Technical Recruiter - AI/ML

Atoms; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Life & disability insurance

Voluntary insurance

Supplemental life

401(k)

Health Savings Account (HSA)

Flexible Spending Accounts

Discretionary vacation days

8 paid holidays

Job summary

Atoms is hiring a recruiter to own full-cycle recruitment for AI/ML and other specialized technical roles, partnering with engineering leaders and building markets from the ground up to define what great looks like.

Based in San Francisco, this on-site role emphasizes hands-on sourcing, thoughtful outreach, and close collaboration with hiring managers. The position includes base salary with equity and a performance-based bonus in a fast-moving environment.

Qualifications

• Experience recruiting AI/ML, software engineering, robotics, autonomy, or similarly specialized technical talent.
• Proven success finding and engaging passive candidates in competitive talent markets.
• Strong sourcing fundamentals and ability to build a search rather than rely on inbound applicants.
• Ability to learn unfamiliar technical domains quickly and translate requirements into effective sourcing strategies.
• Ability to understand what candidates actually built and contributed to within complex technical orgs.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting for AI/ML and related technical roles from intake through offer and close.
• Partner with technical leaders to understand teams, technology, hiring needs, and talent profiles.
• Develop understanding of domains you recruit for beyond keywords.
• Build and execute sourcing strategies for highly specialized talent.
• Identify and engage passive candidates through thoughtful outreach.
• Evaluate backgrounds and distinguish ML engineering, AI research, perception, robotics, ML infrastructure.
• Manage candidates with transparent communication and high-quality experience.
• Use data to evaluate pipeline health and adjust strategy.
• Collaborate with hiring managers to set expectations and drive timely decisions.
• Help improve recruiting processes as Atoms scales.

Skills

AI/ML recruiting

Sourcing fundamentals

Passive candidate engagement

Engineering collaboration

Communication skills

Job description

Atoms is building the machines that power the next era of progress.

Over the last decade, software has transformed the digital world. But the physical world, where food is made, minerals are mined, goods are moved, and industries are run, remains far less intelligent, far less efficient, and far more constrained. We’re changing that.

Atoms builds Physical AI— real-world robots for the industries that move civilization forward, starting with food, mining, and transport. Our systems are designed to understand, predict, and control the real world with precision, turning complex physical operations into something more reliable, more scalable, and more productive.

This work requires more than robotics. It requires deep integration across hardware, software, AI, operations, manufacturing, and real estate. We don’t just build machines in a lab. We deploy them into real environments, operate them, learn from them, and improve them until they work at scale.

We are roboticists, engineers, operators, and builders. We believe the next great technology companies will not only transform information, but the physical systems that shape everyday life.

If you want to work on hard problems with real-world impact, join us.

What you’ll do

You will own full-cycle recruiting for highly specialized technical roles across machine learning, AI research, perception, robotics, autonomy, and ML infrastructure.

This role requires more than managing a recruiting process. You will need to understand the technical talent you're looking for, build the market from the ground up, and partner with engineering leaders to determine what great actually looks like.

• Own full-cycle recruiting for AI/ML and related technical roles from intake through offer and close.
• Partner directly with technical leaders to understand their teams, technology, hiring needs, and the specific talent profiles required.
• Develop a working understanding of the domains you recruit for—not simply the keywords associated with them.
• Build and execute sourcing strategies for highly specialized and difficult-to-find technical talent.
• Identify and engage passive candidates through thoughtful, targeted outreach.
• Evaluate technical backgrounds and distinguish between adjacent areas such as ML engineering, AI research, perception, robotics, and ML infrastructure.
• Understand a candidate's actual technical contributions, rather than relying solely on titles or company pedigree.
• Manage candidates throughout the recruiting process while providing direct, transparent communication and a high-quality candidate experience.
• Use recruiting data and market evidence to evaluate pipeline health, identify problems, and adjust search strategy.
• Partner with hiring managers to maintain clear expectations, drive timely decisions, and challenge assumptions when the market evidence calls for it.
• Help continuously improve our recruiting systems, interview processes, and technical hiring practices as Atoms scales.

What we’re looking for

• Experience recruiting AI/ML, software engineering, robotics, autonomy, or similarly specialized technical talent.
• Demonstrated success finding and engaging passive candidates in highly competitive talent markets.
• Strong sourcing fundamentals and the ability to build a search rather than depend primarily on inbound applicants.
• Ability to learn unfamiliar technical domains quickly and translate technical requirements into effective sourcing strategies.
• Ability to understand what candidates actually built, owned, and contributed to within complex technical organizations.
• Experience partnering directly with engineering leaders and senior hiring managers.
• Strong judgment and willingness to challenge a search strategy when candidate or market evidence doesn't support it.
• Ability to manage multiple complex searches without sacrificing quality or candidate experience.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• High ownership and comfort operating in a fast-moving environment with evolving priorities.

We’d especially like to meet you if

You have recruited in areas such as foundation models, computer vision, perception, autonomous vehicles, robotics, multimodal AI, world models, reinforcement learning, ML systems, or ML infrastructure.

You don't need to be an ML engineer. But you should be curious enough about the technology to learn the difference between someone who used a model, trained a model, built the systems around a model, and actually developed the model architecture.

What else you need to know

This role is based in our San Franciscooffice. Atoms is a company driven by invention and continuous change - we are constantly reimagining our industries, building new products, and refining how we operate. We do our best work together. That’s why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.

The base salary range for this role is $120,000 - $170,000 per year.

Actual compensation will be determined on an individual basis and may vary depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package. You may also be eligible for equity awards and an annual performance-based bonus.

Benefits Summary (USA Full-Time Exempt Employees):

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans, incl. HSA options).
• Company-paid life and disability insurance (short- and long-term).
• Voluntary insurance: accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity.
• Optional supplemental life insurance for self, spouse, and children.
• 401(k).
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care, Commuter)
• Discretionary vacation days
• 8 paid holidays per year

Benefits are subject to change at the company's discretion.
Atoms accepts applications on an ongoing basis.

Ready to join us as we serve those who serve others?

#LI-Onsite

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Atoms’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.