Founding Recruiter — Confidential AI-Powered Marketing Automation Startup

Aionia; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Aionia, a confidential AI-powered marketing automation startup in San Francisco, is hiring a Founding Recruiter to build the recruiting function from scratch. This is a true founding role with strategic impact and equity potential.

You'll partner with founders and hiring managers to define roles, craft job descriptions, and own full-cycle recruiting for engineering and GTM. Visa sponsorship & relocation available; in-office 5 days a week.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of experience in full-cycle recruiting across technical and GTM roles at startups.
• Recruited both engineers and GTM hires.
• Experience at a high-growth startup (Seed to Series B).
• Proficient with Ashby or similar ATS and LinkedIn Recruiter.
• Built or owned recruiting at a startup (startup experience required).
• Ability to have conviction — pushes back on hiring managers with data-driven opinions.
• Based in San Francisco, in-office 5 days/week.
• Professional, polished LinkedIn presence (founding role is very client-facing — a must).

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting with heavy emphasis on sourcing and top-of-funnel, engaging passive candidates across engineering and GTM roles.
• Partner with founders and hiring managers to define roles, create job descriptions, and build hiring strategies from scratch.
• Manage external recruiting agencies and calibrate them on ideal candidate profiles.
• Build and maintain recruiting infrastructure — Ashby, Calendly, Slack channels, interview processes, and documentation.
• Iterate with new sourcing tools and AI-forward workflows.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Sourcing

Contract negotiation

Data-driven decisions

Client-facing

Tools

Ashby

LinkedIn Recruiter

Job description

Founding Recruiter - Own recruiting, start to finish.

Confidential AI-Powered Marketing Automation Startup · San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, CA · On-site 5 days/week $150K – $225K + Equity Series A · $28M Raised Visa Sponsorship & Relocation Available

About the Company

This company is building the future of marketing automation, using AI to drive efficiency across the funnel. It recently raised a Series A ($28M) and operates with a lean team of ~21, based in San Francisco. The culture is friendly and transparent, with a strong emphasis on people as the company's core strength and close collaboration across departments.

"You won't just execute — you'll shape how recruiting works here, push back on hiring managers, and build the entire recruiting function from scratch alongside the founders."

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Founding Recruiter with 3–5 years of experience to build and own the company's entire recruiting function from the ground up. You'll partner directly with founders and hiring managers to bring in exceptional talent across technical and GTM roles. This is a true founding role: you won't just execute, you'll shape how recruiting works here, push back on hiring managers, and drive strategy alongside the team.

What You'll Do

• Own full-cycle recruiting with heavy emphasis on sourcing and top-of-funnel — finding and engaging passive candidates across engineering and GTM roles
• Partner with founders and hiring managers to define roles, create job descriptions, and build hiring strategies from scratch
• Manage and communicate with external recruiting agencies, calibrating them on ideal candidate profiles
• Build and maintain recruiting infrastructure — Ashby, Calendly, Slack channels, interview processes, and documentation
• Iterate constantly on what's working — experiment with new sourcing tools, outreach approaches, and AI-forward workflows

Required

• 2–5 years of experience in full-cycle recruiting across technical and GTM roles at startups
• Recruited both engineers and GTM hires
• Experience at a high-growth startup (Seed to Series B)
• Proficient with Ashby or similar ATS and LinkedIn Recruiter
• Built or owned recruiting at a startup (startup experience required)
• Ability to have conviction — pushes back on hiring managers with data-driven opinions
• Based in San Francisco, in-office 5 days/week
• Professional, polished LinkedIn presence (founding role is very client-facing — a must)

Nice to Have

• Managed external recruiting agencies
• Top 50 university
• Uses AI/enrichment tools (Clay, Juicebox, Harmonic) to source

Traits to Avoid

• Only recruited at large companies with established teams/processes
• Relies on inbound pipelines rather than proactive outbound sourcing

Interview Process

1. Initial Screen (15–20 min) — Deployment Strategist / Hiring Ops

   Assesses basic fit, motivation for joining an early-stage startup, and alignment with the founding recruiter role.

2. Behavioral Interview (30 min) — Co-Founder

   Evaluates communication, grit, startup fit, problem-solving ability, and approach to recruiting.

3. Take-Home Exercise (a few hours, async)

   Evaluates the candidate's ability to think strategically about recruiting challenges at the company.

4. On-Site

   In-person evaluation with the founding team to finalize fit.