Key Skills

Job Description

← Back to roles Operations Head of Recruiting Location Amsterdam / Paris Department Operations Engagement Freelance Apply for this job→ Overview We need a Head of Recruiting who can build and run our hiring function without hand-holding. This is a freelance mission, not a salaried position. This is a hands-on role for someone who knows how to create order, impose structure, and drive a process all the way through. You will be responsible for turning hiring from a loose collection of conversations, recruiters, interviews, and follow-ups into a disciplined machine that produces strong candidates and clear outcomes. We are a early-stage startup in Amsterdam and Paris. We move fast, we care a lot about talent density, and we do not have patience for sloppy execution. If you need a large HR department, layers of process, or constant consensus to get things done, this is not the job. Your job is simple to describe and hard to do: understand what great looks like, attract the right people, keep the pipeline under control, drive candidates through it with rigor, and make sure the founders only spend time with serious, high-quality candidates who have been properly vetted. Over time, this should become more than a recruiting function. Done well, it becomes a strategic advantage for the company. Key responsibilities Own recruiting end to end across technical and non-technical roles Build the recruiting function from scratch, including process, tooling, workflows, interview operations, and candidate communications Create clear hiring pipelines with defined stages, owners, next actions, and decision points Keep complete control over candidate flow, interview logistics, follow-ups, and status changes Screen candidates for quality, motivation, communication, and role fit before they reach founder interviews Work directly with founders to define roles, calibrate candidate quality, and tighten hiring standards over time Run a process that is fast, organized, and high-signal Eliminate ambiguity, dropped balls, ghosting, and process drift Use external recruiters where useful, manage them tightly, and hold them to a high bar Track pipeline health, conversion, bottlenecks, and throughput Continuously improve the system so we hire better people with less wasted time Qualifications English fluency (≥C1) Strong experience in recruiting operations, talent acquisition, or building hiring systems in demanding environments Ideally experience in startups, finance, professional services, or adjacent high-performance environments You are an operator, not a coordinator You know how to run a process, enforce standards, and close loops You have strong judgment and real taste for talent You are obsessively organized and do not let important things slip You take ownership naturally; when something is unclear, broken, or missing, you fix it You are comfortable working directly with founders and handling sharp feedback You do not need bureaucracy to function You are based in Amsterdam or Paris and willing to work on-site What we offer Real ownership from day one Direct access to founders and direct influence on who joins the company The chance to build the recruiting function properly instead of inheriting a bloated corporate process A high-standards environment with people who care about performance Market-competitive day rate (TJM), set per mission and invoiced by you. Apply for this job→ ← Back to roles Operations Head of Recruiting Location Amsterdam / Paris Department Operations Engagement Freelance Apply for this job→ Overview We need a Head of Recruiting who can build and run our hiring function without hand-holding. This is a freelance mission, not a salaried position. This is a hands-on role for someone who knows how to create order, impose structure, and drive a process all the way through. You will be responsible for turning hiring from a loose collection of conversations, recruiters, interviews, and follow-ups into a disciplined machine that produces strong candidates and clear outcomes. We are a early-stage startup in Amsterdam and Paris. We move fast, we care a lot about talent density, and we do not have patience for sloppy execution. If you need a large HR department, layers of process, or constant consensus to get things done, this is not the job. Your job is simple to describe and hard to do: understand what great looks like, attract the right people, keep the pipeline under control, drive candidates through it with rigor, and make sure the founders only spend time with serious, high-quality candidates who have been properly vetted. Over time, this should become more than a recruiting function. Done well, it becomes a strategic advantage for the company. Key responsibilities Own recruiting end to end across technical and non-technical roles Build the recruiting function from scratch, including process, tooling, workflows, interview operations, and candidate communications Create clear hiring pipelines with defined stages, owners, next actions, and decision points Keep complete control over candidate flow, interview logistics, follow-ups, and status changes Screen candidates for quality, motivation, communication, and role fit before they reach founder interviews Work directly with founders to define roles, calibrate candidate quality, and tighten hiring standards over time Run a process that is fast, organized, and high-signal Eliminate ambiguity, dropped balls, ghosting, and process drift Use external recruiters where useful, manage them tightly, and hold them to a high bar Track pipeline health, conversion, bottlenecks, and throughput Continuously improve the system so we hire better people with less wasted time Qualifications English fluency (≥C1) Strong experience in recruiting operations, talent acquisition, or building hiring systems in demanding environments Ideally experience in startups, finance, professional services, or adjacent high-performance environments You are an operator, not a coordinator You know how to run a process, enforce standards, and close loops You have strong judgment and real taste for talent You are obsessively organized and do not let important things slip You take ownership naturally; when something is unclear, broken, or missing, you fix it You are comfortable working directly with founders and handling sharp feedback You do not need bureaucracy to function You are based in Amsterdam or Paris and willing to work on-site What we offer Real ownership from day one Direct access to founders and direct influence on who joins the company The chance to build the recruiting function properly instead of inheriting a bloated corporate process A high-standards environment with people who care about performance Market-competitive day rate (TJM), set per mission and invoiced by you. 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Core Responsibilities

Build and run the recruiting function end to end for technical and non-technical roles, including its processes, tools, workflows, interview operations, and candidate communications. Manage candidate pipelines and screening, work with founders to calibrate hiring standards, oversee external recruiters, and improve recruiting performance.

Requirements

Requires strong experience in recruiting operations, talent acquisition, or building hiring systems, ideally in a startup, finance, professional services, or similarly demanding environment. Candidates must have English fluency at C1 or higher, strong judgment and organizational skills, ownership and process-management ability, comfort working directly with founders, and be based in Amsterdam or Paris and willing to work on-site.

Benefits

• Real Ownership From Day One
• Direct Access to Founders
• Influence on Hiring Decisions
• Opportunity to Build the Recruiting Function