Founding Talent Partner
Summary of the Role:
As Founding Talent Partner at Maze, you'll be the architect of our talent engine, owning the mission-critical challenge of building one of the most talent-dense teams in the UK tech ecosystem. This is a unique opportunity to join as the first dedicated talent hire at a well-funded startup building at the intersection of generative AI and cybersecurity. You'll work directly with our VP of Operations and founders to source, assess, and hire exceptional people across the business—with a particular focus on scaling our engineering team from 15 to 35-40 people over the next 18 months.
We have an extremely high hiring bar, and we need someone who knows what "great" looks like because they've built high-performing teams before. You'll spend your time proactively sourcing passive candidates, conducting rigorous screening calls that accurately predict success, and managing interview processes that move fast without compromising quality. Your success will be measured not just by hires made, but by the long-term performance of the people you bring in—are they thriving at 6, 9, and 18 months? This role is perfect for someone who has owned hiring outcomes at a fast-growth tech company known for its talent bar, has deep experience recruiting engineers, and wants to build a world-class talent function from the ground up.
Your Contributions to Our Journey:
Own Proactive Sourcing at Scale: Build diverse, high-quality candidate pipelines through direct sourcing, leveraging your network, creative outreach strategies, and deep knowledge of where exceptional talent lives—never relying solely on inbound applications or agencies
Conduct Rigorous Screening: Run high-quality first-round screening calls across all functions, with particular depth in engineering roles (backend, ML/AI, infrastructure, data), credibly assessing technical concepts and accurately predicting which candidates will succeed at Maze
Scale Engineering Excellence: Partner closely with engineering leadership to hire 20+ engineers over the next 18 months, understanding the nuances of each role and building a team that maintains our high-performance culture as we grow
Drive Interview Process Excellence: Own end-to-end interview coordination, ensuring processes move at startup speed while delivering exceptional candidate experience and robust assessment of every hire
Partner with Hiring Managers: Build trusted relationships with hiring managers across all departments, deeply understanding their needs, challenging briefs when appropriate, and becoming a strategic partner in building their teams
Manage Agency Relationships: Strategically leverage external agency partners for specific searches while maintaining primary focus on direct sourcing capabilities that give us long-term competitive advantage
Build Employer Brand: Strengthen our presence on job boards, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and through our company offsites—ensuring Maze is recognised as a destination for exceptional talent in the AI and cybersecurity space
What You Need to Be Successful:
Proven Engineering Hiring Track Record: Demonstrable experience sourcing and hiring engineers (backend, infrastructure, data, ML) at fast-growth tech companies, with the ability to credibly discuss technical concepts and assess candidate potential before technical interview stages
Ownership of Hiring Outcomes: You've owned talent acquisition for a function or business area—not just been part of a broader recruiting team—and can point to measurable impact on hiring quality, speed, and team performance
Elite Sourcing Capabilities: Exceptional at proactively finding and engaging passive candidates through direct outreach, network building, and creative sourcing strategies—you don't wait for applications to come in
High-Bar Environment Experience: You've worked at companies known for talent density and rigorous hiring standards, and you understand what "great" looks like because you've seen it and helped build it
UK and European Market Expertise: Direct experience hiring across UK and European markets, understanding the nuances of the talent landscape, compensation expectations, and candidate motivations in this geography
Speed with Quality: Ability to move fast without sacrificing rigour—you know how to run efficient processes that respect candidates' time while thoroughly assessing fit
Exceptional Communication: Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, able to represent Maze compellingly to candidates and build strong relationships with hiring managers at all levels
Nice to Haves:
Experience hiring AI/ML talent specifically
A stint at a larger tech company (FAANG or similar) combined with startup experience
Interest in broader people operations work (onboarding, offsites, employee experience)
Experience building out a talent function or team from scratch
Cybersecurity or B2B SaaS industry exposure
Why Join Us:
Ambitious Challenge: We're using generative AI (LLMs and agents) to solve some of the most pressing challenges in cybersecurity today. You'll be building the team at the cutting edge of this field, bringing in the talent that will deliver breakthrough solutions for security teams worldwide.
Expert Team: We are a team of hands-on leaders with experience in Big Tech and Scale-ups. Our team has been part of the leadership teams behind multiple acquisitions and an IPO. You'll be recruiting into a genuinely talent-dense environment.
Impactful Mission: Embark on an important mission to protect humans from cybercrime. Cybersecurity is a force for good—helping to stop cyber attacks ultimately helps deliver better outcomes for all of us.
Build an AI-Native Company: We're building a new company in the AI era with the opportunity to design everything from the ground up—you'll architect our talent function from scratch, establishing practices that will scale with our growth.
Foster Innovation Culture: Create an environment where people can learn, reach for more, and master their craft. The talent you bring in will directly shape our culture and capabilities as we scale.
Career Growth: Clear path to Head of Talent Acquisition, building a talent team beneath you, or broader Head of People as we scale. Founding role with significant equity upside and direct partnership with VP of Operations and founders.