---
title: 'Head of Talent at NewsBreak'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-talent-newsbreak-mountain-view-california-ybw4x2jrwq7n'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Head of Talent at NewsBreak

- **Company:** NewsBreak
- **Location:** Mountain View California, United States
- **Compensation:** $165k–$250k
- **Posted:** 2026-09-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/newsbreak/jobs/4711066006

## Job description

## About NewsBreak

Founded in 2015, NewsBreak is the Content Intelligence platform shaping the future content economy. With over 40 million monthly active users, our flagship platform delivers highly personalized local news and information powered by advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech.

Recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators, we're proud to be Great Place to Work® certified and home to a dynamic team of technologists, product innovators, and business leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful challenges at scale.

Together, we reached unicorn status in 2021, and we remain committed to continuing this high-growth trajectory with the right team to fulfill our mission: building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence.

If you’re inspired to dream big, innovate fast, and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you! For more information, visit [www.newsbreak.com/about](http://www.newsbreak.com/about)

## About the Role

NewsBreak is looking for a Head of Talent to own and scale our talent acquisition function end-to-end. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has both built recruiting teams from the ground up and can operate as a strategic partner to the CEO and executive team on hiring, workforce planning, and org design.

You'll run point on our most critical and senior searches yourself, and be the architect of how NewsBreak attracts, evaluates, and closes top talent across engineering, AI/ML, product, and business functions — all while operating with the speed and rigor of a high-growth, AI-native company.

## What You'll Do

Talent Strategy & Leadership

- Own NewsBreak's end-to-end talent acquisition strategy, translating company growth and headcount plans into a clear hiring roadmap across engineering, AI/ML, product, and G&A functions.
- Build, lead, and mentor the talent acquisition team — hiring, coaching, and developing Talent Partners, recruiters, sourcers, and coordinators as the team scales.
- Act as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team on org design, workforce planning, leveling, and succession planning, bringing market insight and data to the table.

Executive & Critical Hiring

- Personally own full-cycle search for the company's most senior and confidential roles (VP+ and other business-critical hires), from sourcing through close.
- Partner closely with hiring managers and executives to define role scope, ideal candidate profiles, and interview processes for hard-to-fill and leadership positions.

Employer Brand & Candidate Experience

- Build and protect NewsBreak's employer brand to compete for top talent in a crowded Silicon Valley market.
- Design a candidate experience that reflects NewsBreak's speed, technical bar, and culture from first touch to offer.

Recruiting Operations & Systems

- Build scalable recruiting infrastructure — ATS, sourcing tools, interview processes, and AI-powered workflow automation — to support rapid, high-quality hiring.
- Define and report hiring metrics and OKRs (time-to-fill, pipeline health, offer-accept rate, quality of hire) to leadership, using data to continuously improve the funnel.
- Partner with People/HR and Finance on compensation benchmarking, leveling frameworks, and offer strategy.

Cross-Border & Specialized Talent

- Lead sourcing strategy for frontier AI/ML talent, including specialized and cross-border pipelines (U.S. and Mandarin-speaking talent markets).
- Manage relationships with external agencies, RPOs, job boards, and assessment vendors as needed.

## What We're Looking For

## Minimum Qualifications

- 10+ years of experience in talent acquisition/recruiting, including 4+ years leading and scaling a recruiting team, ideally at a high-growth technology company in Silicon Valley.
- Demonstrated success recruiting for technical organizations (engineering, AI/ML, or product) at scale.
- Track record operating as a strategic partner to founders/C-suite executives, with strong executive presence and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience building or significantly scaling a recruiting function, including process, tooling, and team structure.
- Data-driven approach to recruiting, comfortable using metrics and AI-powered recruiting tools to drive decisions.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience recruiting for AI/frontier AI or LLM-focused teams.
- Experience in media, content, news-tech, or consumer internet companies.
- Experience with cross-border or U.S.–China talent pipelines.
- Mandarin/English bilingual proficiency.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. Pay may vary based on a number of factors including job-related skills, level, experience, geographic location and relevant education or training. At NewsBreak, we design our overall rewards package to attract top talents. Depending on the position, the role may also be eligible for discretionary bonus and options. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process. Annual Base Pay Range $165,000—$250,000 USD

[CPRA Privacy Notice for California Candidates](https://docs.google.com/document/d/15apsJLgHq1p5NJR3fzFmdctKX4QIzzf2/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=110601223912453011659&rtpof=true&sd=true)

## About NewsBreak

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: NewsBreak is a Content Intelligence platform that delivers hyper-local news and information to over 40 million monthly active users across the U.S. using advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C, reached unicorn status in 2021)
- **Headquarters**: Mountain View, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Jeff Zheng (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Content Intelligence, Local News & Information, AI-Powered Recommendation Systems, Advertising Technology (Adtech)
- **Target customers**: B2C (consumers seeking local news), B2B (publishers, content creators, local businesses), and Enterprise (advertisers and agencies)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: Building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence, helping people live safer, more vibrant, and more truly connected lives by connecting and empowering local users, local content creators, and local businesses at scale.

