Lead Recruiter

September 30, 2026
San Francisco, CA, US

About Cooper

Cooper is an AI coworker for the insurance industry. Getting a business insured involves mountains of paperwork: filling out repetitive forms, re-typing the same information into one insurance company's website after another, and comparing offers by hand. Cooper does that busywork automatically, right inside the tools people already use, so brokers and their teams can focus on advising clients instead of pushing paper. We're a small team with deep insurance roots, teaching AI to do real, trusted work in a massive, overlooked industry.

Backed by Lightspeed, General Catalyst, and Valor, Cooper AI is building from the ground up to modernize a $1T+ global insurance industry.

About the role

We’re looking for a Lead Recruiter to help build the talent function that will carry Cooper through its next several stages of growth.

You’ll own full-cycle recruiting across the company, spanning GTM, Product, Engineering, and G&A, while personally sourcing, assessing, and closing exceptional candidates. You’ll report to the Head of Operations and will work closely with the executive team on the hires that shape the company, including critical leadership roles.

We have the tools and early frameworks in place. Your job will be to take that foundation and build the systems, playbooks, processes, and hiring bar we need as we scale. Over time, you’ll also help build the recruiting team around you.

This is a true player-coach role: you’ll be just as comfortable building recruiting infrastructure from the ground up as you are getting into the weeds on a difficult search

What you'll do

  • Own searches across the company. Lead full-cycle recruiting across GTM, Product, Engineering, and G&A. Fom intake and sourcing through assessment, closing, and everything in between.
  • Find and close exceptional talent. Our best hires won’t always come from inbound. You’ll build pipelines from scratch, engage people who aren’t actively looking, and find creative ways to attract candidates in competitive markets.
  • Raise the hiring bar. Partner closely with our hiring managers to define what great looks like, calibrate quickly, and continuously improve how we assess talent. You’ll coach hiring managers, challenge assumptions, and bring the data and market perspective needed to make better hiring decisions.
  • Take the recruiting foundation we have today and make it better. Assess and improve our interview processes, reporting, workflows, automation, and tooling so a lean recruiting team can operate with significantly more leverage.
  • Build and develop the team. Mentor our recruiting coordinator and future hires, and over time help build a high-performing recruiting team that can scale with the company.

Who you are

  • 7+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, ideally including meaningful time at a high-growth, early-stage company recruiting GTM, G&A, Product, and/or Engineering.
  • A builder. You’ve created or substantially improved recruiting processes, systems, tools, or programs.
  • A natural leader and coach. You’ve led recruiting initiatives, mentored junior team members, trained new recruiters, or become the person others turn to for guidance and best practices.
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and pace and wearing multiple hats.
  • Data-minded and process-oriented. You use funnel data, market insights, and candidate feedback to identify problems and improve how teams hire.
  • Based in San Francisco, or willing to relocate, and excited to work onsite alongside the team.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary & equity
  • Medical, dental & vision insurance
  • Monthly wellness stipend
  • 401k with company match
  • Unlimited PTO
  • Company sponsored lunch 5x per week
  • Off sites, happy hours, and team building events