---
title: 'Head of Talent at Kaizen Labs'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-talent-kaizen-labs-new-york-hghddqh370wh'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-04'
---

# Head of Talent at Kaizen Labs

- **Company:** Kaizen Labs
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-04
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kaizenlabs/c3a5b681-5a0b-400d-bfca-e5412ea51ca3

## Job description

Government technology has failed citizens, public servants, and service members for decades.

Kaizen powers America’s application layer. We replace the legacy systems federal agencies run on with modern software, built with craft. The ticketing platform a resident uses to visit a presidential library. The marketplace DoW uses for counter-drone procurement to protect lives and critical infrastructure. The system a Veteran uses to access benefits. We build systems of record, of national consequence. Our AI-native modules and harness allow us to do so in weeks and months, not years.

This year, our revenue has grown 35x. Next year, our software will serve over 100 million Americans across dozens of federal agencies.

Founded in 2022 and based in New York City and DC, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital.

## THE ROLE

Selling software to the federal government is supposed to take years. Long procurement cycles, entrenched primes, and pilots that die before they convert. We found a market and a motion that break that pattern, and Kaizen is on track to go from $1M to nine figures in 24 months. Nobody in the history of government technology has done that.

Which means the constraint is no longer whether we can sell or if we can win. It is whether we can hire fast enough, and whether we can go after the people we assume are out of reach. This role owns that. You will carry concurrent searches across GTM, operations, engineering, and design, build the systems and the team underneath them, and personally close the hardest ones. You will also change what this company believes is possible in hiring. The bar goes up by going after the best of the best, and this conviction starts with you.

This is the most influential window Kaizen will ever have. The next sixty people become the company. This starts as a talent-focused role. As the function grows, it can grow to include People more broadly.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Build and run Kaizen's recruiting engine: process, pipeline, and reporting across every function we hire into.
- Own the hiring bar and raise it across the company. Not by saying no more often, but by convincing us we can win over the best talent, and making it happen.
- Carry concurrent searches across go-to-market, operations, engineering, and design, and personally close the senior and executive ones.
- Own the recruiting stack in Ashby, Juicebox, and LinkedIn Recruiter, give leadership a live view of pipeline health against the plan, and drive the automation of coordination work so the team spends its time on candidates.
- Manage the team of three and hire the additional recruiters already approved, set the standard for excellent recruiting here, and invest in the career growth of the people you inherit.
- Own the agency roster: evaluate the current partners, negotiate terms, and decide search by search when a firm earns its fee.
- Establish Kaizen's employer brand in the NYC and DC markets so strong candidates understand the unique product and value proposition of Kaizen.
- Partner with the COO and founding team on headcount planning and the talent strategy behind a 40-to-100 plan in the next few quarters.

## WHAT YOU'LL BRING

- You have scaled a talent function through significant headcount growth, and can point to what you built and what it produced.
- You have operated as a trusted peer to company founders. You are direct, say the hard things that need to be said, and take ownership.
- You have a real answer for why people should work at Kaizen, and you can make the federal opportunity land with a candidate who has never considered public sector work.
- Real relationships and depth of understanding of the NYC engineering community.
- You have managed a recruiting team including recruiters, coordinators, and sourcers. This includes investing in their career growth and development.
- You have carried concurrent searches across engineering and go-to-market, from IC through Director and above, including roles with no obvious candidate pool.
- You use AI and automation in your own recruiting workflow today, and you have configured an ATS yourself, ideally Ashby.

STRONG CANDIDATES MAY ALSO...

- Have recruited in government, defense tech, or another regulated industry where the sell is harder than the salary.
- Have run or managed retained executive searches, and know when a firm earns its fee and when it does not.
- Want to grow into broader people operations as the function matures.

DON'T APPLY IF...

- You have only recruited where a sourcing team, a coordinator, and an established employer brand were already in place. The systems here are built for today's volume, and scaling them for three times the load is the job.
- Your first move on a hard search is to call an agency. Firms should be part of your toolkit, not a reflex you depend on.
- You think raising the bar means saying no more often. Here it means going after people who would not currently take the call.
- You want a settled process before you can produce. Ours is built for a 40-person company and has to carry a hundred.
- You want to run talent from the strategy layer. You will be expected to personally help source and close senior candidates.
- The public sector reads to you as a step down rather than the most under-served software market in the country.

## WHAT KAIZEN OFFERS

Health & Insurance

- 100% coverage across the board: medical through Oxford/United (Gold and Platinum PPO plans), dental through Guardian PPO, and vision through Beam — all fully covered for employees, with 100% coverage for dependents.
- $100,000 in fully paid life insurance. FSA and Dependent Care FSA.
- One Medical membership, on us — same-day primary care, 24/7 virtual visits, and offices all over the city.
- Fertility and family-building support through Carrot.
- 401(k) through Guideline, with a 2% company match.

Family & Time Off

- 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents. 10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents.
- Unlimited PTO, with a two-week minimum (we mean it when we say take time off!)
- Closed for all federal holidays.
- Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas.
- Company offsites throughout the year.

