Senior Recruitment Partner - Startups
Kairos Recruitment
Senior Recruitment Partner - Startups
Remote-First | Melbourne Required for Events & Ecosystem Presence
Build Your Reputation, Your Desk & The Future of Startup Recruitment
Kairos Recruitment is not a traditional recruitment agency.
We partner deeply with startups and scale-ups, acting as embedded hiring partners across their growth journey, from first hires through to leadership recruitment.
We sit inside a broader founder and startup ecosystem, giving us access to high-quality relationships, warm opportunities, and genuine community-led growth.
Now, we’re looking for a commercially driven recruiter to help build the next phase of Kairos.
What You’ll Do
As a Senior Recruitment Partner, you’ll own end-to-end recruitment delivery while helping grow your own desk, relationships, and visibility within the startup ecosystem.
You’ll:
Headhunt and manage high-quality talent across startup and scale-up roles, backed by a strong founder and startup community cc Aussie Founders Club
Build genuine founder and ecosystem relationships.
Contribute to community-led pipeline growth and referrals.
Create visibility through LinkedIn, events, and ecosystem participation.
Experiment with AI tools, GPTs, workflows, and automation.
Improve systems, processes, and recruitment execution over time.
Work directly with the Founder in a high-trust, high-autonomy environment.
This is not a cold-calling recruitment environment.
We care about relationships, reputation, visibility, and doing genuinely great work.
What We’re Looking For
We want someone who creates momentum.
Someone who naturally takes ownership, moves quickly, and looks for ways to build rather than waiting to be told what to do.
You might come from:
agency recruitment
startup recruitment, internal or agency
embedded/internal recruitment
founder-led environments
high-growth businesses
But you need to demonstrate:
strong recruitment capability
commercial hunger
ownership and urgency
confidence building relationships
curiosity around AI and modern workflows
initiative beyond your job description
a genuine interest in startups and ecosystem building
You do not need to already have a huge personal brand.
But you do need to want to build one.
This Role Is Probably Not For You If…
You need constant direction or heavy structure - we have process, but not heavy structure or handholding
You dislike visibility, networking, or LinkedIn presence.
You want purely execution-focused recruitment without ownership of your desk, relationships, and outcomes
You’re uncomfortable building relationships or growing a pipeline over time.
You’re slower-moving or hesitant to take initiative.
You’re not genuinely curious about AI, experimentation, or better ways of working.
Why Join Kairos?
Real ownership and autonomy - bring ideas to the role, let's build them!
AI-enabled, future-focused recruitment environment
Deep startup ecosystem access and founder relationships
Real scope to shape your role, growth, and long-term trajectory within the business
Space to experiment, improve systems, and shape how we operate
A genuinely relationship-first recruitment business (we don't cold call or pop into inboxes with "I see you have a role on!")
For the right person, this is a rare opportunity to build something meaningful and become a major part of where we’re heading next.
Hiring Process
Send us your CV plus anything that helps us understand who you are beyond your resume - t his could be a short video, a personalised cover letter, a bit more about you beyond your CV and why this role calls to you!
Heads up: generic cover letters won't be considered. This role needs someone who takes initiative, your application is the first place to show us that.
If there’s a fit, the process is:
Screening
Founder interview
Final presentation on how you’d approach your first 60-90 days
We hire this way because it reflects how we recruit for our clients too!
Also! Our website and branding is currently getting an overhaul, watch this space!