Senior Talent Acquisition Independent Contractor (C-Level & Director Hires)

Core Responsibilities

You will own our most senior internal searches end-to-end, from the first conversation with the candidate through to the offer. The individuals you hire—directors and C-level professionals—will form the first impression this company makes on them. You will:

• Run intake directly with our founders and department heads, including telling them when their brief will not produce the desired hire.

This is not a coordination role. It requires independent strategy and the ability to make decisions without predefined scripts.

About AI Acquisition

AI Acquisition is a multi-8-figure business specializing in helping founders and operators scale with AI. With thousands of clients and hundreds of mastermind participants, our primary market is the US. We are bootstrapped with no outside capital, allowing us to set our own timelines and hire people who thrive in autonomous environments.

Our Talent function was built from scratch in the last 15 months, including an ATS, AI screening gates, tiered assessment frameworks, and a hiring bar now used by founders. A delivery team handles high-volume pipeline operations, while you focus on judgement-driven tasks—taking on whatever demands your attention when the workload requires it.

What You’ll Own

• The full range of searches, end-to-end, managing multiple roles simultaneously (e.g., a C-level hire and a junior specialist role in the same week).
• Pipeline building ahead of requisitions, mapping and warming talent before roles open.
• Candidate engagement over months, keeping strong candidates warm and providing reasons for them to engage when new opportunities arise.
• Employer brand representation, articulating compelling reasons for candidates to leave their current roles and join AI Acquisition.
• Strategic advisory to hiring managers, including market realities, realistic timelines, role compensation, and when briefs will fail to produce the desired hire.
• Intake and calibration with founders and department heads, including productive disagreement.
• First contact with director and C-level candidates, ensuring they remain engaged in the process.
• Direct sourcing where pipelines are nonexistent or inbound is insufficient.
• Writing candidate evaluations that founders can review without follow-up calls.
• Quality oversight on shortlists generated by the delivery team.
• Testing and iterating on titles, post copy, and channels, making decisions based on quality of applicants rather than volume.
• Assessment design and execution, including structured evaluations, scorecards, and one-way assessments against a defined hiring bar.

Requirements

• 6+ years in talent acquisition, with at least 3 years in-house, embedded, or RPO (agency-only experience will not suffice).
• Senior or leadership search experience—volume-only backgrounds are not a fit.
• Demonstrable hiring experience in the US or UK market, representing employers to candidates in these regions.
• Near-native spoken and written English, with the ability to improvise on camera and engage without reading from notes.
• Evidence of managing senior stakeholders, including the ability to disagree productively.
• Proven direct sourcing with quantifiable response rates.
• Comfortable operating as an independent contractor, invoicing monthly, and managing personal tax obligations.
• Real schedule flexibility across UAE, UK, and US East Coast hours, including calls outside conventional business hours.
• Experience building talent pipelines ahead of demand, not just filling roles reactively.
• Track record of keeping candidates engaged over months and converting them later—provide a specific example.
• Ability to articulate and adapt an employer value proposition by audience, beyond repeating the careers page.
• Experience designing or running structured candidate assessments, including scorecards, structured interviews, work samples, psychometric, or cognitive tools.
• Proven A/B testing of job posts, with data on what changes produced results.
• Active, credible LinkedIn presence, with regular posting and engagement—passive profiles will not meet the criteria.

Standout Qualifications

• Multi-country or multi-entity hiring experience.
• Built processes from the ground up, not just executed existing ones.
• Been the sole recruiter in high-stakes situations and thrived.
• Overseen or coached junior recruiters.
• Run A/B tests on titles, posts, or channels with measurable outcomes.
• AI-assisted sourcing and outreach stack experience (e.g., Clay, HeyReach, n8n, Exa), with evidence of what you’ve built, not just heard of.
• Built a talent pipeline that produced a hire months after the initial conversation.
• Worked in environments with no employer brand and created compelling reasons for candidates to join.