Founding Lead Recruiter

Lantern; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

SF office

In-person team

Job summary

Lantern in San Francisco is hiring a Founding Lead Recruiter to own and scale recruiting across Engineering, ML, and GTM. As the first dedicated recruiter, you’ll shape strategy, tooling, and processes, reporting to the CEO and partnering with founders on every hire.

This is an in-office, SF-based role with potential for future growth into Head of Talent as the team expands. You’ll build the recruiting foundation from the ground up, implement AI-powered workflows, and build a high-impact

Qualifications

• 6+ years of full life-cycle recruiting experience with deep engineering (ML or data) recruiting
• Experience recruiting in an early-stage, high-growth startup
• Proven track record closing top technical talent in SF market against offers
• Experience building recruiting workflows/tools, especially with AI
• Experience shaping recruiting processes and tooling, not just operating within them
• Comfortable working with founders, influencing decisions and protecting hiring bar
• Bias for speed without sacrificing candidate experience or hiring bar

Responsibilities

• Own full life-cycle recruiting across Engineering, ML, and GTM to build Lantern's teams
• Create targeted sourcing strategies to reach top talent and ensure a strong candidate experience
• Partner with founders and hiring managers to design best-in-class interview processes
• Build recruiting foundation with scalable processes and AI-powered workflows
• Own recruiting metrics and pipeline visibility to identify bottlenecks and improve velocity
• Develop closing plans and coordinate with founders on final steps with candidates
• Own Lantern's employer brand across careers page, LinkedIn, events, and networks
• Plan headcount with founders and scale the recruiting team accordingly

Skills

Full life-cycle recruiting

Engineering recruiting

GTM recruiting

AI-powered workflows

Influence with founders

Tools

Ashby

Job description

WHO WE ARE

Lantern is building the AI-native operating system for the $9T wholesale distribution industry. Billions of dollars sit tied up in stock, yet most distributors still buy on gut feel and spreadsheets. We partner with leading distributors to deliver precise, AI-powered purchasing recommendations that drive 30% leaner inventory, 10% higher sales, and 20+ hours saved per week per user. We've gone from $0 to $5M ARR in 8 months, raised $7M from top VCs, and are hitting hypergrowth.

About the Role

Lantern is hiring a Founding Lead Recruiter to own and scale hiring across the company. As our first dedicated recruiting hire, you'll play a critical role in building our Engineering and ML team alongside the GTM team taking our product to market, while shaping the recruiting strategy, processes, and tools that will support our next stage of growth. This role will report directly to our Co-founder & CEO and work closely with our founders on every hire. As hiring grows, you'll help hire and lead the recruiting team that comes next.

Must be based in San Francisco (in-office).

What You'll Do

• Own full life-cycle recruiting across Engineering, ML, and GTM, playing a critical role in building the teams that will shape Lantern's next stage of growth
• Build and execute creative, targeted sourcing strategies to reach exceptional talent where they actually spend time, and deliver a thoughtful, high-quality candidate experience
• Act as a strategic talent partner to our founders and hiring managers to define and run best-in-class interview processes, including structured loops, scorecards, and calibration
• Build Lantern's recruiting foundation from the ground up, including Ashby, scalable processes, AI-powered workflows, and reporting that make hiring smarter, faster, and more effective
• Own recruiting metrics and pipeline visibility, using data to identify bottlenecks, improve hiring velocity, and keep leadership informed
• Build a closing plan for every candidate and partner with the founders on the last mile
• Be a champion of Lantern's mission and culture, owning our employer brand across our careers page, LinkedIn, events, and founder networks
• Partner with the founders on headcount planning and leveling, then hire and lead the recruiters who come next

What You Bring

• 6+ years of full life-cycle recruiting experience, with deep experience hiring engineers (ML or data a plus) and the range to run strong GTM searches
• Prior experience recruiting inside an early-stage, high-growth startup that scaled quickly
• A track record of closing top technical talent in the SF market against competing offers
• Recruiting workflows or tools you've built with AI that you and others rely on, and you can show us
• Experience building recruiting process and tooling, not just operating inside an existing one
• Confidence with founders: you influence decisions, manage expectations, and protect the hiring bar
• A bias for speed without sacrificing candidate experience or hiring bar

Nice to Haves

• Founding or first-recruiter experience at a seed to Series B company
• Experience mentoring or leading other recruiters
• A Bay Area network in AI, ML, or data
• Experience hiring forward-deployed engineers
• Experience partnering with a VC's talent team or an embedded recruiter on a search
• Exposure to supply chain, distribution, or vertical software

What You'll Get

• An opportunity to join an early-stage company at the start of a period of rapid growth
• The opportunity to be Lantern's founding recruiter, with the ownership and autonomy to build the recruiting function, and team, from the ground up
• A direct partnership with our founders on every hire that shapes the company
• A clear path to Head of Talent as the team scales
• Competitive salary and meaningful equity
• An office in San Francisco with a tight-knit, in-person team

WHAT WE VALUE

We hire operators who own outcomes, combining sharp judgment with pragmatic execution and a willingness to do the unglamorous work. Hard work, humility, customer obsession, and pride in a job well done: the values our customers live by, and the values we hire for.