Recruiter

Kaizen

New York (NY)

Hybrid

USD 110,000 - 180,000

Full time

4 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with company match

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave (16 weeks)

Job summary

Kaizen is hiring for a top-of-funnel recruiting role in New York City or Washington, DC. You will directly partner with co-founders and hiring managers to identify, engage, and close candidates for technical and GTM roles in a fast-scaling government-tech company.

You will own the candidate journey from outreach to offer, leveraging AI tooling to surface non-obvious talent and drive creative recruiting strategies. This is a hybrid role based in NYC or DC, with in-office expectations.

Qualifications

3+ years of recruiting experience, in-house at a high-bar company or agency.
Proven track record of closing candidates who weren't looking.
Outbound sourcing mindset and market-m mapping abilities.
Hands-on with AI tooling to build workflows and agents.

Responsibilities

Proactively source and engage passive candidates for technical roles using creative search strategies and networks.
Manage full-cycle recruiting from sourcing to interview, feedback, offers, and onboarding.
Lead GTM role searches when needed to meet company goals and timelines.
Build AI tooling (agents, Claude workflows) to surface hidden candidates.
Craft outreach messaging that yields replies and inbound interest.
Own candidate process from first touch to close with support from senior leadership.
Collaborate with Kaizen hiring managers to scope roles and design interview loops.
Hire top talent who align with Kaizen's mission and craft.
Contribute ideas to improve Kaizen's recruiting as the company scales.

Skills

Passive candidate sourcing

Full-cycle recruiting

Market mapping

Go-to-market recruiting

Stakeholder management/partnerships

High EQ and communication

Tools

LinkedIn Recruiter

GitHub

AI tooling workflows

Job description

Government technology has failed citizens, veterans, public servants, and service members for decades.

Kaizen powers America’s application layer. We replace the legacy systems federal agencies run on with modern software, built with craft. The ticketing platform a resident uses to visit a presidential library. The marketplace DoW uses to procure counter-drone systems to protect lives and critical infrastructure. The system a Veteran uses to access benefits. We build systems of record, of national consequence. Our AI-native modules and harness allow us to do so in weeks, not years.

This year, our revenue has grown 35x. Next year, our software will serve over 100 million Americans across dozens of federal agencies.

Founded in 2022 and based in New York City and DC, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital.

Location

This is a hybrid role based out of our New York City HQ or our Washington, DC office. Candidates must reside in or be able to commute to one of those cities. In New York, you'll work from the office four days a week. In DC, you'll work from the office three days a week (Tuesdays through Thursdays).

The Role

Kaizen is scaling to 100 people next year, and right now we have more open roles than recruiting horsepower to fill them. Every person we hire shapes the software that residents and public servants rely on to reach their government, so we can't afford to fill seats with whoever applies first. This role owns the top of the funnel: finding people who aren't looking, getting them on the phone, and carrying them all the way to a signed offer. You'll work directly with our co-founders and hiring managers across the company, and you'll have real room to get creative about how we find talent. The more unconventional the approach, the better, as long as it lands the right person.

What You'll Do

Proactively source and engage passive candidates for a variety of technical positions by utilizing creative search strategies, conducting thorough market mapping, leveraging professional networks, and reaching out directly on platforms such as LinkedIn and GitHub. -
Manage all stages of the full-cycle recruiting process for technical roles, from identifying and attracting talent through to screening applicants, conducting interviews, facilitating feedback discussion with hiring managers, and supporting candidates through the offer and onboarding process.
Take an active role in go-to-market (GTM) position searches as needed, based on evolving business priorities. This includes stepping in to conduct candidate sourcing, screening, and recruiting for GTM teams such as sales, marketing, customer success, or partnerships, ensuring that the company is able to meet goals and timelines for building out these strategic business functions as demand arises.
Build your own AI tooling (agents, Claude, Claude Code workflows) to map markets and surface people standard sourcing tools miss.
Write outreach people actually answer, and find new ways to grow inbound from the candidates we most want.
Own candidates from first touch through close: run your own screens, sell the role, and close offers, with senior recruiting and leadership behind you on the hardest ones.
Partner with hiring managers across Kaizen to scope roles, design interview loops, and hold the bar.
Hire people who are excellent at their craft and care about the mission, because they build the tools residents depend on.
Bring ideas to improve how we recruit as Kaizen scales to 100 people next year.

What You'll Bring

3+ years of recruiting experience, in-house at a high-bar company or at an agency, with a track record of closing candidates who weren't looking.
Outbound instincts. You go find people rather than waiting for the right one to apply, and you can map a market from scratch.
Hands-on AI tooling. You've built your own workflows or agents to source, beyond the tools that came with your last seat.
An eye for exceptional talent that isn't obvious on paper, and the judgment to back your read with evidence.
High EQ. You can get a skeptical passive candidate on the phone, earn a hiring manager's trust, and know when to push and when to listen.

Strong Candidates May Also...

Have recruited at a tech startup through a period of fast growth.
Bring govtech or federal hiring experience.
Have recruited for GTM roles alongside technical ones.

Don't Apply If...

You measure a good week by how many profiles you touched.
You'd rather work the inbound queue than go find someone who isn't looking.
You want to source and hand off. Here you own the candidate through the close.
Your sourcing stack starts and ends with the tools your last company paid for.
You judge candidates by the logos on their resume.

What Kaizen Offers

Health & Insurance

100% coverage across the board: medical through Oxford/United (Gold and Platinum PPO plans), dental through Guardian PPO, and vision through Beam — all fully covered for employees, with 100% coverage for dependents.
$100,000 in fully paid life insurance. FSA and Dependent Care FSA.
One Medical membership, on us — same-day primary care, 24/4 virtual visits, and offices all over the city.
Fertility and family-building support through Carrot.
401(k) through Guideline, with a 2% company match.

Family & Time Off

16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents. 10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents.
Unlimited PTO, with a two-week minimum (we mean it when we say take time off!)
Closed for all federal holidays.
Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas.
Company offsites throughout the year.

Office & Remote Setup

Up to $750 one-time home office or desk setup stipend for NYC-based employees. $500 for remote employees.
$50/month commuter benefit (company contribution).
Expensed lunch while in the office.
Dinner and Uber rides home will be expensed if you choose to work in the office past 7pm.
Company-provided laptop of your choice.

Wellness

NYC employees: Fully covered gym membership at Grindhouse — right across the street from our office at 47 W 17th St (and in Williamsburg). A $225/month value, on us.
Non-NYC employees: $100 per month, dedicated to gym / physical fitness reimbursement.

Stipends