Head of Talent

ABOUT US Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. Basically, we're building robots that build robots. We are reimagining manufacturing through advanced robotics. Our mission is to rebuild the American manufacturing industry as an AI-first, assembly-focused, dual-use contract manufacturer. We aim to empower manufacturers with intelligent, efficient, and adaptable robotic systems that redefine productivity and quality. As a founding member of our team, you will have a direct and significant impact on our product, culture, and ultimate success. This role is 100% in-person at our office in the Mission, SF. THE ROLE This role is for a Head of Talent who can build a recruiting function from first principles and then build the team that runs it. You will own hiring end to end — strategy, process, employer brand, and headcount planning — and hire, coach, and manage the recruiters and sourcers underneath you. You will be the in-house authority on how Foundry hires, and the person leadership trusts to fill the roles that determine whether we make our production commitments. We hire across an unusually wide surface: robotics researchers, mechanical and software engineers, manufacturing operators, technicians, and quality staff. You will be accountable for all of it. Key Responsibilities - Own Foundry Robotics' talent strategy end to end, from headcount planning and role scoping with hiring managers to offer close - Hire, manage, and develop a team of recruiters and sourcers, and build the infrastructure — ATS, scorecards, interview loops, comp bands — they operate inside - Build repeatable, high-signal interview processes for technical, manufacturing, and operations roles, and hold hiring managers to them - Own the executive and hard-to-fill searches personally, including senior research and manufacturing leadership - Build the top-of-funnel: sourcing strategy, employer brand, university and technician pipelines, and referral programs - Own recruiting data and report hiring performance — pipeline health, time to hire, pass-through rates, offer acceptance — to leadership on a regular cadence - Partner with Finance and leadership on compensation philosophy, leveling, and equity bands - Serve as the steward of Foundry's culture and hiring bar as the team scales WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - 8+ years of recruiting experience, including 3+ years leading and managing recruiters - Demonstrated experience building or materially rebuilding a recruiting function, not just operating inside a mature one - Track record hiring deep technical talent — robotics, hardware, or software engineers — and closing candidates against competing offers - Experience hiring non-engineering operational talent at volume: technicians, operators, and shop floor staff - Fluency in recruiting systems and metrics. You can instrument a funnel, diagnose where it's leaking, and fix it - Strong enough technical judgment to scope a role with an engineering lead and screen candidates credibly without a hiring manager in the room - Equally effective in a comp discussion with the founders and on the shop floor talking to a technician about second shift - Bias toward action, scrappy problem solving, and moving fast without lowering the bar Nice to Have (Not Required) - Experience recruiting in robotics, aerospace, defense, or another hardware-rich industry - Experience hiring into ITAR-controlled or cleared programs, and familiarity with the constraints that come with them - Experience owning people ops adjacencies — onboarding, performance, or early HR infrastructure — in addition to recruiting - Experience at an early-stage company where the talent function was built rather than inherited WHY JOIN US? This is one of the only places where world-class manufacturing operators, mechanical engineers, robotics researchers,…