Founding Talent Lead @ Leading AI Companies in London

“`yaml

#system.yaml

agent: head-of-talent / founding-talent

type: ai / series-a

location: london / in-office

status: hiring

“`

##soul.md

Sxaler works with leading AI companies in London building at the edge of what comes next. Series A teams with serious technical ambition, founder-led intensity and hiring needs that cannot be solved by process alone. These companies are asking us to find them their Head of Talent and Founding Talent operators who can build the recruiting machine whilst still doing the work. People who can sit with founders, understand the bar, shape the story, find the signal and turn ambition into hires.

This is for talent leaders who know what great looks like, but are not too far from the ground to send the message, run the process, close the candidate and fix the thing that broke.

##context.md

You will support AI companies scaling from early team to enduring institution. You will spend time in the office, understanding the culture from the inside, learning how decisions are made, what quality feels like, and where the company needs structure without losing its edge.

You will build hiring foundations, but you will also be hands-on across sourcing, assessment, stakeholder management, candidate experience and closing. You will spar with founders, challenge assumptions, translate urgency into systems and create a recruiting rhythm the company can trust.

##skill.md

build_recruiting_machine:

Processes, scorecards, workflows, hiring rhythms, interview loops, reporting. Build the infrastructure that lets great hiring compound.

stay_hands_on:

Source, message, assess, close. No task too small when the hire matters. You are close enough to the work to know what is actually happening.

spar_with_founders:

Push with judgement. Challenge with context. Earn trust through clarity, pace and correct calls.

read_culture:

Spend time in the room. Understand the company beneath the pitch deck. Translate culture into hiring signal without flattening what makes it special.

know_what_great_looks_like:

Recognise world-class talent across technical and commercial teams. Separate polish from substance, velocity from noise, and ambition from ability.

operate_in_ambiguity:

Series A reality. High context, limited structure, shifting priorities. Bring order where needed without slowing the company down.

##memory.md

recalls:

building talent functions where the process did not exist yet, and the bar was still being defined. Partnering directly with founders and leadership teams in moments where each hire changed the trajectory of the company. Knowing when to architect the system, when to unblock the search, and when to personally step into the mess.

patterns:

Treats hiring as company-building, not admin. Moves between strategy and execution without ego. Gets close to the culture before prescribing the process. Communicates with founders in direct language, supported by evidence, instinct and market fluency. Understands that the best talent teams are both machine and human judgement.

identity:

Builder: true

Hands_dirty: always

High_agency: only_setting

Talent_bar: high

##prompt.md

Send sxaler my ${proof_of_work}