Head of Talent Acquisition

About Niantic Spatial

AI has learned from almost everything online, but it still struggles with the physical world, where 99.5% of economic activity happens. It doesn’t know where things are, how spaces fit together, or what changes over time.

That’s one of the biggest unsolved problems in AI, and it’s the one we’re solving at Niantic Spatial. We build spatial AI models and services so people and machines can reason, learn and act safely in the physical world. We turn camera imagery, video, sensor data and archives into accurate, AI-readable representations of real places that robots can train in and machines can use to know exactly where they are.

In physical AI, mistakes have real consequences. That’s why we build AI grounded in measured reality, not guesswork, so the people and machines relying on it can trust it to get things right.

Our team built some of the world’s most widely used maps. Now we’re building something bigger: a living, measured record of the real world that machines can query, learn from and use to understand how places change over time. If you want to help AI understand the world we actually live in, come build with us.

About the Role

We're looking for a hands-on Head of Talent Acquisition to lead and personally execute our recruiting function. Reporting to the Chief People Officer, you'll be the strategic talent advisor to our executive team while carrying a meaningful portfolio of critical searches yourself.

You'll own full life cycle recruiting, recruiting operations, workforce planning, reporting, tools, external partners, and candidate experience. You'll manage our contract recruiting resources and, as we grow, design and build the Talent Acquisition organization that comes next.

This role rewards moving quickly without trading away quality. You'll help hiring teams name the few capabilities that actually matter and reach confident decisions in deep-tech markets where the best candidates have options. If you like building the foundation while still delivering results today, this is that job.

What You'll Do

• Full Life Cycle Recruiting -
• Personally run a portfolio of searches across engineering, AI/ML, research, product, go-to-market, operations, and corporate functions, including executive and highly specialized roles. Own every stage from intake and market mapping through sourcing, assessment, offer, close, and onboarding handoff.
• Direct Sourcing -
• Build creative sourcing strategies to find and engage exceptional passive talent in competitive markets. Learn our technology, strategy, and customers well enough to represent the company credibly to people who are not looking.
• Executive Talent Advisory -
• Advise executives and hiring managers on role design, candidate profiles, talent availability, market dynamics, and hiring strategy. Lead intake and search-strategy discussions that settle requirements, assessment criteria, ownership, and timelines, and help leaders separate essential capabilities from preferences.
• Hiring Process & Assessment -
• Design hiring processes that balance speed, rigor, inclusion, and candidate experience. Build structured interviews that produce real evidence, coach interviewers, keep momentum by driving timely feedback and resolving delays, and partner with Compensation on offers that are competitive and internally consistent.
• Recruiting Team & Partners -
• Manage contract recruiters, sourcers, search firms, and agencies: set priorities and performance standards, allocate requisitions by business priority, judge partners on hiring outcomes and pipeline quality, and decide when contract, agency, or full-time support is the right answer.
• Build the Function -
• Define the future structure, capabilities, and operating model of Talent Acquisition, then recruit, onboard, and develop the team as we grow. Build a recruiting culture that is accountable and focused on speed, quality, and business impact.
• Recruiting Operations & AI -
• Own and improve recruiting processes, workflows, documentation, and service standards. Adopt AI-enabled tools where they responsibly strengthen sourcing, assessment, engagement, and reporting. Hold a high bar for ATS data discipline, and partner with People Operations and Legal so our practices meet employment law, internal policy, and data privacy requirements.
• Reporting, Insights & Talent Brand -
• Build dashboards and updates for the executive team covering pipeline health, conversion, time to fill, source effectiveness, offer acceptance, and agency spend, and use the data to find bottlenecks and improve forecasting. Help define our employee value proposition and partner with Marketing to strengthen our standing in the talent markets that matter.

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years of full life cycle recruiting experience, ideally in high-growth technology, AI, deep tech, or similarly competitive talent markets.
• Experience as a hands-on Talent Acquisition leader or functional owner while personally carrying a meaningful requisition load.
• Exceptional direct-sourcing ability, with a track record of engaging and closing hard-to-reach passive candidates.
• Experience advising executives and senior hiring managers as a credible, pragmatic talent partner.
• An AI-forward mindset, with demonstrated experience integrating AI tools into recruiting workflows to increase capacity and improve decisions. You use technology, automation, and disciplined prioritization to manage a broad and shifting workload.
• Comfort operating through ambiguity and changing priorities, and the range to move fluidly between strategy, leadership, and hands-on execution.
• A bias for simplifying process, focusing assessment on what matters most, and using evidence to guide decisions.
• High integrity and discretion with sensitive candidate and company information.
• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent experience.
• Nice to Have
• Experience managing contract recruiters, sourcers, external partners, or internal Talent Acquisition professionals.
• Experience building, developing, or scaling a Talent Acquisition team, particularly within an early-stage or pre-product-market-fit company.
• Familiarity with the responsible and legally compliant use of AI and automation in recruiting.
• Recruiting experience in computer vision, machine learning, robotics, geospatial technology, enterprise software, or physical AI.
• Experience supporting both U.S. and international hiring.