Talent Acquisition Lead (AI Scale-up)

Salary: £80,000-£100,000 + Stock Options

Location: London

Working style: Hybrid

Hawkwood have been engaged to help a unicorn AI scale-up in their search for a Talent Acquisition Lead to scale one of the most business-critical, high-volume functions. They’re not just building AI-powered systems - they’re reimagining the future of intelligent mobility. Their mission is to solve one of the most complex technical challenges of our time: enabling machines to understand and navigate the real world autonomously, safely, and at scale. They’re pioneering a new approach grounded in cutting-edge research, deep learning, and real-world deployment.

As they move from research to real-world deployment, building the right operational teams has never been more important. This role offers a unique opportunity to lead that effort, bringing creativity, structure and pace to a central hiring domain.

The Opportunity:

As a Talent Acquisition Lead, you’ll take the lead in building the team that powers the real-world testing and operations of the technology. This is a fast-growing area, tapping into niche and unconventional talent pools, so it requires creative thinking and operating at a rapid pace. This is a high-impact role where you’ll work closely with the leadership to shape hiring strategies, programme manage hiring campaigns, and bring in the talent needed to scale. You’ll play a key role in building a diverse and high-performing team.

Key responsibilities:

• Design and execute scalable hiring strategies for operational roles across multiple geographies.
• Build and deliver innovative hiring campaigns to engage unconventional and often untapped talent pools.
• Develop assessment centres, screening tools, and selection methodologies that ensure high-quality, consistent hiring decisions at scale.
• Own full-cycle hiring for all Operations globally, managing processes from kick off to offer.
• Partner closely with Ops leadership to forecast hiring needs and proactively design sourcing strategies to meet business goals.
• Lead and manage a small team of recruiters, supporting their growth and performance.
• Source and engage exceptional candidates across technical and operational disciplines with a focus on building fully representative pipelines.
• Leverage a variety of sourcing channels, from direct outreach to events, partnerships, digital marketing and community-based initiatives.
• Use data to continuously improve funnel conversion, time to hire, and hiring quality.
• Support hiring managers with best practice guidance on interviewing, feedback, and decision-making.
• Collaborate with the wider People & Talent team to support onboarding, branding, events, and process improvements.

About you:

To set you up for success, we’re looking for the following skills and experience:

• Proven experience designing and delivering high-volume recruitment programmes (e.g. logistics, fleet, field operations, early careers, etc.).
• Experience hiring on a global scale across multiple geographies.
• Experience managing and developing talent acquisition professionals.
• Strong sourcing skills and ability to build pipelines from scratch using a variety of channels.
• Excellent stakeholder management – able to influence, advise, and build trust with hiring managers at all levels.
• Experience working in-house and collaborating cross-functionally with People, Finance, and Ops.
• Passion for candidate experience and inclusive hiring practices.

Why this role matters:

Meaningful, Mission-Led Work: They’re building technology with real-world consequences - changing how people and goods move through cities and across continents.

Next-Gen AI Innovation: Their approach goes beyond rule-based systems and static maps - they’re enabling adaptive, general-purpose intelligence that learns and improves with scale.

Global Growth, Real Impact: Backed by world-class investors and driven by a clear long-term vision, they’ve rapidly expanded across multiple international markets - and they’re just getting started.

We recognise how challenging this current job market is for candidates, and Hawkwood are therefore striving to provide the best candidate experience we can.

If you are interested in this opportunity, we kindly request that you apply via this LinkedIn advert, as opposed to sending us an email or LinkedIn direct message. We are eager to ensure that each candidate application is considered fairly, and receives a consistent experience.

Unfortunately, we cannot ensure this standard if you enquire about a role via email or LinkedIn message, as it falls outside of our established process.