Talent Acquisition Specialist

Inc42 Media; New Delhi; On-site; INR 2,800,000 - 4,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Inc42 is seeking a Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist to own full-cycle recruitment across Product, Marketing, Growth, Technology, Design, Editorial and leadership roles. You will partner with the Head of People Operations to translate business needs into compelling mandates, build pipelines, and guide candidates from first conversation to close.

The role demands market intelligence, strong judgement, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders through complex negotiations and onboarding

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in HR, Business, Management or related field.
• 5–8 years of Talent Acquisition or recruitment experience.
• Proven success in mid-to-senior and leadership hiring mandates.
• Experience negotiating with senior-level candidates and managing offers.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruitment across Product, Technology, Marketing, Growth, Design, Editorial and leadership functions.
• Translate business requirements into hiring plans and compelling JDs.
• Build and maintain candidate pipelines with high-quality candidates.
• Influence senior stakeholders to align compensation and role expectations.
• Close multiple roles with speed while upholding quality and values.
• Maintain recruiting data and use insights to improve outcomes.

Skills

Talent acquisition

Stakeholder management

Closing senior candidates

Structured interviews

Candidate influence

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in HR/Business

Tools

Applicant Tracking System

Job description

Behind every ambitious company is someone who can recognise exceptional talent before everyone else does—and influence that talent to make the right career move.

At Inc42, Talent Acquisition is not a CV-forwarding or interview-coordination function. It is a business-critical mandate that requires market intelligence, sound judgement, candidate influence and the ability to close high-value talent.

From identifying a specialist product leader or growth marketer to engaging an experienced editor, designer or technologist, you will help build the teams shaping how India’s startup economy is reported, understood and experienced.

If you know how to find talent hidden in plain sight, establish authority with accomplished candidates, influence senior stakeholders and successfully negotiate complex offers, we would like to hear from you.

Why This Role Exists

Inc42 is expanding across media, intelligence, products, events, communities and learning. That growth depends on hiring people who combine functional excellence with curiosity, ownership and an entrepreneurial mindset.

We are looking for a Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist to own full-cycle recruitment across Product, Marketing, Growth, Technology, Design, Editorial and leadership functions.

You will work closely with the Head of People Operations and functional leaders to translate business requirements into compelling talent mandates, build high-quality candidate pipelines and take candidates from the first conversation through assessment, negotiation, closure and onboarding.

This role requires the instincts of a talent hunter, the influence of a trusted advisor and the commercial judgement of an effective closer.

About Inc42

Inc42 is India’s largest media and intelligence platform focused on the startup economy—but we are not just one kind of company.

We operate at the intersection of journalism, data intelligence, technology, founder learning, iconic industry experiences and high-trust communities. Our ecosystem includes:

• Inc42’s authoritative journalism, reporting on the companies, people and forces shaping India’s technology economy
• Datalabs, India’s largest free startup database, covering 75,000+ companies
• D2CX, our learning and community platform designed to help D2C founders build, scale and lead stronger businesses
• Flagship editorial IPs such as the AI Summit, D2C & Retail Summit, FAST42 and D2C Retreat

This breadth brings together an unusually diverse team of journalists, researchers, product builders, technologists, designers, marketers, creators, educators and business operators—all working towards one mission: to inform, enable and connect the people building India’s technology economy.

For Talent Acquisition, that makes Inc42 a uniquely exciting organisation to build. Hiring here is neither repetitive nor transactional. One mandate could involve finding a deeply specialised editorial leader, the next a product or technology professional, and another a creative, growth, learning or business leader.

As part of People Operations, you will help build the multidisciplinary teams behind Inc42’s next phase—shaping the organisation from the inside while influencing how India’s startup economy is understood on the outside.

Your Mandate

Build a high-quality, future-ready talent engine for Inc42 across six pillars:

• Senior and leadership hiring: Independently manage complex, business-critical mandates from discovery to closure.
• Talent strategy: Translate business objectives and workforce requirements into focused hiring plans.
• Talent discovery: Find high-calibre active and passive candidates through research-led and creative sourcing.
• Candidate influence: Establish credibility, communicate the Inc42 opportunity and confidently guide senior candidates through important career decisions.
• Hiring quality and speed: Close multiple roles without compromising functional excellence, values alignment or candidate quality.
• Recruitment intelligence: Use data, talent-market insights and hiring trends to continuously improve outcomes.

