Technical Recruiter - AI/ML

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

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision

401(k)

Life and disability insurance

HSA / FSA options

Paid time off

Job summary

Atoms is seeking a Staffing Recruiter to own full-cycle recruiting for highly specialized technical roles across AI/ML, perception, robotics, and ML infrastructure. You will build the market from the ground up and partner with engineering leaders to define what great looks like.

You’ll develop sourcing strategies for hard-to-find talent, evaluate candidates’ real contributions, and maintain a high-quality candidate experience while scaling our recruiting processes as Atoms grows.

Qualifications

• Experience recruiting AI/ML, software engineering, robotics, autonomy, or similarly specialized technical talent.
• Proven success finding and engaging passive candidates in highly competitive talent markets.
• Ability to learn unfamiliar technical domains quickly and translate requirements into effective sourcing strategies.
• Experience partnering directly with engineering leaders and senior hiring managers.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle AI/ML and related technical recruiting 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 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 ML engineering, AI research, perception, robotics, and ML infrastructure.
• Understand a candidate's actual technical contributions, not just titles or pedigree.
• Manage candidates with direct, transparent communication and a high-quality candidate experience.
• Use recruiting data and market evidence to evaluate pipeline health and adjust search strategy.
• Partner with hiring managers to maintain clear expectations and timely decisions.

Skills

AI/ML Recruiting

Passive sourcing

Sourcing fundamentals

Domain learning

Partner with leaders

Strategic search

Communication

Fast-paced environment

Job description

Who we are

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.

Why join us

At Atoms, you’ll work on one of the defining challenges of our time—bringing automation into the physical world to drive real, lasting impact. We exist to uncover valuable unknown truths and turn them into progress, which means constantly pushing beyond what’s known and building what doesn’t yet exist. The work is ambitious and often challenging, but it’s grounded in a shared sense of purpose and a team committed to seeing it through together. Our work only matters if it serves others, and we know that meaningful progress depends on the trust of the people we serve and the strength of our team—so we invest in both, creating an environment where you can do your best work and grow.

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.

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.
• Pet insurance discount.
• 401(k).
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care, Commuter)
• Time Off policies:
• Discretionary vacation days
• 8 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick time
• Paid Bereavement leave
• Paid Parental Leave

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

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