Head of Talent
At a glance
Director-level Recruiting & Talent Acquisition role at NewsBreak. Mountain View · $165,000–$250,000 base.
hrroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Turn growth and headcount plans into hiring priorities across engineering, AI/ML, product and G&A
- Hire, coach and develop recruiters, sourcers and coordinators as the talent team grows
- Advise the CEO and executives on workforce plans, org design, job levels and succession using market insight and data
- Personally lead confidential VP-level and other critical searches, from finding candidates through offer acceptance
- Build recruiting systems and candidate processes, track hiring metrics, and work with People and Finance on offers
What you bring
- At least ten years in talent acquisition, including four or more leading and growing a recruiting team
- A record of hiring at scale for technical groups such as engineering, AI/ML or product
- Experience building a recruiting function and advising founders or C-suite leaders on hiring
- A data-led recruiting approach, including use of metrics and AI-supported recruiting tools
Who this fits
This director-level role suits a hands-on talent leader who can guide a team while personally handling senior searches. You’ll work closely with the CEO, executives, hiring managers, People and Finance. The role is based in Mountain View.
From the employer
About NewsBreak
Founded in 2015, NewsBreak is the Content Intelligence platform shaping the future content economy. With over 40 million monthly active users, our flagship platform delivers highly personalized local news and information powered by advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech.
Recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators, we're proud to be Great Place to Work® certified and home to a dynamic team of technologists, product innovators, and business leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful challenges at scale.
Together, we reached unicorn status in 2021, and we remain committed to continuing this high-growth trajectory with the right team to fulfill our mission: building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence.
If you’re inspired to dream big, innovate fast, and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you! For more information, visit www.newsbreak.com/about
About the Role
NewsBreak is looking for a Head of Talent to own and scale our talent acquisition function end-to-end. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has both built recruiting teams from the ground up and can operate as a strategic partner to the CEO and executive team on hiring, workforce planning, and org design.
You'll run point on our most critical and senior searches yourself, and be the architect of how NewsBreak attracts, evaluates, and closes top talent across engineering, AI/ML, product, and business functions — all while operating with the speed and rigor of a high-growth, AI-native company.
What You'll Do
Talent Strategy & Leadership
- Own NewsBreak's end-to-end talent acquisition strategy, translating company growth and headcount plans into a clear hiring roadmap across engineering, AI/ML, product, and G&A functions.
- Build, lead, and mentor the talent acquisition team — hiring, coaching, and developing Talent Partners, recruiters, sourcers, and coordinators as the team scales.
- Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team on org design, workforce planning, leveling, and succession planning, bringing market insight and data to the table.
Executive & Critical Hiring
- Personally own full-cycle search for the company's most senior and confidential roles (VP+ and other business-critical hires), from sourcing through close.
- Partner closely with hiring managers and executives to define role scope, ideal candidate profiles, and interview processes for hard-to-fill and leadership positions.
Employer Brand & Candidate Experience
- Build and protect NewsBreak's employer brand to compete for top talent in a crowded Silicon Valley market.
- Design a candidate experience that reflects NewsBreak's speed, technical bar, and culture from first touch to offer.
Recruiting Operations & Systems
- Build scalable recruiting infrastructure — ATS, sourcing tools, interview processes, and AI-powered workflow automation — to support rapid, high-quality hiring.
- Define and report hiring metrics and OKRs (time-to-fill, pipeline health, offer-accept rate, quality of hire) to leadership, using data to continuously improve the funnel.
- Partner with People/HR and Finance on compensation benchmarking, leveling frameworks, and offer strategy.
Cross-Border & Specialized Talent
- Lead sourcing strategy for frontier AI/ML talent, including specialized and cross-border pipelines (U.S. and Mandarin-speaking talent markets).
- Manage relationships with external agencies, RPOs, job boards, and assessment vendors as needed.
What We're Looking For
Minimum Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in talent acquisition/recruiting, including 4+ years leading and scaling a recruiting team, ideally at a high-growth technology company in Silicon Valley.
- Demonstrated success recruiting for technical organizations (engineering, AI/ML, or product) at scale.
- Track record operating as a strategic partner to founders/C-suite executives, with strong executive presence and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience building or significantly scaling a recruiting function, including process, tooling, and team structure.
- Data-driven approach to recruiting, comfortable using metrics and AI-powered recruiting tools to drive decisions.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience recruiting for AI/frontier AI or LLM-focused teams.
- Experience in media, content, news-tech, or consumer internet companies.
- Experience with cross-border or U.S.–China talent pipelines.
- Mandarin/English bilingual proficiency.
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