Office & Remote Setup

- Up to $750 one-time home office or desk setup stipend for NYC-based employees. $500 for remote employees.
- $50/month commuter benefit (company contribution).
- Expensed lunch while in the office.
- Company-provided laptop of your choice.

Wellness

- Fully covered gym membership at Grindhouse https://grindhousemhttn.com/ — right across the street from our office at 47 W 17th St (and in Williamsburg). A $225/month value, on us. For remote employees, $100/month dedicated to gym or physical fitness reimbursement.

Stipends

- $100/month utility stipend.
- $500/year professional development.
- $250/year recreation.
- $300/quarter pet care stipend.

## About Kaizen Labs

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Kaizen Labs provides a modular, AI-native software platform that helps local, state, and federal government agencies modernize public services like recreation management, permitting, parking, transit, and payments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, USA
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Nikhil Reddy

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Government Technology (GovTech), Civic Technology, Public Sector Software
- **Target customers**: Local, state, and federal government agencies in the United States
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To strengthen trust in American public services by building technology that residents and public servants are proud to use.

## Products & Services
- **Kaizen Platform**: A modular, AI-native operating system for public services. It replaces legacy systems with a unified platform covering recreation management (reservations, memberships, point of sale), permitting and licensing, parking management, transit and fare management, tolling infrastructure, digital billing and payment collection, and case management. The platform is designed to be adopted in phases.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $35M raised across 2 rounds (Seed and Series A)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: NEA, a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital
- **Growth Signals**: The platform already reaches 40 million residents across 50+ agencies in 17 states. The company has grown to 42 employees as of April 2026. It raised a $21M Series A in October 2025, signaling strong investor confidence and growth trajectory.

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-native platform**: Kaizen embeds AI into every interaction (from permit applications to benefits enrollment), differentiating it from legacy government tech vendors.
- **Modular, phased adoption**: Agencies can start with one service (e.g., recreation) and expand over time, lowering the barrier to entry for cash-strapped governments.
- **Design-first philosophy**: The company believes beautiful, intuitive software is how government technology earns trust, a stark contrast to the clunky, 90s-era systems residents are used to.
- **Breadth of coverage**: Already serves 40 million residents across 50+ agencies in 17 states, spanning local, state, and federal levels.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expansion across government levels**: Moving from its roots in outdoor recreation to a full-stack platform for local, state, and federal services.
- **AI-native development**: Embedding AI into every product interaction to make public services smarter and more efficient.
- **Scaling the platform**: Continuing to add modules and agency partners to become the "operating system for America’s public services."

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a team of "builders, designers, and operators" who are "change-seekers." The company emphasizes "Design is Everyone's Job" and "Collective Ownership" — every employee is accountable for the quality and trustworthiness of the product.
- **Work Model**: Hybrid. Employees work from home on Mondays and Fridays, and are in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday–Thursday) for intentional collaboration.
- **Location**: HQ in New York, NY. Some roles are listed as remote or hybrid.
- **Tech Stack**: TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, React, Next.js, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, AWS, Google Cloud, Vercel, GitHub, Linear, Slack, Salesforce, Outreach.
- **Notable Perks**: The company is building a culture of collective ownership and high design standards, with a focus on meaningful impact in the public sector.

## Sources
1. [kaizenlabs.co](https://www.kaizenlabs.co/)
2. [kaizenlabs.co/careers](https://www.kaizenlabs.co/careers/)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/kaizen-labs)
4. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/kaizenlabs/__4v0zyP-x3-EA2YdE8qp-2lRpYlAKgenz9fUD8HxFbDY)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kaizenlabs)

## Other roles at Kaizen Labs

- [Senior Product Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-designer-kaizen-labs-new-york-xpt986ddpwdn) — New York, NY
- [Senior Recruiter, GTM](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-gtm-kaizen-labs-new-york-3jrcrygpsve4) — New York, NY
- [Founding Filmmaker & Video Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-filmmaker-video-lead-kaizen-labs-new-york-hgzk6y53d67g) — New York, NY
- [People Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-manager-kaizen-labs-new-york-8tdwkre5m5sp) — New York, NY
- [Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Cleared (TS/SCI)](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-software-engineer-cleared-ts-sci-kaizen-labs-washington-q5rzmst4hpws) — Washington, DC
- [Senior Cleared Software Engineer (TS/SCI)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cleared-software-engineer-ts-sci-kaizen-labs-new-york-zejdkq2qr68b) — New York, NY
- [Digital Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/digital-designer-kaizen-labs-new-york-wp26n13897yp) — New York, NY
- [Government Contracts Administrator (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/government-contracts-administrator-contract-kaizen-labs-washington-gmga41wyywwp) — Washington, DC
- [Federal Growth Lead, DoW](https://feeny.ai/job/federal-growth-lead-dow-kaizen-labs-washington-gbvyf8fjk6yw) — Washington, DC
- [Federal Growth Lead, FedCiv](https://feeny.ai/job/federal-growth-lead-fedciv-kaizen-labs-washington-edvcaee4e5b5) — Washington, DC