Talent Partner (path to head of talent)

First hire on the ground in the US.

No rulebook. Future Texas lead.

Quick note before you read further. I strongly prefer no ex-recruiters. If you come from agency recruitment, chances are we won't click. That's not personal; it's just experience. But if you think you're the exception, want to apply anyway. Tell me why.

For everyone else: this is your chance to try a new role, bring the skills you already have, and get full hands-on support to make it work. Guidance, room to be creative, and someone who actually wants you to win.

I'll skip the standard intro. I'm a serial founder. I've built companies and teams from zero in Japan, and Europe, across SaaS, gaming, and platforms. I've hired, promoted, and fired. I've been burned by the wrong people and proven completely wrong about the right ones. I know what good looks like from inside a fast-moving team, not from a recruiter's desk.

What I'm building is not a standard recruitment agency. I say building because I'm at the very beginning. No polished story here. We don't sell CVs. We don't play the numbers game. We don't send ten candidates and hope one sticks.

Before we ever source a candidate, we go through the client's interview process ourselves. That way we actually understand the team, the culture, and what a real fit looks like. And we understand what questions to ask and why. Then we send one. Maybe two. Strong fits and perfect fits only. The client's time is protected. The candidate isn't burned on a process that was never right for them. No noise. No passengers. No good talkers with zero ownership.

That's the model. Austin is where the US starts, and I'm looking for the first person to build it there.

What this actually looks like day to day

Finding and pitching founders and hiring managers. Startups and fast-growth tech companies in Austin and across Texas. We'll go after the first ones together, side by side. Cold outreach, your network, social media, warm intros, coffee with someone who knows someone, small talk at the gas station, events. Whatever works in your hands. Eventually everything will.

Sourcing and screening candidates the right way. Not keyword matching. Digging into who people actually are, what drives them, whether they have the grit and ownership that matters. We work through this together too, especially at the start. No AI outreach.

Shaping how we operate in the US. You're not inheriting a fixed process. You're building it. If you see a better way, try it. You'll be experimenting live with the CEO(who works for you), not filing a change request.

Owning the market. You are the Austin operation. Every team you win, every relationship you form, every placement you make is the foundation of what we grow here.

What you get from me

Direct access to the founder. I'll be your right hand. We scout and pitch teams together. We go through candidates together. You are not thrown in alone. We own the mistakes and the wins.

Full backend support. Tools, pipeline, and workflow ready to go, and constantly improving. You focus on people and market, not on building systems from scratch. Nothing is set in stone. If something doesn't work for you or for the brand, we change it.

A real path up. The plan is to grow the US team out of Austin. The person who plants those seeds with me leads that team, grows into head of talent, and further. Not a maybe. It's the plan from day one. You get the opportunity, the support, and the benefit of the doubt.

I've always agreed with "lead, follow, or get out of the way." Where I have something to teach or improve, I'll lead. Where you're better than me, I'll follow and give you everything you need. There is no third option for me here. (And if you're reading carefully: put that phrase somewhere in your application.)

No hierarchy, no politics, no performance theatre. You're judged on what you build and deliver. Nothing else.

You don't need a recruitment background

Honestly, I'd rather you didn't have one. Pure agency recruiters often carry the exact habits I'm trying to get rid of. If you are a recruiter, think well before applying. Your application has to explain why you think this can work.

What I care about is simple.

Have you actually done something? Have you worked in a team, taken ownership, and delivered under pressure? Have you sold, persuaded, or built relationships from nothing? Did you ever build a product, a service, and scale it? Do you know what it feels like to be accountable for an outcome, not just a task? Do you really own the failures and share the success?

I believe engineers, project managers, game designers, founders, sales reps, and operators can become phenomenal talent partners. Because they've been inside a team that was hiring, and they could tell who belonged and who didn't. Hands-on. Carrying dead weight while someone else did the heavy lifting. Watching people who looked perfect on paper turn out to be a mistake everyone politely agreed to make.

If that's you, I'll teach you the rest. And more likely, we'll learn it together.

You're the right person if

You've delivered something real. Shipped, sold, built, managed. You know what ownership actually feels like.

You're comfortable operating solo, owning the whole thing, not waiting for someone to define your next move.

You're in Austin, and you like being out in the city. Meeting founders in person is an advantage here, not a chore.

You genuinely care about people, not just about closing the deal.

Being first, building something from zero in a new market, excites you more than it scares you.

You are comfortable being uncomfortable.

You are disagreeable. You push back.

You say what you think even when you risk sounding stupid or getting laughed at.

You're not the right person if

You need a team around you to feel like you're moving.

You think recruitment is a volume game.

You want a clear job description and instructions telling you what to do.

Ambiguity is a problem for you rather than an open door.

You like stability and fixed working hours.

You want corporate policy and process. We hire on evidence and ownership, nothing else, and we're not building a compliance department to prove it.

Money

Base plus commission, structured around you, not a template. I don't believe in a one-size package for someone who is supposed to be a partner. We'll work out what makes sense for your situation together. The upside is real and uncapped. As the Austin team grows, so does your role, your responsibility, and what you take home. But be ready for competition.

To boil it down: you eat what you kill. The base helps you get by. It will not pay your mortgage.

And to be clear about what I want. I want someone with the potential to outperform me, so I can back them and then get out of the way.

How to apply

If you read this far and something in here felt like it was written for you, just reach out. No CV needed. Tell me who you are, what you've actually done, and why this feels like yours.