Talent Lead
Photon
People & HR
Brooklyn, NY, USA
USD 150k-175k / year + Equity
Posted on May 15, 2026
Talent Lead
Brooklyn, NYC
People
1 month ago
In office
Full-time
Location: NYC Metro Area (Williamsburg Office, 3+ days/week)
Reports to: COO
Our Mission
Photon gives patients real ownership over their prescriptions. Our platform lets clinicians send prescriptions directly to patients via text, unlocking choice, transparency, and savings. By making prescribing patient-centered, we help people save time and money while modernizing how healthcare works.
Who We’re Looking For
We’re looking for someone with strong taste in people who knows how to move quickly without lowering the bar.
This is a recruiting-first role for someone who is energized by building exceptional teams and takes real ownership over outcomes. You know how to identify high performers, run a tight process, and create a candidate experience that reflects how a great company operates.
You’re comfortable in ambiguity and don’t wait for perfect structure—you figure out what needs to happen and make it happen. You care about quality, but you don’t hide behind process.
You’re pragmatic, low-ego, and focused on building a team that does the best work of their careers.
Core Responsibilities
- Own end-to-end recruiting across all functions, with a focus on high-quality, efficient hiring
- Partner directly with leadership to scope roles, define hiring criteria, and run tight, thoughtful interview processes
- Develop creative sourcing strategies and build strong pipelines for hard-to-fill roles, especially engineering
- Close exceptional candidates by clearly articulating Photon’s mission, product, and trajectory
- Continuously raise the hiring bar by improving how we assess talent and make decisions
- Build Photon’s presence in the market as a place top talent wants to work
- Design simple, effective onboarding that helps new hires ramp quickly and feel connected
- Support leadership on compensation, leveling, and org design as we grow
- Plan and run team events and offsites that strengthen relationships and reflect our culture
- Use data and judgment to improve hiring velocity, quality, and candidate experience over time
Required Qualifications
- ~5+ years of experience in recruiting or talent at high-growth startups or technology companies
- Proven track record of hiring exceptional talent across multiple functions, especially technical roles
- Strong judgment and instincts in evaluating talent and potential
- Ability to operate with speed and ownership while maintaining a high bar
- Experience partnering closely with founders or senior leadership on hiring
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills
- Highly resourceful and proactive—you figure things out and make things happen
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience as an early or first Talent/People hire at a startup
- Background recruiting for engineering and product roles
- Familiarity with modern recruiting tools (e.g., Gem, Greenhouse)
- Experience supporting compensation, leveling, or org planning
- Interest in healthcare, marketplaces, or complex systems
Why Join Us
- Build the team that builds the company
- Work directly with leadership on some of the highest-leverage decisions we make
- Shape how Photon hires, grows, and operates from the ground up
- Help create a team that is not only high-performing, but genuinely enjoys working together
- Join a driven, thoughtful, and unconventional team in health tech
- Competitive salary, benefits, and meaningful equity
Our Values
🍕🐀 Be a Pizza Rat – We’re ambitious subway dwellers. It’s our slice and we’re not letting go.
🍚 🍣 Make Rice – We don’t prepare fish until we’ve mastered rice. Quality is in details.
🛰️ 🌎 Put it in Orbit – We know success happens well after lift-off. The rocket isn’t our mission.
🔍 🏴☠️ Seek Buried Treasure – We’re digging in unexpected places. Our adventure has meaning.
🍄 🌒 Grow in Darkness – We’re thriving amidst forest decay. Our day in the sun will come.
Pay Transparency
The estimated base salary for this role is $150,000 – $175,000 USD annually. Actual compensation will depend on skills, qualifications, and experience, and includes equity and benefits. At our stage, we place significant value on equity as part of total compensation.
Req ID: R9