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Founding Recruiter & People Operations

Join Orchard Robotics as a founding recruiter to build the recruiting and people operations from the ground up in a fast-growing startup.

Location
San Francisco
Compensation
Not disclosed
Level
mid
Type
full time · On-site

Posted by employer 2 weeks ago

First seen on Joblaze 1 week ago

Last verified on the company career page 1 day ago

Apply at Orchard Robotics → Save job Scanned from orchard-robotics.com

AI in the day-to-day

We build AI-powered camera systems that analyze crops and improve farming decisions.

Requirements

Experience
3–7 years

Not disclosed in this posting: compensation, visa sponsorship.

Benefits

Health Insurance

Joblaze summary

In this pivotal role at Orchard Robotics, the Founding Recruiter & People Operations professional will focus on full-cycle recruiting for key technical and operational positions while also establishing robust internal people systems. The ideal candidate should possess 3-7 years of recruiting experience in a fast-paced startup environment, demonstrating a knack for sourcing top talent and enhancing employee experiences. This position is well-suited for someone with a strong operational background who thrives in a dynamic setting, as they will directly influence the company's growth trajectory.

Joblaze insights

Quick facts

Is the Founding Recruiter & People Operations role remote?
No — this is an on-site role in San Francisco.
How much experience is required?
3–7 years of relevant experience for this Founding Recruiter & People Operations role.
Where is the role based?
Orchard Robotics is hiring for this position in San Francisco.
What seniority level is this role?
Orchard Robotics targets mid-level candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?
Full-time for this Founding Recruiter & People Operations role at Orchard Robotics.

From the original posting

At Orchard, we’re securing America’s food supply by building the AI Farmer that automates our nation’s farms. We are the industry leader, growing rapidly, and backed by more than $25 million from leading investors, including Quiet Capital, Shine Capital, and General Catalyst.

Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars in crop value are lost because critical farming decisions are made using incomplete and imprecise data. We’re building the technology to change that.

Our AI-powered camera systems mount to tractors and scan millions of trees, vines, and plants, capturing precise data on yield estimates, fruit size, crop health, disease, and more. We train edge vision AI models that analyze every plant and determine exactly what interventions and treatments it needs. That intelligence flows into FruitScope OS, our farm-management platform, where growers can understand their crops, make better decisions, and direct operations in the field.

Today, Orchard’s technology is trusted by some of our nation’s largest farms. They use our products to grow higher-quality crops while reducing chemical use and operating costs, helping them farm more profitably and sustainably than ever before.

Our Culture:

  • Unshakeable Resilience – Our customers feed millions of people, and our customers depend on us. We are ultra-hardworking, never give up, and we do whatever it takes.

  • Always Keep Moving – We move fast, waste no time, and have an extreme bias towards action. Progress compounds every day, and our impact is measured in decades.

  • Improve Everything – At 1% success, we save millions of pounds of food from going to waste. If we are 100% successful we will impact the lives of billions of people across the world.

  • Farmers First – Every team member spends at least a few days in the fields with our farmers each month.

  • No Job Beneath Us – We’re low ego, own every outcome, and are all working towards the same goal.

The Role:

Orchard is entering its most ambitious period of growth yet. The quality and pace of our hiring will determine how quickly we can serve more farmers, and the systems we build now will shape the company for years.

You will be Orchard’s first dedicated recruiting and people hire. Reporting directly to our CEO, you will personally recruit critical hires while building a durable talent engine: sourcing, interview design, closing, onboarding, HR systems, benefits, compliance, and culture.

This is a builder role. You will spend roughly 2/3-rds of your time recruiting and 1/3-rd building and running our internal people operations. You should be equally comfortable sourcing an exceptional engineer, improving an onboarding process, handling a benefits question in our HRIS, and preparing Orchard for our next stage of growth.

What You’ll Own

  • Lead full-cycle recruiting for critical technical and operations roles.

  • Build repeatable sourcing channels and an exceptional recruiting brand.

  • Create and own an exceptional candidate experience.

  • Partner with leaders to define roles precisely, calibrate talent bars, move candidates quickly, and close exceptional hires.

  • Own the employee lifecycle, including new hire onboarding, HRIS, benefits, leave administration, and day-to-day people operations.

  • Maintain practical, compliant employment policies.

  • Protect and strengthen Orchard’s culture as the company scales.

What We Look For

  • 3-7+ years of experience recruiting, with real ownership in a fast-growing startup or high-performance environment.

  • A track record of personally recruiting and closing exceptional technical talent.

  • Experience helping an organization scale from 10's of employees to 100+.

  • Strong sourcing instincts and the creativity to reach candidates who are not actively applying.

  • Strong operating rigor across recruiting funnels, headcount plans, and people systems.

  • Comfort owning all processes around creating a stellar work environment for our team.

  • Hands-on experience with HRIS, benefits, onboarding, and other core people operations.

About the Opportunity

  • Full-time role, five days a week at our San Francisco office.

  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage with 100% of employee premiums covered.

  • The opportunity to build Orchard’s Recruiting and People function from the ground up.

  • Our team is close-knit and highly driven. You’ll work directly with our CEO and every functional leader.

  • We move fast, and sometimes this means staying late or working weekends.

  • We’re deeply motivated by the impact we’re making – every system we build and deploy means less food that goes to waste, and more people who are fed.

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