Founding Technical Recruiter
About depthfirst
We believe that software is the foundation of modern civilization. Yet vulnerabilities threaten its integrity, security, and resilience. We are on a mission to secure the world’s software.
depthfirst is building intelligence to detect and remediate critical software vulnerabilities. We are training and scaling security AI agents to discover zero-day vulnerabilities across large customer codebases and popular open source software.
Our founding team brings deep expertise in data, infrastructure, security and AI, with leaders from DeepMind, Databricks, Square, and Faire. We're looking for thoughtful, driven people excited to work at the intersection of AI, Security, and Infrastructure.
About This Role
We're looking for a Founding Technical Recruiter to build our talent engine from the ground up and help us rapidly scale our technical talent this year. This is a rare opportunity to define the DNA of depthfirst during our most critical growth phase: shaping not just who we hire, but how we hire, what our culture becomes, and what it means to be a world-class security AI company.
You'll own full-cycle recruiting for engineering roles, partner directly with founders and hiring managers on hiring strategy, and design the end-to-end recruiting process that will carry us through our next stage of growth. This role has the potential to grow into Head of Talent as we scale.
You're excited about this role because you will…
Own and build full-cycle recruiting for engineering and technical roles, managing multiple searches simultaneously
Partner directly with founders and hiring managers to define role requirements, ideal candidate profiles, and inform compensation strategy
Build our recruiting strategy from scratch: defining our sourcing approach, candidate evaluation frameworks, and competitive positioning in the market that maintains a high bar as we scale
Source proactively and creatively: building pipelines through direct outreach, technical communities, referrals, and other channels
Help build our employer brand and recruiting narrative, helping candidates understand why depthfirst is the most compelling place to build the future of autonomous security
Qualifications
5-7+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, ideally at high-growth startups
Proven track record of hiring exceptional engineering talent in competitive markets
Deep understanding of technical roles: you can speak credibly about backend systems, ML infrastructure, and security engineering
Experience building recruiting functions from scratch (0→1) or being an early recruiting hire
High ownership mentality and comfort with ambiguity: you thrive in fast-moving environments
Mission-driven and genuinely excited about AI and security
Located in or willing to relocate to San Francisco (this role is in-office)
What We Offer
Competitive salary with meaningful equity
Health, vision, and dental insurance
Office lunch and dinner (SF office)
High ownership and impact: you'll define how we hire and who we become as a company
The opportunity to join a rapidly scaling AI startup during its most formative phase