Head of Talent

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.

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

• 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

This is one of the only places where world-class manufacturing operators, mechanical engineers, robotics researchers, and software engineers sit in the same room, building production systems together.

We are committed to being deeply embedded in the U.S. industrial base. Our focus is simple: build adaptive robotic assembly systems that make American manufacturing scalable, resilient, and competitive again.

The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of San Francisco is:

$180,000 to $250,000 USD

Compensation packages at Foundry Robotics for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Foundry Robotics employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, and generous PTO.