Our client is a fast-growing, well-funded enterprise AI company building next-generation AI agents for global organizations. Founded by experienced Silicon Valley technology leaders, the company operates across India and international markets. It is scaling its engineering, product, AI and go-to-market capabilities while maintaining a lean, high-ownership organizational model.

The Opportunity:

The company is looking for a Talent Acquisition Leader to own its talent acquisition strategy and build a high-quality, globally aligned hiring engine.

The individual will lead the existing talent acquisition function and partner closely with the founders, India leadership, global functional heads and senior business stakeholders.

This is not a role for someone accustomed to managing a large recruitment team or operating primarily through layers of recruiters. The company is looking for a hands-on leader who can personally drive critical searches, coach a small team and deliver high-quality hiring outcomes with limited resources.

Key Responsibilities:

- Own the overall talent acquisition strategy across India, while supporting hiring requirements involving global stakeholders and markets.

- Partner with founders and functional leaders on workforce planning, organization design and hiring prioritization.

- Lead and develop the existing talent acquisition team while maintaining a lean operating structure.

- Personally drive critical leadership, product, engineering, AI/ML and niche technology searches.

- Build strong pipelines for senior and difficult-to-hire talent rather than relying primarily on inbound applications or agencies.

- Partner with global stakeholders to define role requirements, calibrate candidate quality and close senior candidates.

- Establish structured recruiting processes, interview frameworks and decision-making mechanisms.

- Build recruiting dashboards covering funnel quality, speed, conversion, source effectiveness and candidate experience.

- Improve the company's talent brand among AI, engineering, product and enterprise technology professionals.

- Use AI tools, automation and recruiting technology to improve sourcing, assessment, productivity and candidate engagement.

- Develop a long-term talent intelligence view across competitors, talent pools and emerging AI skill areas.

- Selectively manage external search partners for highly specialized or leadership mandates.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

- Over 10 years of experience in talent acquisition, with experience leading hiring for technology or product organizations.

- Currently operating at a level above an individual recruiter or TA Lead, with ownership of a broader talent acquisition charter.

- Strong track record of hiring across engineering, product, AI/ML, design and go-to-market functions.

- Experience partnering directly with founders, CXOs and senior global stakeholders.

- Meaningful exposure to international stakeholders, particularly in the US or other major technology markets.

- Experience working in a fast-growing startup, SaaS business, global capability centre or technology product company.

- Demonstrated ability to operate successfully with a small team and constrained resources.

- Strong hands-on sourcing and assessment capabilities, including for senior and niche roles.

- Practical understanding of AI talent markets and emerging technology skill sets.

- Exposure to AI-enabled recruiting, automation, talent intelligence or recruitment analytics.

- Strong executive communication, stakeholder management and influencing capabilities.

The strongest candidates are likely to have experienced both:

- The process discipline and stakeholder complexity of a global organization; and

- The speed, ambiguity and resource constraints of a startup or high-growth technology company.