Talent AI Operator

About the Role

A well-funded, pre-seed AI recruiting startup is looking for a Talent AI Operator to join their growing team. This is a genuinely new kind of role - you're not a traditional recruiter, and you're not a software engineer. You're the human who makes autonomous AI recruiting actually work.

The company's AI agents handle massive volume: thousands of candidates sourced, messaged, and qualified every week across a marketplace of tens of thousands of talents and hundreds of startup clients. Your job is to supervise those agents, catch edge cases, step in for high-judgment moments, and close candidates who need a human touch. Think air traffic controller, not pilot.

You'll help define what AI-native recruiting operations looks like as the company scales - this is a proving ground for high performers with a clear path into leadership.

What You'll Do

Supervise AI agent pipelines: Monitor live candidate conversations, flag errors, and intervene when the agent needs human judgment

Handle high-stakes moments: Senior candidates, tricky objections, compensation negotiations - the conversations where humans still win

Train the agents: Review agent outputs, label good/bad responses, and write examples that make the AI smarter over time

Quality control at scale: Audit candidate matches, outreach quality, and conversion rates across thousands of weekly touchpoints

Close placements: Guide candidates through final stages, handle offers, and ensure successful hires

Build the playbook: Document what works, create SOPs, and help define how humans and AI agents collaborate effectively

Growth Path

Strong performers can grow into:

Account Lead: Own client relationships and agent performance for key accounts

Agent Training Lead: Own the feedback loop that makes the AI better

Operations Lead: Build and manage the broader operations function

What We're Looking For

Required:

2+ years of talent operations or recruitment experience, ideally in early-stage tech startups (pre-seed/seed)

Strong communication and collaboration skills; comfortable working cross-functionally with product, engineering, design, and leadership

Experience using data to inform recruitment decisions - KPIs, dashboards, A/B tests, and experiments

Proven ability to design and optimize end-to-end recruitment processes: sourcing, screening, interview coordination, offer management, and candidate experience

Ability to work on-site in San Francisco as needed

Nice to Have:

Experience with AI/ML-oriented startups and an understanding of AI-focused hiring needs

Familiarity with modern tech stacks (TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL) to effectively communicate with engineers

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary + uncapped performance-based compensation tied to placements - top performers earn significantly more

Performance-based equity: Equity grants awarded after a successful 90-day window, with potential for meaningful ownership as scope expands

Health insurance

Visa sponsorship available

Optional: housing in a collaborative hackerhouse in San Francisco

Location

This role is based in San Francisco, CA with flexibility for remote work. Candidates must be willing and able to work on-site in San Francisco as needed. Visa sponsorship is available.