Talent Acquisition Specialist

Connecticut Innovations; New Haven (CT); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary with bonus opportunities

Generous paid time off

Flexible work schedules

Culture of work-life balance

Job summary

Connecticut Innovations in New Haven, CT, seeks a Talent Acquisition Specialist to lead full-cycle searches across its startup portfolio and advise founders on hiring strategies.

You will build targeted sourcing for technical roles, learn new markets quickly, and support recruiters across portfolio companies by refining processes and candidate experience.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of full-cycle recruiting experience with exposure to startup or venture-backed companies.
• Bachelor’s degree in HR, business, psychology, or related field.
• Experience recruiting across multiple functions (engineering, product, software, life sciences, etc.).
• Consultative recruiting style with ability to build credibility with founders and hiring managers.
• Strong sourcing instincts and interest in unfamiliar industries.

Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle searches across CI portfolio from intake to close.
• Serve as talent advisor to founders and leadership teams.
• Build sourcing strategies for specialized, technical searches.
• Learn new markets quickly and translate needs into candidate outreach.
• Help portfolio companies strengthen recruiting infrastructure, including ATS choices.
• Develop relationships with Connecticut colleges and universities.
• Collaborate with public and private partners across CT’s talent ecosystem.
• Support portfolio-wide recruitment initiatives and employer branding.
• Provide market intelligence on compensation, availability, and hiring trends.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Startup/VC recruiting

Sourcing strategies

Candidate outreach

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/business/psychology

Tools

Applicant tracking systems

Sourcing platforms

Job description

CI is Connecticut’s strategic venture capital arm and one of the most active early-stage investors on the eastern seaboard. CI has a portfolio of 250+ companies across 5 equity funds and a 1 venture debt fund. We have $550 million in assets under management, and our venture portfolio employs 4,000 jobs. In a typical year, we deploy $50 million and write between 60-80 checks. We review 750 companies per year and invite over 100 founders in to pitch us each year. We add 30 new companies to our portfolio annually, and we also invest as an LP in Connecticut-based venture capital funds. Connecticut Innovations - Venture Capital for Biotech, IT, and More Connecticut Innovations

We measure success through both financial returns and economic impact, including job creation. Over the past decade, CI has generated more than $400 million in returns and cumulatively, our portfolio companies have raised over $8 billion.

• Fiscal 2026 was our best year on record. We generated $76.1 million in cash proceeds from all investment activities. Most of those proceeds came from our strong New Haven bioscience sector. In FY26 actuals, we invested $59.3 million into 75 early-stage companies and venture funds, and those deals pulled an additional $1.2 billion of outside capital into the state.
• As of July 2026, CI earned the #1 spot in New England for portfolio exit value and ranked among top 5 East Coast venture firms investing at the Series B stage or earlier. Over the past 365 days, CI generated more than $125 million in cash returns.

Our culture is vibrant, diverse, collaborative, and inclusive. We embrace perspective and have mission alignment on our impact to Connecticut's innovation ecosystem.

Talent Acquisition Specialist

We are a talent and people advisory team embedded within a venture capital organization, providing hands-on support to CI portfolio companies at no cost to them. Our work gives founders access to recruiting and human capital expertise that many early-stage companies would not otherwise have the resources to build internally or afford external support. Talent Acquisition - Connecticut Innovations Connecticut Innovations

Depending on what a company needs, we may help think through organizational structure, benchmark compensation, design an interview process, build an employer brand, select an applicant tracking system, create an internship program, lead recruiting for a critical role, or develop a broader strategy for attracting and retaining talent.

Our Venture Team introduces us to companies across the portfolio, and from there we work directly with founders and leadership teams to understand the business, define the challenge, and determine how we can have the greatest impact.

You may spend one week helping an advanced manufacturing company identify a specialized process engineer, the next supporting a therapeutics company searching for a translational development leader, and the next advising a software founder on how to attract a chief revenue officer. Our venture portfolio, across 250+ companies, has 150+ open roles at any point in time, so this is high volume recruiting support.

