Founding Talent Lead
your mission
About Graswald AI
Graswald AI is a Series A start up building the AI operating system for fashion brands and retailers. In the past year, we’ve signed 50+ enterprise fashion clients who use our AI to collapse creative timelines and slash production costs. We are backed by top-tier VCs and strategic investors like Lakestar and Orendt Studios.
The Role
This is a foundational hire. As our first Founding Talent Lead, you won't just fill roles - you'll build the engine that powers Graswald AI's growth. You'll own the full talent function from day one: defining how we hire, who we hire, and how fast we move. You'll work closely with the founding team to attract exceptional people across engineering, commercial, and operational disciplines - and you'll be as comfortable sourcing a senior ML engineer as you are closing a Head of Sales.
This is a hands-on, high-ownership role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, moves with urgency, and cares deeply about candidate experience and quality of hire.
your profile
What You'll Do
Build the Talent Function
- Design and own Graswald AI's end-to-end hiring process - from sourcing strategy to offer - across all teams
- Define our employer brand and value proposition to attract world-class candidates
- Select and implement the ATS, sourcing tools, and AI-powered recruitment platforms that will underpin how we hire
- Establish hiring principles, scorecards, and structured interview frameworks to ensure consistent, high-quality decisions
Drive the Candidate Experience
- Lead first-round interviews across all functions, assessing for skills, values, and potential
- Design and iterate on take-home tasks and technical assessments tailored to each role
- Act as a thoughtful advocate for candidates throughout the process, ensuring every interaction with Graswald AI is exceptional
Own Recruiting Across the Business
- Partner closely with hiring managers across engineering, product, operations, and commercial teams to understand role requirements and team needs
- Actively source candidates directly through LinkedIn, community networks, events, and AI-assisted tools
- Manage relationships with external recruiters and headhunters, holding them to high standards while keeping agency spend lean
- Write compelling, accurate job descriptions that attract the right candidates and reflect our culture
Own the End-to-End Hiring Process
- Manage the legal and administrative hiring process from offer acceptance through to signed contracts
- Draft and issue offer letters, employment contracts, and NDAs in coordination with legal counsel where required
- Coordinate background checks, right-to-work verification, and any role-specific compliance requirements
- Serve as the primary point of contact for candidates during the offer and pre-boarding period, keeping the process smooth and professional through to day one
Advise on Compensation & Career Progression
- Own compensation benchmarking across all functions - maintaining a clear view of market rates for salary and equity to keep Graswald AI competitive and consistent
- Partner with the founding team to design and evolve our equity and compensation philosophy as we scale
- Build and maintain a levelling framework and career progression pathways across teams, giving candidates and employees clarity on how they grow at Graswald AI
- Advise hiring managers on offer structuring, ensuring packages are compelling, fair, and sustainable within our comp bands
Think Strategically
- Build and maintain talent pipelines for critical roles before they become urgent
- Track and report on key hiring metrics - time to hire, source quality, pipeline health - and use data to improve
- Stay ahead of the market: compensation benchmarks, talent trends, and competitor hiring signals
What We're Looking For
Experience
- 5+ years in talent/recruiting, with at least 2–3 years in a high-growth, venture-backed startup or scale-up