Head of Talent

Wafer; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully covered medical, dental, and vis

Daily lunch and dinner

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

Housing stipend

Relocation allowance

Uber/Waymo from/to office

Visa sponsorship

Job summary

Wafer is building AI systems to optimize inference workloads. We are seeking a Head of Talent to find and close exceptional people and to build a recruiting function that scales with the company.

You will work directly with the founders, Chief of Staff and hiring managers, owning our most important searches and designing effective interviews that reflect our ambitious engineering culture. This on-site SF role demands autonomy and a focus on high standards.

Qualifications

• You have several years of experience in talent or recruiting at a high-growth startup.
• You have personally sourced and closed exceptional technical hires with a track record of earning trust.
• You understand technical hiring for infrastructure, systems, AI or similarly demanding roles.
• You bring strong judgment and high standards to distinguish great candidates from strong interviewers.
• You build trust with candidates and can source, follow-up and coordinate independently.
• You can turn ambitious hiring goals into a clear plan and execute without a fixed spec.

Responsibilities

• Find and recruit exceptional engineers and operators through direct sourcing, referrals and relationships.
• Own searches from first conversation to accepted offers and close candidates.
• Collaborate with hiring managers to define what great looks like and design effective interviews.
• Help candidates understand Wafer's technical work, ambition and impact.
• Keep the recruiting process fast and organized with clear ownership and reliable data in Ashby.
• Manage recruiting partners and optimize channels for strong hires.
• Build the talent team and recruiting systems as the company grows.

Skills

Sourcing & closing

Direct recruitment

Technical hiring

Hiring strategy

Interview design

Sourcing without a spec

Job description

Head of Talent

At Wafer, we are building AI systems that automatically optimize inference workloads across silicon. The quality of our team determines how fast we can build.

We're looking for a Head of Talent to find and close exceptional people, and build the recruiting function that lets Wafer scale without lowering the bar. You'll work directly with the founders, Chief of Staff and hiring managers, and personally own our most important searches.

What you'll do

• Find and recruit exceptional engineers and operators through direct sourcing, referrals and relationships.

• Own searches from the first conversation through an accepted offer. You know the candidates, what matters to them and what it will take to close them.

• Work with hiring managers to define what great looks like, design useful interviews and make decisions quickly.

• Help candidates understand Wafer's technical work, ambition and the impact they can have here.

• Keep the recruiting process fast and organized: clear ownership, timely feedback, reliable scheduling and accurate data in Ashby.

• Manage recruiting partners, understand which channels produce strong hires and spend accordingly.

• Build the talent team and recruiting systems as the company grows.

What we look for

• You have several years of experience in talent or recruiting, preferably at a high-growth startup. You've seen what breaks as hiring accelerates and have built the systems to keep up.

• You have personally sourced and closed exceptional technical hires. You can explain how you found them, earned their trust and helped them make the decision.

• You understand technical hiring. Experience recruiting for infrastructure, systems, AI or similarly demanding engineering roles is especially valuable.

• You have strong judgment and high standards. You can help a hiring manager distinguish a great candidate from someone who interviews well.

• You build trust with candidates and move quickly without losing the details. You are willing to do the sourcing, follow-ups and coordination yourself.

• You work without a spec. You can turn an ambitious hiring goal into a clear plan and execute it.

How we evaluate

We score every candidate on seven values:

1. Infinitely Resourceful

2. Exceptionalism

3. Unreasonable Standards

4. Company Over Self

5. High EQ

6. Learns Quickly

7. First Principles Thinker

Benefits

• Fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance.

• Daily lunch and dinner, unlimited PTO, and parental leave.

• $1K/month housing stipend (post-tax) if you live within walking distance (0.5 miles) from the office.

• Relocation allowance and benefits.

• Covered Uber/Waymo from/to office.

• Visa sponsorship available.

How we work

On-site in San Francisco, five days a week. Small team with massive surface area and ownership. You operate with complete autonomy of how to solve problems.

You will build the talent function while doing the work yourself. Your success is measured by the exceptional people who join Wafer and what they help us build.

Offers Equity Fully covered medical, dental and vision. Daily lunch and dinner. Unlimited PTO and parental leave. $1K/month housing stipend if you live within half a mile of the office. Visa sponsorship available.