Founding Recruiter

Responsibilities

As a Founding Recruiter at Patronus AI, you’ll build and own the recruiting function from the ground up, partnering closely with the founders and leadership team to define what great talent looks like and bring it in. You’ll be responsible for hiring across research and engineering, with a focus on identifying and closing high-agency, high-caliber candidates who can operate in a fast-moving, 0→1 environment. This is not just an execution role, you’ll design the hiring strategy, build scalable processes, and act as a true thought partner on how we grow the team. You should be excited about going deep on technical roles, creatively sourcing top 1% talent, and delivering a candidate experience that reflects the ambition and pace of Patronus AI.

In this role, you will:

Job Requirements

• Work closely with external recruiting agencies to source and screen candidates, maintain tight communication loops, and provide clear, timely feedback on candidate progress
• Track candidates end-to-end through the funnel, ensuring no drop-offs, delays, or communication gaps
• Coordinate and schedule interviews (virtual + onsite), managing calendars across multiple team members and keeping the process fast and organized
• Run seamless onsite interviews: ensure schedules are tight, interviewers are prepared, and candidates have a high-quality, thoughtful experience
• Conduct thorough and thoughtful reference checks, synthesizing insights clearly for the hiring team
• Ensure interviewers are aligned, prepared, and submitting feedback on time; help maintain high standards and consistency across interviews
• Help build and improve recruiting processes, documentation, and systems as we scale

Qualifications

Above all, we look for a proactive mindset, willingness to learn, intellectual flexibility, relentless optimism and drive, and passion for recruiting. You are a great fit if you have a background in the following:

• High agency and ownership mindset; you can take a role from 0→1 and build the recruiting function without heavy direction
• Experience recruiting with a strong track record of hiring top talent for technical roles
• Strong communication skills with sharp judgment on talent, storytelling, and candidate experience
• Scrappy and resourceful; able to experiment, iterate, and move quickly in ambiguous environments
• Ability to operate both strategically and tactically, from defining hiring strategy and employer brand to sourcing and closing candidates
• Experience with recruiting tools, sourcing strategies, and building scalable hiring processes
• Strong project management skills; able to manage multiple roles and pipelines simultaneously
• Have good character, integrity, and respect for others!

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity packages
• Health, dental, and vision insurance plans
• 401(k) plan + matching
• In-office private chef
• Sponsored personal tax accounting 
• Whoop band, Oura ring, Function Health
• Monthly meal stipend
• Monthly health and wellness stipend
• Equinox membership
• Fun global offsites!

Patronus AI is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in our workplace, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.