Talent Lead

San Francisco · 391 Grove Street · USD 200,000-250,000 / year · 3+ years experience · Hybrid · Posted Oct 2, 2026

At a glance

Baton is seeking a Talent Lead to build and develop a recruiting team while personally delivering great hires across technical and non-technical functions.
This is a hands-on people management role involving sourcing, building candidate relationships, closing talent, coaching a team, and scaling hiring processes.

Manage a significant requisition load across technical and non-technical functions, including high-priority and niche roles.
Lead searches from intake and sourcing through assessment, offers, and closing, with a focus on hire quality and long-term retention.
Build pipelines and targeted sourcing strategies for specialized searches.
Align on candidate profiles, assessment criteria, and sourcing and closing strategies with hiring managers.
Establish shared ownership of hiring, holding managers accountable for timely decisions and follow-through.
Expand recruiting capacity by helping hiring managers source, activate their networks, and take on tasks that move searches forward.
Hire and develop recruiters, rec ops, and sourcers through clear expectations, regular coaching, and direct feedback.
Own performance management from goal-setting through review calibration and delivery, addressing gaps and recognizing impact.
Translate business needs into recruiting priorities, creating clarity on ownership, progress, risks, and next steps.
Scale hiring processes and implement technology, including AI, that improves workflows and hiring velocity.

8-10+ years of talent acquisition experience in a startup or similarly fast-paced technology organization.
3+ years leading and developing recruiting teams in a high-growth technical environment, including at least 3 full performance review cycles spanning goal-setting, calibration, and delivery.
Success attracting and closing technical and non-technical talent across high-priority and niche searches, with evidence of hire quality and retention.
Carried a significant requisition load in recent roles, spending 60% or more of time recruiting.
Shaped search strategies collaboratively, adapted based on feedback, and built shared accountability for hiring outcomes.
Set priorities, used analytics to guide decisions, and implemented recruiting technology, including AI, to improve execution.

Owned broader HR and people operations scope.
Scaled small innovation or tech arm within a larger company.
Experience within freight, logistics, manufacturing, or another operationally complex industry.
Experience configuring and migrating modern recruiting tool stack.