Head of Talent Acquisition

About us

Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language. We begin by teaching the next billion people English, Spanish, and French.

English is the global language of business, culture, and communication, and over 1.5 billion people around the world are actively trying to learn right now. Others dream of communicating with the half-billion native Spanish speakers across the globe. The problem is that it’s nearly impossible to learn to speak a language without constant access to a speaking partner. Grammar and vocab apps don’t really help – you need to actually converse with someone.

Speak is on a journey to fix this. We’re creating an AI-powered experience that replicates the flow of a conversation, without needing a human on the other end. The goal is to make it radically more accessible to be able to have conversations in a foreign language and eventually help hundreds of millions of people gain fluency who otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

We started on this journey over five years ago and we’ve still got a long ways to go. We’re thoughtfully adding new team members only when we think they can truly play a big role in our mission.

Speak launched first in South Korea where we have quickly grown to become the top grossing education app in the country. We have now delivered this winning product to more than 30 countries globally and are continuing to expand to more markets in the coming months. The company is well funded, raising a recent Series B backed by investors like OpenAI, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Lachy Groom, Josh Buckley, and others. We’re a team of 75 based primarily in SF, Seoul, Tokyo, and Ljubljana.

About this role

We’re looking for a Head of Talent Acquisition who will lead talent acquisition for our rapidly growing company. In this role, you will play a critical part in shaping the future of Speak by developing and executing a talent strategy that ensures we have top talent in place across technical and non-technical teams to support our global growth. You’ll also be responsible for improving key aspects of our Talent function like recruitment processes, candidate experience, diversity, and employer branding. Speak’s team is growing quickly - aiming to just under double in 2024 - but we are also very intentional with every team member we add. A successful Head of Talent Acquisition at Speak will need to balance hiring volume needs while helping us maintain very high talent density.

What you’ll be doing

• Driving talent acquisition: develop and execute a global talent acquisition plan to meet the company’s hiring goals, ensuring all roles are filled within the targeted timeframes.

• Leading recruitment: manage the full-cycle recruitment process for both technical and non-technical roles, from sourcing and interviewing to offers and onboarding handoff. Proactively build a strong candidate pipeline through sourcing initiatives, employer branding, and partnerships.

• Talent process improvement: collaborate with leadership to forecast monthly and quarterly hiring needs, develop detailed hiring plans, and continuously refine recruitment processes to reduce time-to-hire.

• Building a Talent team: develop a high-performing team of recruiters, providing training and mentorship to elevate team performance and to ensure a diverse candidate pool across global markets.

• Enhancing employer branding: position us as a top destination for talent in key markets, leading to a significant increase in inbound applications and overall brand presence.

• Improving candidate experience: Create and implement best-in-class candidate experience processes, from initial outreach to onboarding.

What we’re looking for

• Must-have:

  • 7+ years of recruiting experience with at least 3 years in a leadership/management role

  • Strong track record in designing and executing global hiring plans.

  • Expertise in building, managing, and scaling recruitment processes and teams.

  • Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills with hiring managers, external partners, and leadership to align recruiting strategies with company goals.

  • Strong leadership and people management experience, with the ability to mentor and grow a high-performing recruiting team.

  • Data-driven mindset with the ability to analyze and interpret recruiting data and metrics to inform decision-making and strategy that aligns with company growth plans.

  • Comprehensive understanding of labor markets and compliance requirements across various regions.

  • Deep knowledge of best practices in recruiting and employment branding to develop a diverse candidate pool and acquire top talent.

  • Hands-on approach, with the ability to engage directly in sourcing, interviewing, and closing candidates, especially for leadership-level roles.

  • Proficiency with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and recruitment tools and platforms.

  • Passionate about creating an exceptional candidate experience.

• Nice-to-have:

  • Experience attracting talent in an office-first/hybrid environment.

  • Direct experience recruiting in key talent markets in APAC.

Why work at Speak

1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we’re growing very quickly, we’ve raised our Series B and additional extensions from some of the top investors in the valley, and we’ve achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You’d join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.

2. Do your life’s work with people you’ll love working with: we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they’re growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.

3. Global in nature: We’re live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, and Tokyo, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.

4. Impact people’s lives in a major way: Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.

Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.