Head of Talent — Customer-Facing Engineering Recruiting

Stealth Startup; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Stealth Startup is seeking a high-caliber Head of Talent - FDE Hiring to build an exceptional team at a fast-growing technology company in San Francisco. This role targets sourcing and recruiting customer-facing engineers, including Forward Deployed Engineers, who can implement solutions and drive product adoption.

The ideal candidate will blend strategic recruiting judgment with strong sourcing skills, partnering with engineering and business leaders to create high-performing teams in a startup

Qualifications

• 5+ years in talent acquisition or technical recruiting, ideally in a high-growth startup or demanding tech environment.
• Experience recruiting for customer-facing engineering roles, such as Forward Deployed Engineers or Solutions Engineers.
• Proven track record sourcing and closing exceptional technical talent in competitive markets.
• Strong outbound sourcing, including advanced LinkedIn Recruiter search techniques, Boolean search, talent mapping, and personalized outreach.
• Ability to partner with engineering leaders, founders, and senior stakeholders to drive hiring outcomes.
• Willingness to work full-time on-site in San Francisco, CA.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting: role intake, sourcing, screening, interview coordination, offers, and closing.
• Source exceptional technical talent via LinkedIn, referrals, outreach, and creative sourcing.
• Specialize in customer-facing engineering pipelines (FDEs, Solutions Engineers, etc.).
• Partner with hiring managers to define needs and evaluation criteria.
• Operate at startup speed by managing multiple searches with high-quality candidates.
• Build targeted talent maps, competitive intelligence, and sourcing approaches.
• Drive candidate engagement by communicating the company's mission and opportunities.
• Improve processes using recruiting data and metrics.
• Represent the company externally to strengthen reputation in the tech talent community.

Skills

Talent acquisition

Technical recruiting

Sourcing strategies

LinkedIn Recruiter

Boolean search

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Data-driven recruiting

Startup recruiting

Tools

ATS systems

Recruiting analytics tools

Sourcing tools

Boolean search tools

Job description

Stealth Startup is seeking a high-caliber Head of Talent - FDE Hiring to build an exceptional team at a fast-growing technology company in San Francisco. This role targets sourcing and recruiting customer-facing engineers, including Forward Deployed Engineers, who can implement solutions and drive product adoption.

The ideal candidate will blend strategic recruiting judgment with strong sourcing skills, partnering with engineering and business leaders to create high-performing teams in a startup