Technical Recruiter

Skills this role screens for

About the role

ABOUT AFTERQUERY

AfterQuery https://www.afterquery.com/ is an applied research lab curating data solutions for foundation model development. We serve every frontier AI lab with the mission of delivering the best data to power the best models. In doing so, we can make expertise that once took a lifetime to build available to anyone who needs it.

Our customers are the ones building the foundation models themselves and our work sits directly in the loop of how those systems improve. This is a rare opportunity to join a company at a defining moment in AI. Forbes reported that we could be YC's fastest unicorn, reportedly raising at a $3.2 billion valuation. We're based in San Francisco and backed by leading investors including Altos Ventures, BoxGroup, and Y Combinator and angels from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta Superintelligence Labs, and Microsoft AI.

Also

WHY APPLY

Massive Opportunity: Forbes reported that we could be YC's fastest unicorn, reportedly raising at a $3.2 billion valuation, and we're not slowing down.

Founding Impact: You will own and architect core infrastructure systems that power our platform from the ground up.

Equity & Growth: Competitive salary and meaningful equity. As we scale, you’ll have the opportunity to shape the engineering organization and lead major technical initiatives.

Strong Team: Our founding team has experience from Citadel Securities, Meta, Google, Silver Lake, and Morgan Stanley — work alongside world-class engineers and researchers.

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OVERVIEW

As a technical recruiter, you’ll help build the technical team shaping the future of frontier AI data infrastructure. You’ll own recruiting for engineering and technical roles end-to-end, partner directly with the founders, and help define the hiring systems, candidate experience, and talent bar from day one.

The work

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own full-cycle recruiting for technical roles, including software engineering, infrastructure, applied AI, full-stack, and product engineering.
• Build high-quality outbound sourcing pipelines for top technical talent.
• Source candidates from AI labs, high-growth startups, big tech, quant firms, and elite universities.
• Partner with founders and hiring managers to define role requirements, interview loops, scorecards, and hiring strategy.
• Run candidate processes end-to-end, including outreach, screens, coordination, feedback collection, offer support, and closing.
• Create a high-touch candidate experience that reflects AfterQuery’s bar, speed, and culture.
• Track and improve recruiting funnel metrics, including response rates, pass-through rates, offer acceptance, and time to hire.
• Help build the foundation of AfterQuery’s recruiting function, including systems, templates, workflows, and talent market maps.

Who they want

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

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• 1+ years of experience in technical recruiting, ideally at a high-growth startup, AI company, top tech company, or technical recruiting agency.
• Proven ability to source, engage, and close strong engineering candidates in competitive markets.
• Strong understanding of technical roles across software engineering, infrastructure, full-stack, applied AI, and systems/product engineering.
• Experience building outbound sourcing pipelines from scratch.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong judgment on candidate quality, calibration, culture fit, and hiring urgency.
• High agency, strong ownership, and comfort operating in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Experience partnering directly with founders, executives, or senior hiring managers.

Nice to have

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience recruiting for AI, ML, data infrastructure, developer tools, quant, or frontier technology companies.
• Strong network across engineering, AI, startup, university, or quant communities.
• Experience hiring founding engineers, senior engineers, infrastructure engineers, or other hard-to-close technical talent.
• Comfortable