You will not be expected to arrive as an expert in every industry we invest in. You will be expected to be curious enough to learn quickly, ask thoughtful questions, understand what makes someone exceptional in a particular field, and translate that understanding into a strong search strategy.

You will also serve as a trusted advisor to founders who may be building their teams for the first time. Early-stage companies make hiring decisions with limited resources and significant implications for their future growth. Our job is to help founders make those decisions thoughtfully — whether that means refining a role, recalibrating compensation, expanding the candidate profile, improving an interview process, or occasionally reconsidering whether a particular hire is the right priority for the company at that moment.

We are looking for an ambitious, entrepreneurial recruiter who enjoys learning, building relationships, and solving problems that do not always have an obvious answer. In return, we are excited to invest in someone who wants significant exposure to founders, venture capital, emerging companies, and the broader Connecticut innovation ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead full-cycle searches across the CI portfolio, from initial intake and market mapping through interviews, references, offer development, and close. Searches may span technical, scientific, commercial, operational, and executive functions.
• Serve as a talent advisor to founders and leadership teams, helping with role definition, organizational planning, compensation benchmarking, candidate profiles, interview design, and hiring strategy.
• Build thoughtful sourcing strategies for specialized and highly technical searches where traditional recruiting channels may not be enough.
• Learn new markets quickly, identify where relevant talent sits, and translate complex company or technical needs into compelling candidate outreach.
• Help portfolio companies strengthen their recruiting infrastructure, including ATS selection and implementation, interview scorecards, structured hiring processes, candidate experience, and onboarding frameworks.
• Develop relationships with Connecticut colleges and universities and help expand early-career pathways into CI portfolio companies.
• Strengthen relationships with public and private partners across Connecticut’s talent and innovation ecosystem, including other State of Connecticut organizations.
• Support portfolio-wide recruitment initiatives, including job posting strategy, job board partnerships, employer branding, social media, talent campaigns, and recruiting events.
• Bring market intelligence back to founders and the CI team, including insights on compensation, candidate availability, hiring trends, and the broader Connecticut and regional talent market.

What We're Looking For

• A bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, psychology, or related field.
• 2-5 years of full-cycle recruiting experience with meaningful exposure to startup, scale-up, venture-backed companies
• Experience recruiting across multiple functions and industries. Exposure to searches in areas such as engineering, product, software, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, or other technical disciplines is particularly valuable.
• A consultative recruiting style and the ability to build credibility with founders, executives, hiring managers, and candidates.
• Strong sourcing instincts and genuine interest in researching unfamiliar industries, technologies, companies, and talent markets.
• The ability to balance multiple searches, stakeholders, and priorities while maintaining a high-quality candidate experience.
• Comfort working in an environment where priorities evolve and every search may look different from the one before it.
• Strong judgment, problem-solving skills, and an interest in continuously improving how recruiting and talent programs are delivered.
• Familiarity with modern recruiting and HR technology, including applicant tracking systems, sourcing platforms, market-mapping tools, and emerging AI-enabled recruiting technology.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to translate complex information into clear recommendations.

How We Work – The CI Way

• We think as individuals and invest as a team. Our goal is never consensus — it is the best decision. Titles do not determine whose ideas matter. The best argument wins.
• We distinguish bad decisions from bad outcomes. Good decisions sometimes produce disappointing results, and poor decisions sometimes get lucky. We grade the quality of the thinking.
• Courage is a job requirement. When we believe an investment is wrong, we say so — in the room, on the record.
• Founders come first. Within the bounds of good judgment, we go out of our way to help entrepreneurs. We are allies, not obstacles.
• Humility and institutional memory. Every investment starts with a blank page. We are often wrong, so we stay open. We capture what each deal taught us so the next decision is better than the last.

Location

This role is based at Connecticut Innovations’ headquarters in New Haven, CT at District | Coworking Space. Our team is in the office 2 to 3 days a week.

Compensation

This is a full-time contract role (1099). Connecticut Innovations offers a base salary, with additional bonus opportunities based on team and individual performance. This role includes generous paid time off, flexible work schedules, and a culture that encourages work-life balance.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Connecticut Innovations is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. We welcome all candidates to apply regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or status as a protected veteran.