Talent Attraction Lead - Tier - ONE Backed AI NEO - Lab

Location: London, on-site Contract Type: Permanent Compensation: £110,000-£130,000 + equity A new London-based AI neo-lab is looking for a Talent Attraction Lead to help build one of the highest-calibre technical teams in Europe. Founded by a team with backgrounds spanning Google DeepMind, Microsoft and some of the world's most influential governments, the company is bringing together an exceptional group of researchers, engineers and operators at the frontier of AI. The business is exceptionally well-funded, with investment from tier-one VCs and some of the most respected names across AI, science and public policy. Still at an early stage, the team is intentionally small and talent-dense, creating an opportunity for this person to have a significant impact on both the individuals they hire and how the company approaches talent as it scales. At a time when much of the AI ecosystem is racing to build the next frontier model, this team is taking a fundamentally different approach. Their focus is on building AI that can push beyond existing knowledge. It's an ambitious technical thesis, and one that sets them apart from many of the AI labs scaling today. About the role: Talent density is one of the company's highest priorities, and you'll take ownership of identifying, engaging and hiring exceptional technical talent across the organisation. This is a blend of proactive talent identification and hands-on recruiting. You'll build communities of highly specialised talent, find individuals traditional sourcing approaches may miss, engage and excite them about the opportunity, and help manage candidates through the hiring process. You'll also have the opportunity to help build an AI-native approach to talent, experimenting with agents and automation across candidate research, sourcing, screening and the wider recruitment process. Areas of impact:

• Own candidate identification, engagement and hiring across highly technical roles spanning AI/ML Research, Research Engineering, Infrastructure and other specialist areas
• Build deep talent maps across frontier AI labs, research organisations, high-growth technology companies and emerging technical communities
• Identify exceptional and often hard-to-find talent through a combination of traditional sourcing, research papers, GitHub, technical communities, referrals and creative search strategies
• Develop creative approaches to engaging passive candidates and credibly communicate the opportunity to some of the most sought-after researchers and engineers in the market
• Partner closely with the founders and technical leadership to understand hiring requirements, calibrate talent and continuously refine what exceptional looks like
• Manage candidates through the recruitment process, maintaining momentum and delivering an exceptional candidate experience
• Build and activate referral networks, alongside supporting talent-focused events, dinners, seminars and other community initiatives
• Use AI and automation throughout the recruitment process, experimenting with new ways to improve candidate research, sourcing, screening and engagement
• Use market intelligence, pipeline data and candidate insights to inform hiring strategy as the organisation scales What's needed:
• Strong experience in technical recruiting, sourcing or talent research within a high-growth technology company, AI organisation or similarly technical environment
• A strong preference for experience hiring research scientists, ML engineers, infrastructure engineers, or similarly specialised technical profiles
• Demonstrable ability to proactively identify and engage exceptional passive talent rather than relying predominantly on inbound applications
• Strong judgement and the ability to assess technical profiles across CVs, research papers, GitHub and other non-traditional sources
• Enough technical fluency to credibly engage researchers and engineers and understand what differentiates exceptional talent
• Excellent written communication and an ability to craft thoughtful, highly personalised candidate outreach
• A highly proactive, curious and experimental mindset, with an interest in using AI and automation to rethink traditional approaches to recruiting
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, high-bar environment where quality of hire is prioritised over simply filling roles Location The company is based in King's Cross, London and operates in-person, five days per week. The team believes strongly in the pace, collaboration and energy created by working together and has intentionally built its culture around an office-first environment. To be considered for this position, please apply via this advert as opposed to sending a direct message to anyone at Hawkwood, purely to ensure your application is processed through our established funnel.