Lead Technical Recruiter

Lead Technical Recruiter, Engineering & GTM
Location: Santa Clara, CA (3-5 days/week onsite)
About Orkes
Orkes is building the modern workflow orchestration platform for distributed applications, helping engineering teams simplify complex systems, automate workflows, and build reliable cloud-native applications at scale. Built on the open-source Conductor project, we're growing rapidly and scaling a world-class engineering organization alongside our go-to-market teams.
We're looking for an experienced Lead Technical Recruiter to help us attract exceptional technical and commercial talent during our next stage of growth.
The Opportunity
As our Lead Technical Recruiter, you'll partner closely with our HR Manager and executive leadership to build the teams that will shape the future of Orkes.
This is a highly strategic, hands-on recruiting role. You'll own full-cycle recruiting for technical and go-to-market hiring while helping establish scalable recruiting practices for a fast-growing startup.
We're looking for someone who loves sourcing difficult-to-find talent, understands competitive hiring markets, and enjoys partnering directly with hiring managers to build exceptional teams.
What You'll Do
Own Technical Recruiting
Lead full-cycle recruiting for Software Engineering, Platform Engineering, Cloud Infrastructure, Solutions Engineering, Product, and Technical Leadership roles
Recruit senior-level individual contributors, including Senior, Staff, and Principal Engineers
Build pipelines for difficult-to-fill technical positions through proactive sourcing and networking
Support GTM Hiring
Recruit for strategic Go-to-Market positions including:
Enterprise Account Executives
Sales Engineers
Customer Success
Solutions Architects
Technical Support Leadership
Build Talent Pipelines
Develop proactive sourcing strategies rather than relying solely on inbound applicants
Build relationships with passive candidates across engineering and enterprise software communities
Maintain healthy talent pipelines for future hiring needs
Partner with Hiring Leaders
Advise hiring managers on market trends, compensation, and candidate availability
Run effective intake meetings and develop recruiting strategies for each search
Drive interview processes and deliver an exceptional candidate experience
Improve Recruiting Operations
Manage candidate pipelines and ATS workflows
Continuously improve recruiting processes, reporting, and hiring efficiency
Partner with agencies when needed while prioritizing internally sourced talent
Help establish scalable recruiting best practices as the company grows
What We're Looking For
6+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience
Experience recruiting for venture-backed startups or high-growth SaaS companies
Proven success hiring Software Engineers, Platform Engineers, Infrastructure Engineers, and Engineering Leaders
Experience recruiting Go-to-Market talent, including Enterprise Account Executives and technical customer-facing roles
Strong sourcing expertise using LinkedIn Recruiter, GitHub, referrals, networking, and creative outbound strategies
Experience hiring senior technical talent including Staff and Principal Engineers
Excellent stakeholder management and hiring manager partnership skills
Strong understanding of today's technical hiring landscape
Preferred Qualifications
Experience recruiting in cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, AI, developer tools, or enterprise software
Experience supporting organizations scaling from early-stage startup through rapid growth
Familiarity with engineering career leveling and technical interview processes
Who You Are
You're naturally curious and enjoy learning new technologies.
You thrive in fast-paced startup environments where priorities evolve quickly.
You're highly organized and know how to manage multiple searches simultaneously.
You enjoy partnering with hiring managers and influencing hiring decisions.
You're passionate about finding exceptional talent before competitors do.
You believe sourcing is a competitive advantage, not simply posting jobs.
Why Orkes
Join a rapidly growing developer-first infrastructure company.
Help build world-class engineering and GTM organizations from the ground up.
Work directly with founders and executive leadership.
High ownership, high visibility, and significant career growth.
Competitive salary, equity, and benefits
Compensation:
$120-140k/year + stock options