Head of Talent Acquisition (6-month contract)

About CarbonChain

The fight against Climate Change is evolving rapidly. Climate tech is changing. The first wave was reporting. The next is treating carbon the way companies treat money: as a way to decide what to buy, who to sell to, and which incentives to claim. 

Around the world, carbon is becoming a condition of trade. Border taxes, free allocations, green premiums, cheaper capital. It looks a lot like the post-war rebuild: governments put capital and tax incentives on the table, and the companies that could keep the books moved first. The missing piece then was bookkeeping. The missing piece now is the same, carbon accounting. 

CarbonChain is that bookkeeping. We turn messy, real-world supply-chain data into numbers a trader, a sustainability lead, or a CFO will actually use. 

We want people who are agents of change, who feel the impact of climate change and know there is no way around it to create a better future for every being.   

People who know the customer is the truth of how a company thrives. People who treat data as the fuel for how fast society can change. People who use AI to accelerate the cause for good by working through an AI lens first to automate repetitive tasks and analyse data. Finally, people who enjoy working with people. 

Our Product

We help the world's largest commodity producers and traders measure and cut emissions, with verified primary data where we can get it and defensible defaults where we cannot. The platform turns operational and supplier files into decision-grade carbon and compliance insight: sourcing, CBAM, product and corporate footprints, reporting customers and regulators will stand behind. 

We organise carbon accounting around the user in four contexts at once: 

• Immediate: the tools in front of them
• Internal: how they work with colleagues
• External: how they work with suppliers and customers
• Societal: how they work with society, governments, and disclosing bodies 

The data we hold is only useful if it makes all four of those jobs easier. 

About the Role

Reporting to the Head of Operations and partnering closely with the founders and technical leadership, the Head of Talent Acquisition will assume full ownership of the talent acquisition function during a critical period of growth. This is a hands-on appointment, combining strategic responsibility for the hiring roadmap with direct delivery against a defined set of vacancies. 

The role carries a clearly defined mandate: the successful appointment will lead the recruitment of approximately 5-8 senior engineering and product hires over the contract term, while simultaneously professionalising the recruitment systems, processes and capability that will underpin the company's hiring beyond it. 

What You'll Do

Key responsibilities 

• Developing and delivering a talent acquisition strategy aligned to the organisation's growth ambitions and headcount plan
• Partnering with the senior leadership team and hiring managers to define role requirements, success profiles and structured scorecards for each vacancy
• Taking direct ownership of senior technical recruitment, including proactive sourcing, candidate engagement, assessment and offer management
• Designing and embedding a consistent, structured interview process, including interviewer training and calibration for hiring managers across the business
• Reducing reliance on external recruitment agencies through the development of direct sourcing capability and a sustainable talent pipeline
• Championing an outstanding candidate experience and acting as a credible ambassador for the CarbonChain brand in a competitive technical market
• Leading offer negotiation and closing activity, including compensation benchmarking and equity discussions appropriate to the company's stage
• Optimising the applicant tracking system and establishing meaningful reporting on pipeline health, time to hire, source effectiveness and cost per hire
• Delivering a documented talent acquisition playbook and comprehensive handover to enable the business to operate the function effectively at the conclusion of the contract 

Measures of success 

• Delivery of the agreed engineering and product vacancies within the contract term
• A reduction in median time from first candidate contact to offer to under 45 days. A demonstrable reduction in agency expenditure, with the majority of hires delivered through direct and referred channels
• Structured scorecards and interview loops in place and in active use across all open roles
• A documented playbook, an accurate applicant tracking system and a warm pipeline in place at handover 

The Successful Applicant 

The successful candidate will be an accomplished in-house talent acquisition professional with a strong track record of senior technical hiring in a high-growth, venture-backed environment. 

You will likely bring 

• Proven ownership of engineering and product recruitment for 5y+ within seed to Series B technology businesses, including successful delivery of senior, staff and lead-level appointments
• Demonstrable direct sourcing expertise, with the ability to personally generate and convert pipeline for hard-to-fill technical roles
• Experience of designing and implementing structured interview processes and scorecards in organisations where these were not previously established
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the credibility and confidence to challenge and shape hiring manager requirements
• Comfort operating as a standalone function, balancing strategic responsibility with hands-on operational delivery
• A strong working knowledge of the UK technology talent market, including compensation benchmarking, notice periods and visa sponsorship 

Desirable 

• Prior experience within climate technology, B2B SaaS, data infrastructure or financial technology
• A background in recruiting full stack engineers and product managers
• Previous contract or interim experience, with a proven ability to mobilise quickly and hand over effectively
• Experience of successfully transitioning an organisation from agency-led to direct hiring
• Track record of taking/developing job specs and role briefs quickly and generating candidate pipeline quickly. Not having 30 days to build beautiful processes and 'then' recruit.
• Familiarity in Greenhouse.com as an ATS, we’ve been using it for 6 years and have lot of existing data to leverage
• Willingness to support the ad hoc sourcing of non-tech roles from time to time together with the Head of Operations. 

How We Work

As a hybrid co-located team, we're inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the UK and US. This role would be located 3d/week in our London LABS Camden office space. The in-office requirement reflects the collaborative nature of the appointment: the successful candidate will work in close partnership with hiring managers, lead interview debriefs in person and host candidates on site throughout the process.

What We Offer

• A day rate of £550 – £650, outside IR35, dependent on experience
• An initial 6-month contract, with a potential opportunity to extend to 12 months
• A newly created appointment with full autonomy and a clearly defined mandate
• Direct exposure to the founders and senior leadership team of a well-funded, high-growth business
• The opportunity to contribute to a business with a substantive and measurable climate impact
• A collaborative London-based culture, including quarterly team offsites, regular team lunches and a well-established social calendar 

The Process

The recruitment process comprises: 

• an initial competency-based discussion covering previous hiring delivery conversation with the Head of Operations
• a working session with a hiring manager based on a live vacancy, and 
• a final conversation with the founders  

The business intends to conclude the process within two weeks and to provide feedback within 48 hours of the final stage.