Founding Recruiter

Job description

We’re hiring our first in-house recruiter to build the recruiting function at Nova. We recently closed our Series A and expect to grow significantly over the next year. You’ll work closely with the founding team to help us hire exceptional people across the company while building a recruiting process that is fast, thoughtful, and consistent. The role covers engineering, SAP, go-to-market, operations, and future leadership hires, with a particular focus on hiring top software engineers in New York. You’ll own the candidate experience from first outreach through offer, partner with external search firms where helpful, and shape how Nova presents itself to prospective employees. RESPONSIBILITIES - Own recruiting from initial sourcing through offer across engineering, SAP, go-to-market, operations, and leadership roles - Build a strong outbound sourcing program, with a particular focus on top software engineers in New York - Identify and engage talented candidates who may not be actively looking for a new role - Work closely with hiring managers and the founding team to define hiring needs, evaluate candidates, and move searches forward - Build Nova’s reputation with candidates through thoughtful outreach, recruiting events, and a strong presence in relevant communities - Set the recruiting strategy: determine where to find the best candidates, understand what is working, and adjust the approach when needed - Manage relationships with external recruiters and search firms - Create a candidate experience that is organized, responsive, and respectful of people’s time - Build the systems, processes, and tools that will allow recruiting to scale as the company grows WHO YOU ARE - You have 4+ years of recruiting experience, with a strong technical recruiting foundation and meaningful experience hiring top software engineers, ideally at a high-growth startup - You have hired across different functions and seniority levels, from individual contributors to senior leaders, and can quickly learn unfamiliar talent markets - You are a strong communicator and storyteller: you can explain the product, articulate why the opportunity is exciting, and build real conviction in candidates - You are a hunter. You build pipeline rather than wait for inbound, and you know how to reach people who are not actively looking - You are a first-principles problem solver who is comfortable working without an established playbook - You are AI-native and use AI tools and workflows to improve sourcing, outreach, scheduling, and recruiting operations - You move quickly, write well, and have strong judgment about talent