Executive Recruiter

Sanctuary; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanctuary is seeking an exceptional executive recruiter to own end-to-end leadership hiring. You will build the market, identify top operators in Texas real estate and adjacent industries, and directly engage candidates who are not actively seeking roles.

You will work closely with the Founder & CEO and People Operations Director. Success is measured by the caliber and speed of hires and the strength of ongoing executive-search partnerships.

Qualifications

• Experience leading executive-level searches and hires.
• Proven ability to identify and close senior leaders in real estate, development, construction, or adjacent industries.
• Track record of sourcing active and passive candidates without inbound pipelines.
• Experience filling executive roles such as COO, Head of Operations, CFO, or senior finance/ops leaders.
• Excellent cold outreach, calling and networking across Texas markets.
• Strong communication, persuasion, and negotiation skills.
• Sharp judgment on leadership ability, ownership, and cultural fit.
• Ability to understand a business problem and translate it into an executive search strategy.
• Comfort working directly with a demanding CEO and fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead executive and senior leadership searches across Austin and Texas.
• Build targeted market maps across real estate development, construction, and related finance.
• Source and approach high performers, including passive candidates.
• Run outbound outreach via calls, referrals, events, LinkedIn and email.
• Represent Sanctuary and sell the mission to senior candidates.
• Develop deep understanding of each role and business problem it solves.
• Assess rigorously and challenge candidates beyond resumes.
• Partner with CEO and leadership through interviews, offers, and negotiation.
• Manage candidates from first contact to onboarding with persistent follow-up.
• Build a durable network of executives and industry leaders for Sanctuary.

Skills

Executive recruiting

Agency recruitment

Closing senior leaders

COO/head of ops hiring

Cold outreach

Negotiation skills

Strategic judgment

Business acumen

Direct CEO collaboration

Job description

Type: Full-time, on-site

Location: Austin, Texas

Reports to: Founder & CEO

Company: Sanctuary

Compensation: $100K–$120K base + performance bonus. Total comp up to $200K–$300K annually, depending on your experience, network, track record, and demonstrated ability to close exceptional executive talent.

About Sanctuary

Sanctuary is building nature-first residential communities in the Texas Hill Country. We are a small, ambitious global team entering the biggest growth stage in the company's history, and the next twelve months will be defined by the leaders we bring in: a COO, a Sales Director, and senior executives across finance, operations, development, construction, and capital markets.

We are hiring one exceptional person to go find them and close them.

The role

This is not corporate recruiting. There is no requisition queue, no inbound pipeline to manage, no agency doing the hard part for you.

You will own executive hiring at Sanctuary end to end. That means building the market from scratch, identifying the strongest operators in Texas real estate and adjacent industries, picking up the phone, getting in front of people who are not looking, and convincing them that this is the company worth leaving a good job for.

You will work directly with our CEO and People Operations Director. You will be measured on the caliber of the leaders you hire and how fast you hire them.

What you'll own

• Lead executive and senior leadership searches

• Build targeted market maps across real estate development, construction, homebuilding, finance, capital markets, sales, and operations.

• Source and directly approach high performers, including passive candidates who are not in the market.

• Run outbound through calls, referrals, events, industry relationships, LinkedIn, email, and whatever else works.

• Represent Sanctuary to senior candidates and sell the mission, the opportunity, and the leadership team with genuine conviction.

• Develop a real understanding of each role, the business problem behind it, and the kind of leader who solves it.

• Assess rigorously. Push candidates past their resumes and past their rehearsed answers.

• Partner with the CEO and leadership team through interviews, decisions, offers, and negotiation.

• Manage every candidate from first contact through acceptance and onboarding, with relentless follow-up so strong people never fall out of the process.

• Build a long‑term network of executives, operators, investors, developers, brokers, and industry leaders across Austin and Texas.

What we're looking for

• Existing relationships across Austin and Texas real estate, construction, finance, or executive networks are a major advantage.

• Significant experience in agency recruitment, executive search, or another environment where you personally owned the hunt.

• A track record of sourcing and closing senior leaders yourself, not managing a team that did it.

• Experience filling roles such as COO, Head of Operations, Sales Director, CFO, or senior finance, construction, and development leaders.

• Strong cold outreach ability and complete comfort calling people who did not ask to hear from you.

• Exceptional communication, persuasion, and negotiation skills.

• Sharp judgment on leadership ability, ownership, intelligence, commercial instincts, and culture fit.

• The ability to understand a business, not just a job description.

• Comfort working directly with a demanding, fast‑moving CEO and operating without constant direction.

You’ll be a strong fit if:

• You would rather call someone than wait for an email reply.

• You enjoy winning over candidates who start the conversation by saying they are not interested.

• You walk into an industry event already knowing who you want to meet.

• You are comfortable being measured on the quality and speed of your hires.

• You take ownership of outcomes instead of blaming the market, the comp band, or the hiring manager.

• You are persistent without being careless or transactional.

• You move fast while holding an exceptionally high bar.

• You want real ownership over building a leadership team, not recruitment administration.

What success looks like in 3 months:

• A high‑caliber COO hired and performing.

• A proven Sales Director hired and performing.

• Strong pipelines built for the next wave of executive and senior leadership roles.

• A trusted network of high performers across Austin and Texas that Sanctuary can draw on for years.

• A repeatable executive search process that consistently attracts exceptional people.

• A genuine hiring partnership with the CEO and leadership team.