Founding Technical Recruiter – Frontier AI & Data Infra

AfterQuery; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

AfterQuery is seeking a Technical Recruiter to join as one of the first recruiting hires and shape the future of our frontier AI data infrastructure team. You will own end-to-end recruiting for engineering and technical roles, partnering directly with the founders to define hiring systems, candidate experience, and talent bar from day one.

You will build outbound sourcing pipelines, source candidates from top AI labs, startups, and big tech, and help define interview loops and scorecards.

Qualifications

• 1+ years of experience in technical recruiting, ideally at a high-growth startup, AI company, top tech company, or technical recruiting agency.
• Proven ability to source, engage, and close strong engineering candidates in competitive markets.
• Strong understanding of technical roles across software engineering, infrastructure, full-stack, applied AI, and systems/product engineering.
• Experience building outbound sourcing pipelines from scratch.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong judgment on candidate quality, calibration, culture fit, and hiring urgency.
• High agency, strong ownership, and comfort operating in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Experience partnering directly with founders, executives, or senior hiring managers.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting for technical roles, including software engineering, infrastructure, applied AI, full-stack, and product engineering.
• Build high-quality outbound sourcing pipelines for top technical talent.
• Source candidates from AI labs, high-growth startups, big tech, quant firms, and elite universities.
• Partner with founders and hiring managers to define role requirements, interview loops, scorecards, and hiring strategy.
• Run candidate processes end-to-end, including outreach, screens, coordination, feedback collection, offer support, and closing.
• Create a high-touch candidate experience that reflects AfterQuery’s bar, speed, and culture.
• Track and improve recruiting funnel metrics, including response rates, pass‑through rates, offer acceptance, and time to hire.
• Help build the foundation of AfterQuery’s recruiting function, including systems, templates, workflows, and talent market maps.

Skills

Technical recruiting

Sourcing outbound

Interviewing

Candidate closing

Stakeholder management

Communication

Startup experience

Tools

ATS systems

LinkedIn Recruiter

Job description

AfterQuery is seeking a Technical Recruiter to join as one of the first recruiting hires and shape the future of our frontier AI data infrastructure team. You will own end-to-end recruiting for engineering and technical roles, partnering directly with the founders to define hiring systems, candidate experience, and talent bar from day one.

You will build outbound sourcing pipelines, source candidates from top AI labs, startups, and big tech, and help define interview loops and scorecards.