Role overview

UniversalAGI is building foundation models that apply artificial intelligence to physics-based engineering simulation—a category of software that has largely resisted AI transformation until now. The company works with major industrial and defense organizations on real-world problems in computational fluid dynamics and reservoir engineering. As Technical Recruiter, you will build the talent acquisition function from the ground up, reporting to and working directly with the founding team in San Francisco.

Key responsibilities

Own full-cycle hiring for technical roles including AI researchers, CFD engineers, physicists, applied mathematicians, and deep tech builders, managing 50+ active candidates simultaneously.
Source, engage, and close both individual contributors and leaders across specialized domains such as automotive, aerospace, maritime engineering, computational physics, and applied mathematics.
Partner directly with the CEO and functional leaders to define hiring priorities, refine candidate profiles, understand competitive landscape dynamics, and execute with urgency.
Build and maintain a talent pipeline that stays weeks ahead of hiring needs, ensuring the company never faces delays due to candidate scarcity.
Design and optimize recruiting workflows, tools, and processes to scale with hypergrowth while maintaining quality standards and creating the playbook for future recruiters.
Track and analyze recruiting metrics including pipeline conversion rates, time-to-hire, source effectiveness, offer acceptance rates, and candidate quality.
Represent UniversalAGI at conferences, meetups, and professional communities to build employer brand and expand talent networks in AI and deep tech circles.

Requirements

At least five years of full-cycle recruiting experience with proven success sourcing and closing exceptional technical talent in high-growth or highly competitive environments.
Demonstrated track record recruiting senior individual contributors and leaders in functions such as AI/ML engineering, research science, software or systems engineering, simulation, or computational science.
Expertise using technical sourcing tools and channels including LinkedIn Recruiter, GitHub, Boolean and X-ray search, AI sourcing platforms, research publications, conferences, professional communities, and referral networks.
Strong technical curiosity with ability to quickly learn complex domains, translate technical requirements into search strategies, and hold credible conversations with senior engineers and researchers.
Exceptional partnership and communication skills, including direct experience working with founders and technical leaders to define roles, assess tradeoffs, share market intelligence, and drive hiring decisions.
Outstanding execution velocity with demonstrated ability to manage multiple pipelines simultaneously, consistently hit aggressive hiring targets, and thrive in high-intensity startup environments with evolving priorities.
Data-driven mindset with strong analytical skills to optimize recruiting funnels and improve conversion rates, combined with genuine commitment to exceptional candidate experience.

What makes this role worth considering

You will work directly with a founding team backed by prominent investors including Elad Gil, Eric Schmidt, Ion Stoica, David Patterson, and others. The company is in active hypergrowth phase with only 25 team members currently, giving you the rare opportunity to build recruiting infrastructure and processes from scratch that will define how the organization scales. This role offers genuine strategic influence over company direction through talent acquisition at a moment when the business is solving fundamental problems in industrial engineering and AI.