Talent Acquisition Lead

About DirectShifts
DirectShifts is a fast-growing healthcare technology and staffing company helping healthcare organizations recruit, credential, deploy, and manage clinicians across the United States.
We are looking for a highly driven Talent Acquisition Lead to help us build a high-performance organization across India and the U.S.
This is a high-ownership role for someone who has previously worked in a startup, high-growth company, VC/PE-backed business, or within a venture capital/private equity ecosystem and understands what it takes to identify exceptional talent in environments where speed and quality both matter.
The Role
We are not looking for a traditional corporate recruiter.
We want someone who is entrepreneurial, aggressive about sourcing, commercially minded, and excited about helping build a company.
You will work closely with the CEO and senior leadership to identify, attract, assess, and close high-caliber talent across multiple functions.
You should be comfortable going after candidates who are not actively looking for jobs and convincing them why DirectShifts is the right next opportunity.
What You’ll Do
Own recruiting from initial sourcing through offer acceptance.
Build proactive talent pipelines instead of relying primarily on inbound applicants.
Personally source candidates through LinkedIn, Naukri, referrals, industry networks, startup communities, and creative outreach.
Recruit across:
Sales and Business Development
Finance and FP&A
Operations
Recruiting
Customer Success
Technology and Product
Senior leadership roles
Partner directly with the CEO and leadership team to define what exceptional talent looks like for each position.
Identify high-performing candidates from startups, VC/PE-backed companies, consulting firms, technology companies, and other high-performance environments.
Conduct first-round interviews and assess intelligence, ambition, communication, ownership, and execution ability.
Sell candidates on DirectShifts' growth opportunity, mission, culture, and career upside.
Manage interview processes aggressively and prevent strong candidates from getting lost due to slow decision-making.
Negotiate and close offers.
Develop recruiting strategies for difficult-to-fill and senior positions.
Build relationships with high-quality candidates even when there is no immediate opening.
Track recruiting metrics including:
Time to fill
Candidates sourced
Interview conversion
Offer acceptance
Source quality
Hiring-manager satisfaction
Continuously improve our employer brand, recruiting process, and candidate experience.
Required Background
We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in one or more of the following environments:
Early-stage or growth-stage startups
VC-backed companies
Private-equity-backed companies
Venture capital or private equity firms
VC/PE portfolio talent or operating teams
Executive search firms focused on startups or investor-backed businesses
You should understand the difference between hiring someone who can succeed in a highly structured organization and someone who can thrive in an entrepreneurial environment.
What We’re Looking For
The ideal candidate has:
Approximately 3–7 years of Talent Acquisition, recruiting, executive search, or portfolio talent experience.
Prior experience in a startup, VC/PE-backed company, venture capital firm, private equity firm, or high-growth environment.
Strong experience proactively sourcing passive candidates.
Excellent LinkedIn sourcing and networking skills.
Experience recruiting across several business functions rather than only one specialization.
Strong judgment around candidate quality.
Excellent verbal and written communication.
Confidence interacting with senior executives and high-caliber candidates.
Ability to manage several searches simultaneously without losing urgency.
Comfort operating without extensive processes or bureaucracy.
The Person We Want
We want someone who is:
Ambitious
You want your scope and responsibility to grow quickly.
Entrepreneurial
You are excited by building something rather than inheriting a finished process.
Highly resourceful
If LinkedIn does not produce the right candidate, you find another way.
Persistent
You are comfortable reaching out repeatedly and pursuing difficult candidates.
Competitive
You enjoy winning great candidates before other companies do.
Commercially minded
You understand that hiring quality directly affects company performance.
Fast-moving
You operate with urgency without sacrificing quality.
High judgment
You can distinguish between someone who interviews well and someone who will actually perform.
Hands-on
You are willing to source, screen, coordinate, sell, negotiate, and close candidates yourself.
What Success Looks Like
Within your first 6 months, we expect you to:
Build strong talent pipelines for our highest-priority functions.
Significantly improve the quality of candidates reaching leadership interviews.
Reduce time-to-fill for critical positions.
Build a network of high-performing candidates from startups and VC/PE-backed companies.
Create a repeatable recruiting engine for India hiring.
Support selective senior and U.S. searches.
Become a trusted talent advisor to the CEO and senior leadership.
Proactively surface exceptional candidates even before a position formally opens.
Why Join DirectShifts?
This is not simply another recruiting position.
You will have the opportunity to help shape the team of a growing healthcare company, work directly with senior leadership, and have significant influence over who joins the organization.
For a strong performer, this role can grow into Head of Talent Acquisition / Head of Talent as DirectShifts continues to scale.
We are looking for someone who wants to build the company with us, not just fill requisitions.

Work arrangement
No