What You’ll Own

• Senior and leadership hiring: Independently manage business-critical searches across Product, Technology, Marketing, Growth, Design, Editorial and other functions.
• Full-cycle recruitment: Own every stage—from mandate discovery, job design and market mapping to sourcing, assessment, negotiation, closure and onboarding coordination.
• Compelling role positioning: Turn business requirements into differentiated JDs and candidate narratives that attract the right profiles—not merely more applications.
• Talent discovery: Build strong active and passive pipelines through job platforms, professional communities, referrals, databases, direct outreach and creative sourcing.
• Stakeholder advisory: Partner with the Head of People Operations and functional leaders on role requirements, market availability, compensation, candidate quality and hiring trade-offs.
• Influence with evidence: Use talent intelligence and sound judgement to challenge unrealistic expectations, accelerate decisions and improve hiring outcomes.
• Candidate assessment: Conduct structured, competency-based and situational interviews that evaluate functional capability, problem-solving, ownership and values alignment.
• Candidate influence and closure: Build credibility with senior professionals, understand their motivations and confidently manage competing offers, counteroffers, negotiations and joining risks.
• Candidate experience: Ensure every interaction is timely, transparent and thoughtful while building relationships that extend beyond an immediate opening.
• Recruitment intelligence: Maintain accurate ATS records, track key hiring metrics and use data to improve sourcing, assessment and closure.
• Quality and compliance: Apply recruitment best practices and ensure screening, selection and documentation comply with applicable employment regulations.

What Success Looks Like

• Business-critical, senior and leadership roles have strong and relevant candidate pipelines.
• Senior candidates are successfully converted from initial outreach to accepted offers and joining.
• Time-to-source and time-to-hire improve without lowering the quality bar.
• Complex negotiations, competing offers and counteroffer situations are handled with confidence and commercial judgement.
• Offer acceptance and joining ratios remain healthy across critical positions.
• Senior candidates view the recruiter as a credible representative of Inc42 and a trusted source of career context.
• Hiring managers rely on Talent Acquisition for market intelligence and hiring judgement—not only process execution.
• Stakeholders receive clear recommendations and hiring decisions move forward decisively.
• Candidates experience timely, transparent and engaging communication.
• Sources of hire are measured, and effort is directed towards channels producing the strongest candidates.
• Talent pipelines, recruitment systems and stakeholder confidence become stronger over time.
• Every hire demonstrates functional strength, ownership and alignment with Inc42’s ambition and values.

Who You Are

• A proven closer: You have successfully negotiated with and closed senior candidates, including those evaluating competing offers or counteroffers.
• A sharp talent hunter: You can discover passive talent and distinguish an impressive profile from someone capable of delivering meaningful business outcomes.
• A trusted advisor: You communicate with authority, challenge assumptions constructively and align candidates and senior stakeholders without compromising trust.
• Commercial and outcome driven: You understand candidate motivations, compensation and market realities—and use data and judgement to improve hiring outcomes.
• A long-term builder: You thrive in fast-moving, high-ownership environments and bring sustained ownership, professional progression and measurable organisational impact.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Management or a related discipline, with a strong academic track record.
• 5–8 years of proven experience in Talent Acquisition, recruitment or a comparable role.
• Demonstrated ownership of mid-to-senior and leadership hiring mandates.
• Proven success in identifying, engaging, negotiating with and closing senior-level candidates.
• Experience handling complex compensation discussions, competing offers, counteroffers and candidate objections.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills, including the confidence to influence senior leaders and constructively challenge hiring requirements.
• Ability to establish credibility and authority with experienced, highly selective candidates.
• Experience conducting structured, competency-based and situational interviews.
• Proficiency in Applicant Tracking Systems.
• Advanced working knowledge of MS Office, database management and internet research.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, decision-making and organisational skills.
• Working understanding of applicable employment laws and hiring regulations.
• Deep understanding of the startup ecosystem and digital media industry.
• Experience hiring across Product, Marketing, Growth, Technology, Design, Editorial or other specialist functions.
• Prior experience managing niche media hiring would be highly valued.
• Experience in digital media, startups, technology or another fast-growth environment would be advantageous.
• A stable professional track record is strongly preferred, demonstrating sustained ownership, professional progression and measurable impact within organisations.