## Products & Services
- **NewsBreak Platform**: A flagship mobile app and website that delivers personalized local news and information from over 10,000 sources to more than 40 million monthly active users across the U.S.
- **NBot**: An AI-powered agentic assistant that lets users personalize any digital engine (apps, platforms, websites) using natural language.
- **Publishing Platform (mp.newsbreakapp.com)**: B2B tools that help publishers, content creators, and local businesses engage audiences with monetization and audience-reach solutions.
- **Creator Program**: A platform for local content creators to distribute their work and monetize their audience.
- **Adtech & Monetization Solutions**: Targeted advertising solutions for local businesses, helping them connect with local audiences.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Unicorn status (valuation over $1 billion) achieved in 2021. Latest valuation not publicly disclosed.
- **Total Funding**: $115 million in Series C funding led by Francisco Partners (2021). Total funding amount not fully disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: 40+ million monthly active users (MAU)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Francisco Partners (lead investor in Series C)
- **Growth Signals**: Reached unicorn status in 2021; recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators (2025); Great Place to Work® certified; growing workforce with active hiring across engineering, product, and business roles.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Content Intelligence Infrastructure**: A proprietary AI-powered platform that personalizes local news and information at scale, creating a unique data moat.
- **Hyper-Local Focus**: Serves over 10,000 local news sources, filling a critical gap in the declining local news market.
- **Large, Engaged User Base**: 40+ million MAU provides a strong network effect for both content creators and advertisers.
- **Advanced AI & Recommendation Systems**: Deep expertise in NLP, recommendation algorithms, and agentic AI (NBot) differentiates them from traditional news aggregators.
- **B2B & B2C Dual Model**: Generates revenue from both consumers (via engagement) and businesses (via advertising and publishing tools).

## Strategic Focus
- **Content Intelligence Leadership**: Doubling down on AI to build the "infrastructure layer" for content intelligence, enabling smarter connections between people, businesses, and information.
- **AI-Powered Innovation**: Continued development of agentic AI (NBot), LLM post-training, and AI-driven advertising agents to enhance personalization and monetization.
- **Local Market Dominance**: Expanding the network of local publishers, creators, and businesses to strengthen the hyper-local ecosystem.
- **Monetization Growth**: Scaling adtech and B2B tools to increase revenue from both SMBs and enterprise advertisers.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture of Innovation**: Recognized by Fast Company as one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators (2025), with a culture that values curiosity, autonomy, and collaboration. Employees work in decentralized, autonomous teams with real ownership over product areas.
- **High-Growth Environment**: A unicorn company on a high-growth trajectory, offering accelerated professional growth for those who "think big, move fast, and create real-world impact."
- **Great Place to Work® Certified**: 92% of employees are proud to be making a difference, 94% felt welcomed when they joined, and 84% say it's a great place to work (compared to 57% at a typical U.S. company).
- **Benefits**: Competitive healthcare benefits (flexible medical care, premium dental/vision), 401(k) matching, and a focus on mental, physical, and financial well-being.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: HQ is in Mountain View, CA, with a presence in New York and Bellevue, WA. Job postings list specific locations, suggesting a hybrid or on-site model for most roles.
- **Engineering Culture**: Emphasis on ML, AI, recommendation systems, and adtech. Teams work with cutting-edge tech (LLMs, agentic AI, NLP) and are encouraged to pursue applied research, collaborate with academic institutions, and attend industry events.

## Sources
1. [NewsBreak Careers Page](https://careers.newsbreak.com/)
2. [NewsBreak Job Board (Greenhouse)](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/newsbreak)
3. [NewsBreak LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/newsbreak)
4. [PRNewswire - Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators 2025](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newsbreak-recognized-among-the-worlds-best-workplaces-for-innovators-by-fast-company-302552097.html)
5. [Great Place to Work - NewsBreak Profile](https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7088585)

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