Senior Talent Partner (Singapore)

Job description

ABOUT CUSPAI CuspAI is the frontier AI company on a mission to solve the breakthrough materials needed to power human progress. While nature took billions of years to perfect molecules, we are harnessing AI to unlock trillion-dollar materials breakthroughs in months, not millennia. Our founding team is the most cited in the world, comprised of world-class researchers in AI, chemistry and engineering. We are working on some of the hardest and most important challenges including energy, clean water, the future of compute, and carbon capture, and this is just the start of what our 'search engine' for next-generation materials will unlock. We invite you to be part of a diverse, innovative team at the intersection of AI and materials science, working to create impactful partnerships that drive innovation, scalability, and industry collaboration. This work matters. Your work matters. We’re on the cusp of the on-demand materials era. Join us. THE ROLE Due to ongoing growth following our $100m Series A funding round, we are looking for an experienced and adaptable Senior Talent Partner to join as a member of the People Team. Working within our small but mighty Talent team, you will own and execute the end to end hiring process for various pipelines - primarily focusing on Technical Partnerships & Business Development hires - creating an exceptional experience for candidates and stakeholders as you identify, attract and engage elite technical and scientific talent. YOUR IMPACT Your work will directly impact the velocity at which we can solve challenges in critical areas such as next-generation computing, carbon capture and clean energy. You'll play a central role in growing CuspAI's world-class team of technical partnerships specialists, researchers, engineers and applied scientists. As a gatekeeper of excellence and a builder of culture, the people you find will maintain our high bar and help drive the real-world application of our core technology, enabling us to unlock world-changing materials breakthroughs. Working closely with the rest of the Talent team, you'll have the trust, autonomy and support to help evolve CuspAI's Talent function and scale the company thoughtfully and sustainably. You'll partner with some of the most cited researchers in their fields to decipher complex technical requirements and tell the exciting story of what we're building. Drawing on your experience and curiosity, you'll build and execute sourcing plans to identify and engage genuinely game-changing individuals; mapping networks, identifying talent pools, and crafting thoughtful outreach alongside hiring teams. This is a rare opportunity to be an early, core member of the foundational Talent team during CuspAI's formative growth, directly shaping the company's culture and accelerating our mission to discover materials that address the climate crisis. WHAT YOU WILL DO Full-Cycle Technical Recruitment - Own the end-to-end recruiting process across the full breadth of CuspAI's hiring, from software engineers, researchers and applied scientists through to technical partnerships, business development, and Country Managers for new regions. - Design and implement strategies to attract and engage world-class, highly specialised talent (e.g. individuals with PhDs in relevant fields) from science-first companies, AI labs, and academic spin-offs. - Act as an ambassador for CuspAI, articulating our mission and the impact of our AI-driven materials discovery whilst supporting candidates from offer through onboarding. Strategic Partnering - Collaborate closely with hiring teams to draft compelling job descriptions, define role requirements and assessment criteria, and design engaging and efficient interview processes. - Organise and run interviewer calibration sessions to ensure understanding and alignment around the focus areas for each interview stage, and assisting with the creation/refinement of appropriate questions and/or tasks. - Act as a talent advisor and thought partner, taking a data-driven approach to providing market insights on compensation, talent availability, and hiring trends within the Deep Tech and AI for Materials Science landscape. - Work closely with the people team to evolve CuspAI's approach to DEIB in hiring - identifying opportunities to strengthen representation, removing barriers in our processes, and building pipelines that reflect the diverse talent in our fields. Candidate Experience & Operations - Execute a high-touch, seamless candidate experience that reflects CuspAI’s values, with the goal that every applicant - regardless of the outcome - becomes an advocate. - Maintain rigorous data hygiene within our ATS, enabling and sharing accurate dashboards for hiring teams to help with visibility and engagement, as well as ensuring that hiring decisions are data-driven. - Agree and uphold service levels around critical tasks such as reviewing applications, responding to referrals, conducting screening calls, scheduling interviews, writing up feedback, replying to candidate requests, updating stakeholders, etc. MUST HAVE SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS: - Experience & Context: You have significant hands-on experience (10+ years) hiring, placing high-level technical partnerships or scientific business development professionals for science or research-oriented organizations (e.g. AI for Materials Science, computational chemistry, or physics research companies). - Adaptability: You thrive in ambiguity and fast-paced environments and have ideally worked in fast-paced full cycle recruitment in start-up or scale-up environments. You can pivot quickly when priorities change and are comfortable building appropriate processes from scratch where none exist, utilising your newly established internal network. - Curiosity: You look to understand the “why” behind each new role, building trust with hiring teams by asking questions and doing your own research to get below the surface of the JD. You proactively stay on top of the latest best practices, tools and techniques in Talent Acquisition. - Technical Fluency: You possess a strong track record of hiring for complex profiles in a technical or research-based organisation. You effectively understand the nuances between different engineering and research disciplines and can credibly screen candidates for different types of roles based on technical requirements. - Hunter Mindset: You build and execute proactive outbound sourcing strategies rather than relying only on inbound applications. You don’t stop at using LinkedIn Recruiter and you’re comfortable leveraging hiring partner networks for referral streams. - Stakeholder Management: You keep hiring teams updated and set out clear responsibilities, providing guidance on best practices to managers and senior leadership. - Mission Alignment: You are genuinely excited about the intersection of AI and science. You can passionately articulate our mission to candidates who want to use their skills to combat climate change and advance sustainability. BONUS POINTS (BUT NOT CRITICAL): - An academic background or professional experience within Materials Science, Chemistry, or Chemical Engineering. - Familiarity with recruiting technical founders, PhD-level business developers, or translation-focused researchers. - Knowledge of the MLOps and deep tech startup ecosystem. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS This role will be based in Singapore, with the expectation of being in the office at least three days per week. Your working hours will need to have some overlap with our other teams in Europe, while also allowing you to work effectively with local partners. As part of your onboarding, you will be expected to spend at least a few weeks in our Cambridge/London office learning about our platform and getting to know us in person. Additionally, there may be regular travel required to Europe and other regional and global locations for collaboration and project work. WHAT WE OFFER - A competitive salary: We value and reward impact and growth - Equity in CuspAI: You have a stake in the success of the company - Time off to stay fresh: 28 days holiday (DE, NL, UK) or 21 days holiday (JP, SG, US), in addition to local public holidays - ‘Gold Standard’ parental leave: 26 weeks (primary caregiver) and 12 weeks (secondary caregiver) at full pay - we look after you and your family while we work on the most important materials discovery problems together - Professional development budget: We invest in your career development so you can stay up to date with the latest industry knowledge or add to your skills to increase impact and growth - Solve meaningful problems: See how your work has a direct impact on advancing materials science and solving sustainability and climate-related problems through the creation and application of bleeding-edge SOTA technology and revolutionary techniques - True interdisciplinary teamwork: Be part of a deeply collaborative environment bridging AI research, computational chemistry, and experimental science - work with world-class researchers and engineers who enjoy sharing knowledge and supporting each other Join us in shaping the future of materials with AI. Together, we can create groundbreaking solutions for a more sustainable world. CuspAI is an equal opportunities employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds and value the unique perspectives and contributions that diversity brings to our team. Please let us know if you require any specific adjustments during or after the interview process. We will do everything we can within reason to accommodate.