Founding Recruiter for High-Growth Startup

Shortstory; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Competitive salary

Benefits package

Job summary

Short Story in San Francisco is seeking a Founding Recruiter who will shape our early talent strategy and build a high-performing team across operations, styling, product, engineering, marketing, and client experience.

You’ll work directly with the CEO and will own full-cycle recruiting, sourcing, and brand-building. This is a founder‑level role for someone who thrives in a fast-paced startup and wants to leave a lasting imprint on the company’s growth.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of recruiting experience, with at least 3 years in a startup or high-growth environment.
• Self-starter able to operate as a team of one and own end-to-end recruiting processes.
• Proven ability to write outbound messages that generate responses and find non-obvious candidates.
• Experience with sourcing across multiple channels and building pipelines for multiple functions.

Responsibilities

• Full Cycle Recruiting: Own the end-to-end recruiting for all roles.
• Talent Strategy: Set hiring goals and roadmaps with founders and hiring managers.
• Sourcing: Build and run outbound strategies to reach top talent.
• Manage Talent Infrastructure: Use Ashby, LinkedIn Recruiter, and data to inform decisions.
• Growth Strategy: Advise founders on team composition and scaling.
• Talent Operations: Coordinate candidates, improve hiring processes, and maintain systems.
• Brand Building: Develop Short Story’s employer brand and candidate experience.

Skills

Recruiting

Startup experience

Full cycle recruiting

Talent strategy

Sourcing

Brand building

Ownership mindset

Tools

Ashby

LinkedIn Recruiter

AI tools

Job description

Short Story in San Francisco is seeking a Founding Recruiter who will shape our early talent strategy and build a high-performing team across operations, styling, product, engineering, marketing, and client experience.

You’ll work directly with the CEO and will own full-cycle recruiting, sourcing, and brand-building. This is a founder‑level role for someone who thrives in a fast-paced startup and wants to leave a lasting imprint on the company’s growth.