocation allowance and benefits.
- Covered Uber/Waymo from/to office.
- Visa sponsorship available.
- How we work
- On-site in San Francisco, five days a week. Small team with massive surface area and ownership. You operate with complete autonomy of how to solve problems.
- You will build the talent function while doing the work yourself. Your success is measured by the exceptional people who join Wafer and what they help us build.
- Offers Equity
- Fully covered medical, dental and vision. Daily lunch and dinner. Unlimited PTO and parental leave. $1K/month housing stipend if you live within half a mile of the office. Visa sponsorship available.
Similar roles
Compliance LeadWafer · San Francisco, CA · Onsite
Security & Compliance ManagerWafer · San Francisco, CA · Onsite- Talent Acquisition RecruiterAgri-power · Hopkinsville, KY · Onsite
HR Associate, Talent Acquisition (Christian Publishing)Tyndale House Publishers · Carol Stream, IL · Onsite- Talent Management DirectorDobbs Peterbilt · Memphis, TN · Hybrid
- Senior Talent Acquisition Partner - Product and EngineeringTrustly · San Francisco, CA · Hybrid
