Leadership Recruiter

Whatnot · Consumer · San Francisco, CA · People

This role is for a Leadership Recruiter at Whatnot, a fast-growing livestream shopping platform. The recruiter will be responsible for hiring executive-level talent (Director, VP/C-Suite, L8+ engineers) across Technology and Business functions. Key responsibilities include developing executive recruiting processes, managing full-cycle searches, building talent pipelines, and acting as a strategic advisor to executives. The role requires 10+ years of recruiting experience, with at least 5 years focused on in-house leadership hiring at high-growth startups.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead hiring for Director-level, VP/C-Suite leaders, and L8+ engineers, directly empowering Whatnot’s most critical technical and business teams.
  2. Create strong foundational executive recruiting processes – including talent landscape mapping, market calibration, referral strategies, and targeted outreach.
  3. Manage end-to-end leadership searches from kick-off to close, creating standout candidate experiences and shaping onboarding.
  4. Position Whatnot as an employer of choice for exceptional leaders and create a sustainable pipeline of executive talent.
  5. Partner closely with our Corporate Development team on acquihires, ensuring seamless integration of talent through strategic M&A activity.

Skills

Required

  • 10+ years of recruiting experience
  • 5+ years in-house leadership hiring experience
  • experience in high-growth startups
  • executive search experience
  • technical recruiting experience
  • business recruiting experience
  • talent landscape mapping
  • market calibration
  • referral strategies
  • targeted outreach
  • end-to-end search management
  • candidate experience management
  • pipeline building
  • acquihires
  • data-driven recruiting
  • influencing skills
  • organizational skills
  • prioritization skills

Nice to have

  • Experience with Corporate Development partnerships
  • Experience with M&A talent integration

What the JD emphasized

  • 10+ years of recruiting experience
  • at least 5+ years in-house focused on leadership hiring at high-growth startups
  • strong track record of hiring executives and leaders across Technical and Business teams
  • deep network of executives
  • sourcing for your positions
  • building relationships with passive talent
  • comfortable with ownership
  • moving uncomfortably fast
  • managing multiple roles
  • accountable for your work
  • know how to work with executives of any level
  • lead with data
  • understand how to influence decisions amongst leaders and cross-functional teams
  • provide an incredible candidate experience
  • extremely organized
  • balance multiple competing priorities