Head of Talent

• Funding & Growth Momentum HiveWatch recently closed a $33M Series B, bringing total funding to over $65 million. The company is entering "Phase 2: Scale" with multiple Fortune 500 customers secured. 95% of Americans have interacted with a product, service, or brand protected by HiveWatch.
• Founder with Deep Industry Expertise Ryan Schonfeld, Founder & CEO, began his career as a police officer and investigator before leading Global Security and Safety Technology at Fox Group. He founded HiveWatch to disrupt an antiquated physical security industry with AI-powered tools that free security operators from false alarms to focus on real threats.
• Cutting-Edge AI Technology Security leaders are under tremendous pressure to modernize their function using AI, and HiveWatch is uniquely positioned to automate 90%+ of alarm responses for organizations, transforming how enterprise security teams work.
• Culture of Ownership & Impact This is an environment where you can take genuine ownership, build meaningful relationships, and deliver results quickly. If you want to help build and scale a rapidly expanding organization with a real path to advance your career, this is the place.

About the Role:

We're looking for a Head of Talent to build and scale our recruiting and people function from the ground up. As our dedicated talent leader, you'll be the architect of how we grow—owning end-to-end recruiting while simultaneously laying the foundation for people operations that will serve us well beyond 100 employees. This isn't just about filling seats; it's about shaping who we become as a company.

You'll split your time roughly 2/3 on talent acquisition (building pipelines, closing candidates, and partnering with hiring managers) and 1/3 on expanding the people operations infrastructure that we’ll need to scale. Think: onboarding that doesn't feel chaotic, performance frameworks that actually drive growth, and an employee experience that makes people excited to join and stay.

You'll report directly to leadership and have significant autonomy to define what great looks like as we scale from 50 people.

Key Responsibilities & Success Metrics:

Talent Acquisition (Primary Focus)

• Own full-cycle recruiting across technical and non-technical roles, from sourcing strategy through offer negotiation and close
• Partner strategically with hiring managers to understand team needs, define role requirements, and build candidate profiles that go beyond the JD
• Build an exceptional candidate experience that reflects our values and becomes a competitive advantage in tight talent markets
• Develop and execute creative sourcing strategies—employee referrals, direct outreach, partnerships, community building—to build diverse, high-quality pipelines
• Establish recruiting metrics that matter: time-to-fill, pipeline quality, offer acceptance rates, and employee retention by cohort
• Act as the face of the company to candidates, telling our story in a way that attracts mission-aligned and high-caliber talent

People Operations (Foundation Building)

• Design and implement onboarding processes that set new hires up for success from day one
• Own performance management frameworks—goal-setting rhythms, feedback cadences, and development conversations
• Expand the HR infrastructure we'll need to scale: updating policies, handbooks, compliance, and HRIS/ATS optimization
• Create the early culture-building initiatives that will define who we are—whether that's team rituals, values integration, or DE&I foundations
• Partner with leadership on organizational design questions as we grow and structure evolves
• Set up data and analytics practices to measure what's working in both recruiting and people operations
• Own benefits strategy and compensation processes—analyzing current offerings, identifying opportunities for improvement, and managing annual compensation setting

Success in this role means:

• Consistently hiring excellent people who perform well and stay with the company
• Building a recruiting engine that can scale with our growth trajectory
• Creating people processes that employees actually appreciate rather than endure
• Becoming a trusted advisor to leadership on all people-related decisions

Required Qualifications: 

• 6+ years of recruiting experience, with substantial time spent on full-cycle recruiting for both technical and non-technical roles
• Proven track record of building or scaling recruiting functions at high-growth startups or tech companies—you've operated in environments where ambiguity is the norm and the playbook doesn't exist yet
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills; you can influence hiring managers, negotiate with candidates, and build trust across all levels
• Metrics-driven mindset with the ability to use data to improve processes, measure success, and make the case for resources
• Highly organized with the ability to juggle multiple priorities without dropping balls
• Comfort with ambiguity and building from scratch—you don't need a playbook handed to you
• Fit with our culture:
• Bias for action and a roll-up-your-sleeves mentality; no task is too small when it moves the needle (yes, that includes scheduling interviews, updating the ATS, or jumping on a last-minute reference call). Everyone at Hivewatch is comfortable enough to Get Gritty
• Humility and openness to feedback—you're confident in your expertise but know you don't have all the answers, and you actively seek input to get better
• Solutions-orientation; you see and solve problems before they happen and Stay in the car until there is a solution
• Competitive drive and desire to win; you take pride in closing hard-to-get candidates and hitting ambitious hiring goals
• Learning mindset; as we grow, there will be new and unexpected challenges that you’ll need to tackle

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience setting up people operations infrastructure—whether that's onboarding, performance management, or HR systems preferred, but not required
• Experience hiring across our specific functional areas (engineering, product, go-to-market, etc.)
• Familiarity with modern recruiting tools and HRIS systems (LinkedIn Recruiter, Greenhouse, BambooHR, etc.)
• Background in building employer brand and recruitment marketing
• Previous experience as a founding or early people hire at a startup
• Passion for creating inclusive, equitable recruiting and people practices

Intangibles:

• Are energized by the challenge of building something from an early stage
• Believe that hiring is the most important thing a growing company does
• Have strong opinions about what great recruiting and people ops look like, but hold them loosely
• Treat every candidate and employee interaction as an opportunity to reinforce our values
• Are comfortable being hands-on while also thinking strategically about what we'll need six months from now

Additional info:

• Salary range: $140,000 - $170,000*
• Eligible to participate in HiveWatch Equity Incentive Plan.

*Final offer will be at the company's sole discretion and determined by multiple factors, including years and depth of relevant experience and expertise, location, and other business considerations.

Benefits & Culture:

At HiveWatch, we’re passionate about taking care of our people — and it shows in the benefits we offer. Our team enjoys:

• Comprehensive health coverage:  medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
• Cutting-edge work in an emerging field with huge growth potential
• Competitive compensation packages designed to reward top talent
• A modern, newly renovated HQ right on Main Street in El Segundo, CA
• 401(k) with a 4% company match to help you invest in your future (match launches in 2026)
• Flexible paid time off so you can recharge when you need it
• Additional benefits include ClassPass credits and a discount on pet insurance
• A family-friendly, compassionate culture that values balance and belonging

We encourage you to challenge the status quo, share your perspective, and leave fear at the (access-controlled) door.

Our EEO Statement:

HiveWatch is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to cultivating a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals. We execute our hiring practices so that they are merit-based and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, marital status, age, disability, medical condition, genetic information, national origin, ancestry, military or veteran status, or other protected characteristic.