Talent Acquisition Architect

Talent Acquisition Architect

• Location: Mountain View, CA (Hybrid)

• Reports To: Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

• FLSA Status: Exempt

• Salary Range: $80,000 – $120,000 annually
  Apply here: https://www.seti.org/career-center/talent-acquisition-architect/

About SETI

At SETI, we aren’t just looking at the stars—we are actively trying to understand our place among them. Our mission is dedicated to advancing humanity’s understanding of the universe through world-class scientific research, exploration, and discovery. We bring together a brilliant, passionate community of researchers, scientists, engineers, and innovators. To fuel our next giant leap, we need a Talent Acquisition Architect who matches our cosmic curiosity and can help us bring the world’s finest scientific minds to our team.

About This Role

How do you convince world-class minds to make SETI their professional home? That is the ultimate question you will solve. We are seeking a creative, highly accountable, and strategic Talent Acquisition Architect who is equal parts masterful headhunter and passionate brand ambassador. Your mission is to design recruitment strategies that attract elite Principal Investigators (PIs), researchers, and the critical administrative staff who keep our operations seamless, confidently selling the unique impact, culture, and vision that makes SETI the absolute employer of choice.

Because our playground spans the cutting edge of tech and science, you must be a fast, agile learner who loves adopting new platforms. From architecting elite talent pipelines to flawlessly project-managing our internal Affiliate-to-PI transitions and global immigration tracks, you will use your exceptional communication, documentation, and follow-up skills to keep our universe expanding.

What You'll Do

• Be the Ultimate Brand Ambassador: Design compelling attraction strategies to recruit elite Principal Investigators (PIs), researchers, and administrative staff, masterfully making SETI the employer of choice.

• Manage Cosmic Career Transitions: Act as the central project manager for internal Affiliates successfully transitioning into high-level PI roles, ensuring an empowering, well-documented process from start to finish.

• Unearth Deep-Space Talent: Build diverse pipelines for PIs, researchers, administrative staff, fellows, and interns by combining traditional methods with AI resources, Google Scholar, arXiv, and specialized academic file searches.

• Launch Field Activations: Scout for talent where it thrives—attending and recruiting from premier science conferences, forums, universities, virtual sessions, and on-campus student organizations.

• Navigate Global Mobility & Tooling: Masterfully orchestrate complex immigration/visa tracking for our international scientists while driving daily efficiency through Slack, Zoom, Dropbox, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Basecamp.

Who You Are

• A Master Storyteller & Closer: You possess a natural charm and deep professional empathy that allows you to connect with brilliant minds, articulate SETI's value proposition, and close high-level offers.

• An Advanced Sourcing Alchemist: You look far beyond LinkedIn. You understand how to read scientific papers, navigate academic ecosystems, and use AI to uncover niche talent hidden in plain sight.

• A Stellar Project Manager: Complex, multi-step operations—like immigration pipelines and executive career tracks—are your jam. You keep all stakeholders aligned and milestones met without breaking a sweat.

• An Accountable Tech Enthusiast: You take fierce ownership of your pipeline, maintain airtight documentation, and genuinely enjoy learning and optimizing new software to work smarter.

• A Seamless Communicator: Your follow-up game is legendary. You balance a fun, engaging candidate experience with analytical data-tracking for our leadership team.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent experience) and 3+ years of full-cycle recruiting or talent acquisition experience.

• Proven track record recruiting highly specialized roles, including Principal Investigators, researchers, administrative staff, or technical contractors.

• Experience building tailored recruitment marketing strategies to pitch organizations and successfully secure top-tier candidates.

• Hands-on experience navigating, tracking, and supporting complex immigration sponsorship processes and employment authorizations.

• Superb tech literacy with deep proficiency across Dropbox, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoom, and Slack.

What Will Make You Stand Out

• Direct experience recruiting for research institutes, scientific environments, academic hubs, or mission-driven nonprofits.

• Familiarity with academic funding cycles, university networking, and on-campus student club engagement.

• A proven history of leveling up onboarding programs or recruitment pipelines through clever workflow automation.

• High comfort level interacting with, and learning from, Principal Investigators and highly specialized scientific teams.

• Active experience with tools like Basecamp, Rippling HRIS/ATS, or workforce planning via tools like BASIC.

Compensation & Benefits

SETI offers a competitive compensation package including medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, paid time off, professional development opportunities, and other employee programs.

• Expected Salary Range: $80,000 – $120,000 annually.

Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including skills, experience, qualifications, internal equity, geographic location, and business needs.

Equal Employment Opportunity

SETI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Fair Chance Statement

Consistent with applicable law, including the California Fair Chance Act, qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment.

Disclaimer

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications. Duties and responsibilities may change at any time based on organizational needs and business priorities.