Lead Recruiter

Ohr; Colorado; Hybrid; USD 62,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

Ohr is building its new Colorado headquarters and seeks a Lead Recruiter to own full-cycle recruiting for scientific, engineering, and operational roles, driving velocity and a best-in-class candidate experience. This 6-month temp role aims to convert to a permanent, Colorado-based position in 2027.

You’ll stand up the recruiting engine, partner with hiring managers, manage agencies, and design TA infrastructure, including ATS and reporting.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in full-cycle recruiting, with technical/scientific hiring experience.
• Experience building recruiting systems in early-stage or hyper-growth environments.
• Managed agencies and aligned external partners to a precise talent profile.
• Bias for action; challenge conventional approaches with accountability and integrity.
• Highly organized and capable of running multiple high-quality searches with minimal oversight.
• Strong communication to evangelize Ohr's mission to candidates.
• Fluent with modern recruiting tools and AI/automation usage.
• Based in Greater Denver / Boulder area or willing to commute.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting for scientific, engineering, and operational roles; partner with hiring managers on role scope and evaluation.
• Manage external recruiting partners, including scope, performance, and pipeline management.
• Design and implement TA infrastructure: ATS, pipeline reporting, interview frameworks, and hiring processes from ground up.
• Lead recruitment events: plan and represent Ohr at career fairs, universities, and industry events.
• Build employer brand: craft job postings, careers content, and engagement across the Front Range STEM community, with the Head of People & Talent.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Technical recruiting

Agency management

ATS design

Hiring process

Employer branding

Hybrid work

Denver/Boulder area

Tools

ATS

Job description

The future must be created.

01 The role | 6-Month Temporary Position, with Intent to Convert

Chemistry is the invisible layer of all critical industries, and the old supply chain is being weaponized. We don't refine petroleum. We create the molecules that matter most — from the atom up.

Backed by $40MM in Series A funding, Ohr is building its new headquarters in Greater Denver-Boulder, Colorado, and we are seeking a Lead Recruiter to build and run the recruiting engine to power it. You will own full-cycle recruiting for scientific, engineering, and operational talent across Ohr, with an immediate focus on building the team for our new Colorado headquarters. You will stand up the internal systems that make recruitment run at velocity and put Ohr on the map as an employer in Colorado and nationally. You will work hand in hand with the Head of People & Talent with a high degree of agency to build a world-class candidate experience with Ohr's values at the center. This is a 6-month temporary engagement designed to convert. Once the facility is open and running, this role is intended to become a permanent full-time position based in our Colorado space in 2027.

The kind of people this work demands

Our mission demands more than great science. It requires a particular kind of team — visionary builders, hustlers, scientists, operators. Together, we carry both the technical depth to make the chemistry work and the commercial instinct to make the business thrive. People are our engine. Collaboration is our multiplier.

02 What you'll design and build

• Own full-cycle recruiting: Lead sourcing, screening, interview coordination, and offer management for scientific, engineering, and operational roles. Partner with hiring managers on role scoping, structured interviews, and candidate evaluation
• Manage external recruiting partners: Direct our agency and contract recruiter relationships, including scope, performance, and pipeline management
• Build TA infrastructure: Design and implement our ATS, pipeline reporting, interview frameworks, and hiring processes from the ground up
• Lead recruitment events: Plan and represent Ohr at local and national career fairs, university partnerships, and industry events
• Build employer brand: Shape how Ohr shows up to prospective talent — from creative job postings and careers content to hackathons, university partnerships, and engagement across the Front Range STEM community — in partnership with the Head of People & Talent

03 What you bring with you

• 5+ years in full-cycle recruiting, with meaningful time in technical or scientific hiring (life sciences, chemistry, engineering, advanced manufacturing, or similar)
• Experience building recruiting systems in an early-stage or hyper-growth environment
• You've managed agencies and know how to align external partners around a highly specific talent profile
• A bias for action; you challenge conventional approaches and know how to do hard things with accountability and integrity
• Highly organized and resourceful, comfortable running multiple high-quality searches at once with minimal oversight
• Strong communication across all channels; you can represent Ohr's story to candidates in a way that evangelizes our mission and vision
• Fluent with modern recruiting tools, and comfortable using AI and automation to work more effectively
• Based in the Greater Denver / Boulder area, or willing to commute

Additive

• Experience opening a new site or standing up a hiring function from zero
• Existing network in Colorado's Front Range life sciences or hard-tech community
• Experience with employer brand, university relations, or recruitment marketing

04 Working requirements

Ability to work hybrid in the Greater Denver / Boulder area now, and regularly onsite at our Colorado headquarters once open. Occasional travel for recruitment events. Ability to travel locally using a personal vehicle as needed.

05 Compensation & benefits

$45–$55/hr during the temp term; $85K–$105K base + equity on conversion. Final compensation will be determined based on skills, experience, and qualifications.

Eligible for Ohr's benefits through our PEO, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k), and paid time off, upon conversion to permanent employment, subject to plan eligibility and waiting periods.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the United States. Ohr is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

About Ohr

We are the integrators of industrial alchemy. Ohr exists because the molecules that matter most deserve a better origin story. Welcome to Creationary Chemistry™.

Our chemistry is not abstract. It powers rockets, secures industries, and sustains societies. We measure success not just by immediate impact, but by the durable, clean, and scalable systems we deploy. From rocket-grade fuels and highly stable energetics to rare-earth extractants, we use biocatalysis and primordial chemistry to create carbon chains of desirable length and shape, eliminating the environmental and geopolitical risks of oil and its refining.

Be a creationary.