5-7 years of experience building recruiting or employer branding programs, ideally in fast-growing startups
Proven ability to plan and execute technical events, such as hackathons or meetups
Strong analytical mindset, familiar with recruiting metrics such as cost-per-hire and time-to-fill
Experience collaborating with marketing teams while understanding the nuances of candidate marketing
Strong writing skills for various candidate-facing content
Self-starter mentality, comfortable building programs from the ground up
Responsibilities
Identify current hiring practices and metrics during the first month
Revamp the referral program to drive 25-30% of hires and establish an event calendar with Marketing
Launch initial recruiting programs, including hosting a technical event and establishing a talent community
Develop and publish content that reflects 'life at Vapi'
Create a 12-month program roadmap with measurable targets
Benefits
Competitive salary with equity ownership
Comprehensive health coverage, including medical, dental, and vision plans
Regular team outings and quarterly off-site events
Flexible vacation policy allowing for as much time off as needed
Additional perks like catered meals, transportation support, gym access, and $10k annual learning and development budget
Full Job Description
Why We\'re Hiring This Role:
We\'re competing directly with Anthropic, OpenAI, and other high-profile AI companies for the same talent. At that level of competition, employer brand and a candidate-facing presence are part of how we win offers, not a nice-to-have.
Today this work happens informally, absorbed by our Talent leaders on top of their day jobs. We\'re building the capability in-house with a dedicated owner instead of outsourcing it to an agency, or letting it not happen at all.
You\'ll own every candidate-facing program at Vapi: employer brand and careers content, technical events and community, the referral program, university and early-career pipeline, and our talent community. You\'ll report directly to our Head of Talent.
What You\'ll Do:
30 Day: Go deep on how we hire today. Meet hiring managers, Recruiting, and Marketing\'s events lead; audit our careers site, Glassdoor/Comparably presence, referral program, and event footprint; baseline the numbers (cost-per-hire, referral %, sourced-hire %, time-to-fill, offer acceptance).
60 Day: Ship the first wins. Relaunch the referral program with clear incentives, campaigns, and tracking toward 25-30% of hires via referral; stand up the shared event calendar with Marketing (and the monthly dedupe sync); publish your first wave of careers-site and \"life at Vapi\" content.
90 Day: Run your first programs end-to-end. Host a recruiting-focused technical event (hackathon, meetup, or campus session); launch the talent community and nurture motion (newsletter, team spotlights, silver-medalist re-engagement); present a 12-month program roadmap with targets against your baseline.
Who You Are:
You\'ve built recruiting programs, employer brand, or talent community from scratch, ideally at a fast-growing startup competing for technical talent.
You\'re an events operator: you can run a hackathon, engineering meetup, or campus info session end-to-end, on time and on budget.
You think in recruiting metrics: cost-per-hire, referral %, sourced-hire %, time-to-fill, and offer acceptance are how you measure your own work.
You know the difference between marketing to customers and marketing to candidates, and you can partner tightly with a Marketing team without duplicating it.
You write well. Careers pages, newsletters, event copy, and team spotlights will all carry your voice.
You\'re a builder who\'s comfortable being the first and only owner of this function, going from zero to working programs fast.
How We Work:
Build something worthy of love
Craft matters. We aim to build products and experiences customers genuinely love, not just tolerate.
Commit and follow through
We finish what we start and build trust by being people others can count on.
Why not today?
We value urgency and momentum. The fastest path to customer value usually wins.
Seek raw input
We go directly to customers, data, and teammates instead of relying on summaries or assumptions.
It\'s our problem
We operate as one team. We share credit, own mistakes together, and support each other when things get hard.
Be direct and kind
We give feedback clearly, respectfully, and without delay.
Why Vapi:
Generational impact: Build the human interface for every business
Ownership culture: 70% of the company are previous founders
Kind team: The founders, Jordan and Nikhil, are Canadians
Tier-1 Investors: YC, KP seed, Bessemer Series A
What We Offer:
Real stake: We offer a competitive salary and excellent equity ownership
Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision plans
Team love: We love hanging out, and we do quarterly off-sites
Flexible time off: take what you need
More: catered meals, transportation, gym, and a $10k annual L&D budget
