Position DetailsEmployment Type: Full-time (30+ hrs/week)/FULLTIME
Location City: Remote
Location State: CA
Work Location Type: On-site
As an AI & Engineering Talent Lead, you will own the function of finding, engaging, and closing those people. This is not a traditional recruiting role. You will report directly to senior leadership and operate with a single mandate: identify the best people in the world for every role we open and build the systems to bring them to Cognita faster than anyone else can.
The right candidate treats hiring as an engineering problem. You will design and run novel sourcing systems, run end-to-end funnels yourself, and exercise sharp judgment about technical excellence. You are technical enough to read a candidate's GitHub, evaluate the difficulty of what they've built, and credibly engage them on the work. You don't need to ship production code-but you should be comfortable using AI coding tools, prototyping internal recruiting tooling, and working with engineers as peers rather than as a service function. If you're passionate about shaping the future of medical imaging, join us!
EXECUTIVE RECRUITER - POSITION SUMMARY: - For every open role, start from first principles: "who are the absolute best people in the world for this?" Build the system to find them and execute the search end-to-end yourself.
- Run full-cycle hiring for AI researchers, ML engineers, software engineers, and other technical roles-sourcing, outreach, technical screening, interview coordination, offer construction, and close.
- Develop sourcing channels beyond LinkedIn: targeted referrals, conferences, hackathons and competitions, niche technical communities, open-source ecosystems, and direct relationships with researchers and engineering leaders.
- Build internal recruiting tooling. Use AI coding tools to prototype sourcing systems, candidate trackers, outreach workflows, and evaluation pipelines that compound over time.
- Evaluate candidates with technical rigor. Read their work, understand what they've actually built, and form an independent view of excellence before they reach the hiring manager.
- Partner directly with senior engineering leadership to calibrate on hiring bar, prioritize searches, and drive offer strategy on the most competitive candidates.
- Own candidate experience end-to-end. Top-tier candidates evaluate companies through how they're recruited; every interaction should reflect Cognita's technical seriousness and ambition.
- Develop and continuously sharpen Cognita's positioning to elite engineers: why this team, why this mission, why now.
- Maintain a high-precision pipeline. We optimize for fewer, better candidates-not throughput. Hold a strong bar even when it's uncomfortable.
- Build and steward the internal data on what makes engineers succeed at Cognita, and use it to refine sourcing, screening, and selection over time.
- Up to 20% travel or more as needed. Performs other duties as assigned.
DESIRED PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE: - You have worked in environments with exceptional talent density (frontier AI lab, top-tier startup, elite engineering org) and you have a track record of personally referring in or recruiting strong people.
- You've done the work before. Demonstrated success closing competitive technical candidates against frontier AI companies, FAANG, and well-funded startups.
- Healthcare or radiology experience is not required. Familiarity with the AI/ML ecosystem and with how elite engineers evaluate opportunities.
- You are comfortable with AI coding tools and "vibe coding." You have built things-side projects, internal tools, automations, prototypes-because you wanted to, not because someone asked.
- You are technical at the core. You can read code, evaluate the difficulty of a project, and hold your own in a conversation with a senior ML researcher or staff engineer. Formal CS background is not required; demonstrated technical fluency is.
- You believe assembling high-performance teams is an engineering problem, and you have the instincts to build systems-not just run process.
- You operate with intensity, ownership, and judgment. You move quickly, but you don't lower the bar to fill a slot.
- You are a credible representative of the company-strong written and verbal communication, real curiosity about the candidate's work, and the taste to know when someone is exceptional vs. merely good.
- Bias for action, comfort with ambiguity, and a strong default toward solving the problem yourself before asking for help.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:AI and Engineering Talent LeadEXECREC6-1-26
WHY COGNITA: - Competitive Benefits package - Eligibility starts the month after hire, with tiered options to choose from.
- Compensation Reviews, Career Growth Opportunities
- Generous PTO Plans and Paid Holidays
- Proudly Certified as a Great Place to Work for Five Consecutive Years
COMPENSATION: The salary range for this position is $140,000 - $180,000. Final determinations may vary based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, geographic location etc. This role is also eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition to this range, Cognita offers competitive total rewards packages, which include health & wellness coverage options, 401k benefits, and a broad range of other benefits such as family planning and telehealth (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements).
