Talent Lead

About Constellation

Constellation is an independent research center that brings together people throughout the AI safety ecosystem to accelerate insight, research, and talent through better cooperation. Unlike a conference or summit, Constellation operates continuously, in the form of a physical workspace as well as conference-style talks, workshops, and training bootcamps. Continuous operation allows for relationships and conversations to develop over time, meaningfully fostering trust, collaboration, and shared insight. It also makes Constellation a natural field-building hub by rapidly inspiring, orienting, and connecting people who are newer to the field.

Based in Berkeley, CA, our shared workspace hosts over 100 people per week across dozens of AI safety organizations in nonprofits, academia, industry, and government. Hundreds of other researchers spend time at Constellation for shorter visits each year. We believe this is the strongest and highest-output network of AI safety researchers in the world; dozens of participants in past Constellation programs have gone on to safety-focused roles at companies such as METR, Redwood Research, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, and the US and UK Safety Institutes.

For more information, see our research focus areas and selected publications from Constellation fellows.

About this role

We’re seeking an experienced Talent Lead to help us grow our team. Reporting to the COO, you will be instrumental in shaping our team by partnering directly with our senior leadership and a cross-functional set of team members to build and scale mission-critical functions. The ideal candidate will be a strategic recruiter who can help us build world-class teams dedicated to supporting our mission of helping the world safely navigate the development of AI. 

We’re a small, fast-paced, and flexible team (13 full-time core team members as of Jan 2025). Candidates should be entrepreneurial – taking initiative to fill gaps, executing efficiently on straightforward details, and cutting through ambiguity.

Key responsibilities

• Talent strategy development: Collaborate with leadership to forecast hiring needs, create comprehensive talent acquisition strategies, and build high calibration on talent needs.
• Sourcing and outreach: Proactively identify and engage with exceptional candidates through creative sourcing strategies, including direct outreach, networking, and leveraging external partners.
• Ecosystem building: Build and maintain a pipeline of mission-aligned, high-potential talent across technical, operational, and strategic domains.
• Recruitment process management: Own and drive the end-to-end recruitment process through finalization of offers, ensuring an exceptional candidate experience.
• Hiring process design: Partner with hiring managers to develop interview frameworks, evaluation criteria, and decision-making processes that maintain a high talent bar while being inclusive.
• Stakeholder collaboration: Serve as a trusted advisor to hiring managers, providing guidance on market trends and best practices.
• Metrics and reporting: Track key recruiting metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of hiring strategies and processes.
• Talent systems and workflows: Continuously optimize recruitment tools, workflows, and systems to improve efficiency.

Skills needed

• Proven experience in full-cycle recruiting, ideally for a mix of technical, operational, and strategic roles.
• Strong ability to source, assess, and engage with a diverse range of high-performing candidates.
• Excellent relationship-building and communication skills.
• Passion for Constellation's mission and values, with a demonstrated ability to make good judgements and align candidates with organizational goals.
• Strong organizational, prioritization and coordination skills.
• Experience with recruitment tools, applicant tracking systems (ATS), and data-driven hiring processes.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation will depend on experience, but will likely be $120,000 to $190,000 per year

Our benefits include:

• Generous vacation policy
• 401(k) with employer match
• Employer-paid commuter benefits
• PPO health, dental, and vision insurance
• Catered lunches and dinners, plus unlimited snacks & drinks
• Regular interaction with AI safety researchers and thought leaders
• A friendly, mission-driven team

Logistics

This is a full-time, on-site position at our Berkeley office, just steps from the nearest BART (metro) and bus stop. On-site parking is also available. We may be able to sponsor visas, depending on circumstances.

If you're excited about helping humanity safely navigate the development of transformative AI, we encourage you to apply—even if you’re unsure whether you meet every qualification.

‍We value diversity in all respects and base our hiring decisions on the needs of the organization and individual qualifications.  We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age or disability.

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