Founding Talent & People Lead

We’re hiring our first Talent and People Lead to own everything that makes Cerrion a place where exceptional people join, grow, and do their best work. Today, hiring is driven by founders and hiring managers with external support — but we’ve reached the stage where we need a dedicated owner who can turn talent and people operations into a strategic advantage. You’ll run recruiting end-to-end across engineering, business, and operations roles — and beyond hiring, you’ll build the foundations of our people function: onboarding, engagement, performance, levelling, and compensation.

What You’ll Do Own full-cycle recruiting: Run every search from intake to signed offer. Source, screen, coordinate interviews, and close candidates across technical and non-technical roles — with the same precision and care whether it’s an AI engineer or a field technician. Partner with hiring managers: Work closely with team leads and founders to understand what great looks like for each role. Challenge vague briefs, sharpen role definitions, and help calibrate on candidate profiles early. Deliver a world-class candidate experience: Every candidate — whether they get an offer or not — should walk away impressed by how Cerrion runs its process. You’ll own speed, communication, and quality at every touchpoint. Source proactively: Don’t wait for applications. Build pipelines for critical roles through direct outreach, referral networks, events, and creative channels. We’re hiring in a competitive market — you’ll need to go where the talent is.

Build for Scale Design the recruiting infrastructure: Select and implement an ATS, define interview frameworks, build scorecards, and create structured hiring workflows that scale as we grow. You’re building the system, not just running it. Drive hiring strategy with talent density as the north star: Every hire should raise the bar. You'll translate headcount plans into recruiting roadmaps that protect and strengthen team quality as we scale — advising on market dynamics and compensation, but also pushing back when a hire isn't good enough. Shape employer branding: Help tell Cerrion’s story to the talent market. Collaborate on careers content, refine our messaging, and make sure our external presence reflects the energy and ambition of the team. Track what matters: Establish recruiting metrics — time-to-hire, pipeline conversion, source effectiveness — and use data to continuously improve how we hire.

Qualifications Must-have 4+ years of recruiting experience, with a strong track record of hiring across technical and business roles in fast-growing companies or startups. Full-cycle ownership: You’ve personally sourced, screened, and closed hires — not just coordinated them. You know what it takes to get from a blank req to a signed offer. Process builder mindset: You’ve set up or significantly improved recruiting processes, tools, or infrastructure at a previous company. You think in systems, not just searches. Comfortable with ambiguity: You don’t need a manager to tell you what to do next. You see gaps, propose solutions, and execute. Strong sourcing skills: Proven ability to build candidate pipelines through direct outreach, referrals, and creative channels — not just inbound applications. Fluent in English and German; strong written and verbal communication skills. You can represent Cerrion credibly to senior candidates. Nice-to-have Experience hiring in deep tech, AI, or manufacturing — you understand the talent landscape and know where to find niche profiles. Familiarity with Swiss labour market and work permit processes — practical knowledge of hiring internationally into Switzerland. Hands-on experience with modern ATS platforms (Ashby, Lever, Greenhouse, or similar) and AI sourcing tools like Juicebox and (LinkedIn Recruiter, etc.). Location: Modern office in the heart of Zurich with a hybrid work setup; enjoy the quality of life of Switzerland and the dynamism of a high-growth startup.