Director, Talent Acquisition

Director, Talent Acquisition

Location: San Jose, CA (on-site)

Ayar Labs is solving the I/O bandwidth bottlenecks inherent in modern AI compute architectures. As pioneers ofco-packaged optics (CPO), we develop silicon photonics solutions that deliver unprecedented bandwidth densityand reach, at a fraction of the power consumption required to scale next-generation AI models.

Backed by industry giants like NVIDIA, AMD, Mediatek and Intel and manufactured in partnership with the world's leading semiconductor ecosystem, Ayar Labs' co-packaged optics solution is key to unleashing next-generation AI scale-up architectures.

The Director, Talent Acquisition leads the recruiting strategy and delivery needed to support Ayar Labs as the company scales over the next several years. This leader translates business and workforce plans into hiring priorities, builds a flexible team of regular employees and contract recruiting partners, and establishes efficient, consistent processes and systems. The role is both strategic and hands-on—combining proactive sourcing and creative out-of-the-box thinking with an analytical, metric-driven mindset to optimize recruitment funnels and eliminate hiring friction. Partnering closely with executives, hiring managers, Human Resources, and Finance, this strong team player will attract and hire technical and business talent while balancing high hiring quality with speed and an exceptional candidate experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Talent acquisition strategy and scaling
• Build and execute a multi year talent acquisition plan aligned with company growth, organizational priorities,hiring capacity, and approved budgets. Translate forecasts into quarterly hiring plans and adjust priorities asbusiness needs change.
• Design a scalable operating model that balances regular recruiting staff, contract recruiters, sourcers, coordinators, agencies, and other specialist support. Plan capacity for hiring surges and assess when work should move in house or to external partners.
• Serve as a proactive recruiter with strong sourcing capabilities and out-of-the-box thinking to identify talent market constraints early and deploy creative strategies for specialized semiconductor, optical I/O, hardware, software, and commercial roles in a highly competitive market.
• Partner with executives, hiring managers, Human Resources, and Finance on workforce planning, role definition, leveling, interview plans, compensation alignment, and practical hiring timelines.
• Team leadership and recruiting delivery
• Hire, coach, and manage the talent acquisition team, including regular employees and contract resources; setclear responsibilities, service expectations, quality standards, and performance measures.
• Lead searches for critical or senior roles when needed. Guide the full recruiting cycle from intake and sourcing through assessment, selection, offer, and transition to onboarding.
• Build proactive pipelines and relationships with relevant talent communities, referral networks, universities, search firms, and other external partners. Manage agency and contractor selection, spend, and results.
• Equip hiring managers with structured interviews, calibrated evaluation criteria, timely feedback practices, and clear decision processes. Promote a respectful, inclusive candidate experience and consistent communication.
• Systems, process, and insights
• Lead the selection, implementation, and adoption of a new applicant tracking system, including requirements,vendor evaluation, data migration, workflow design, integrations, training, and a practical transition plan.
• Apply an analytical mindset to own recruiting workflows, data quality, and continuous improvement. Establish clear dashboards tracking funnel details, hiring progress, pipeline health, time to fill, and source effectiveness to actively target areas of friction and improve hiring efficiency.
• Analyze recruiting activity and trends across teams and locations. Provide leaders with regular metrics and a forward looking outlook on hiring demand, pipeline coverage, likely bottlenecks, and recruiting resource needs.
• Use market intelligence and recruiting insights to advise leaders on tradeoffs, remove bottlenecks, and improve hiring outcomes. Introduce useful automation and tools with appropriate oversight of data privacy and candidate fairness.
• Maintain accurate records and consistent recruiting practices in partnership with Human Resources and legal counsel, including applicable equal employment opportunity, recordkeeping, privacy, and OFCCP requirements where applicable.

Basic Qualifications

• BS Degree
• 15 or more years of progressive experience in technical talent acquisition, including substantial recruiting experience across hardware and software roles and leadership of a recruiting team or function.
• Experience leading and building recruiting capacity and processes through rapid growth, using a mix of regular employees, contractors, and external partners.
• Demonstrated ownership of an applicant tracking system selection or implementation, including process design, change management, and reliable reporting.
• Ability to understand complex technical requirements, advise senior leaders, influence hiring decisions, and maintain high execution standards in a changing environment.
• Strong communication, coaching, project management, and analytical skills; sound judgment with a balanced focus on maintaining high quality of hires while driving hiring speed and optimizing candidate experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Talent acquisition leadership in a semiconductor, photonics, data center, or other advanced hardware company.
• Familiarity with optical I/O technology and the talent markets relevant to Ayar Labs.
• Experience supporting hiring across multiple locations or countries in partnership with local HR and business leaders.
• Strong team player and collaborator with demonstrated ability to lead teams and partner effectively across business functions and with external partners.

Salary Range: $197,000 to $220,000

NOTE TO RECRUITERS

Principals only. We are not accepting resumes from recruiters for this position. Remuneration for recruiting activities is only applicable subject to a signed and executed agreement between the parties. Please don’t send candidates to Ayar Labs, and do not contact our managers.

Ayar Labs is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is strongly committed to all policies which will afford equal opportunity employment to all qualified persons without regard to age, sex, national origin, race, color, ethnicity, creed, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. It is the policy of Ayar Labs to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. Veterans are more than welcome and encouraged to apply.