Head of Talent

Affiniti; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Affiniti is hiring its first Head of Talent to create the entire Talent function from the ground up. You will work directly with the founders and executive team to define strategy, hiring standards, and a scalable process to attract and close world-class leaders and contributors.

You will personally run high-impact searches across Engineering, Product, Design, GTM, Operations, Finance, and G&A, shaping workforce planning and organizational design to accelerate growth.

Qualifications

• Track record of building or scaling Talent inside high-growth startups.
• End-to-end ownership from founder brief to closed candidate.
• Ability to close VP/C-level leaders and senior engineers.
• Strong judgment to protect hiring bar in fast-moving environments.
• Sharp written and verbal communication to tell Affiniti’s story.
• Operational depth to build systems, tools, processes, and metrics.
• Bias toward action with a hands-on approach.
• Experience hiring across New York and the San Francisco Bay Area; fintech/AI/SaaS experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Build Affiniti’s Talent function from the ground up with strategy, operating model, and hiring standards.
• Lead the searches that matter most, sourcing and closing leaders and ICs across multiple functions.
• Partner with founders on priorities, workforce planning, and role definition.
• Create fast, rigorous, consistent processes: scorecards, structured interviews, training, cadences.
• Raise the talent bar by coaching leaders to interview effectively and make strong hiring decisions.
• Create candidate experiences that are personal and compelling.
• Build Affiniti’s reputation as a top place to do meaningful fintech and AI work.
• Develop dashboards and rhythms that surface hiring velocity, funnel quality, offers, and forecast accuracy.

Skills

Leadership

End-to-end ownership

Recruiting

Stakeholder management

Communication

Job description

About This Role

Affiniti is building the financial operating system for the small businesses that keep America running. The pharmacist in rural Louisiana. The auto dealer in the Midwest. The vet clinic owner who has done their books the same way for twenty years. These businesses power nearly half of the U.S. economy, yet the technology built for them has never reflected how much they matter.

We are changing that. But building a defining company takes more than a great product. It takes an exceptional team, and the people we hire over the next few years will shape what Affiniti becomes.

That is where you come in. You will be our first Head of Talent and will build the function from the ground up. You will work directly with the founders and executive team to find and close the people who can change the trajectory of the company, while building the systems and standards that let us scale without lowering the bar.

This is not a role for someone who wants to manage recruiting from a distance. You will personally run our most important searches, help leaders get sharper about who they need, and build a hiring engine that becomes one of Affiniti’s greatest competitive advantages.

If you want to build the team behind one of the next defining companies in fintech and AI, this is that opportunity.

Key Responsibilities

• Build Affiniti’s Talent function from the ground up. Set the strategy, operating model, systems, and hiring standards that will carry us through our next stage of growth

• Personally lead the searches that matter most. Source, assess, recruit, and close exceptional leaders and individual contributors across Engineering, Product, Design, GTM, Operations, Finance, and G&A

• Partner directly with the founders and executive team on hiring priorities, workforce planning, organizational design, role definition, and what exceptional looks like before a search begins

• Build a hiring process that is fast, rigorous, and consistent. Create scorecards, structured interviews, interviewer training, decision cadences, and the operating discipline that keeps quality high as volume grows

• Raise the talent bar across the company. Help leaders become better interviewers, make sharper decisions, and take real ownership of building exceptional teams

• Make every candidate interaction count. Create an experience that is thoughtful, personal, and compelling enough that even people who do not join leave believing Affiniti is a company worth watching

• Build Affiniti’s reputation as one of the best places to do the most meaningful work in fintech and AI. Turn our mission, founders, team, and ambition into a story exceptional people want to be part of

• Know what the hiring engine is actually telling us. Build the dashboards and operating rhythms that surface hiring velocity, funnel conversion, source quality, offer acceptance, candidate quality, and forecast accuracy, then use that data to make us better

What You’ll Bring

• A track record of building or scaling Talent inside high-growth startups, ideally from Series A through Series C

• End-to-end ownership. You can take a critical role from a half-formed founder brief to a closed exceptional candidate without waiting for someone else to build the process around you

• Real recruiting range. You are as comfortable closing a VP or C-level leader as you are sourcing an exceptional engineer or helping a hiring manager rethink the profile entirely

• Strong judgment about talent. You know the difference between a polished candidate and an exceptional one, and you have the conviction to protect the bar when the business is moving fast

• Sharp written and verbal communication. You can tell Affiniti’s story in a way that makes a passive candidate lean in, and you can give a founder direct feedback they will trust

• Operational depth. You know how to build the systems, tools, processes, and metrics that create speed and consistency without turning a startup into a bureaucracy

• A bias toward action. You move with urgency, stay close to the work, and do not believe any part of recruiting is beneath you

• High standards without ego. You care deeply about people, invite constructive friction, and are willing to challenge assumptions in service of building the best possible team

• Experience hiring across New York and the San Francisco Bay Area. Fintech, AI, SaaS, or infrastructure experience is a plus

Work Authorization

Candidates must be currently authorized to work in the United States. For this role, we are considering candidates who are U.S. citizens, U.S. lawful permanent residents (Green Card holders), or individuals who otherwise currently hold valid authorization to work in the United States.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Affiniti is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Affiniti provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and applicants with disabilities throughout the recruiting process, consistent with applicable law.