---
title: 'Recruiting Lead at Harper'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/recruiting-lead-harper-san-francisco-9n4vw7cpz8r9'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Recruiting Lead at Harper

- **Company:** Harper
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $150k–$200k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-01-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/harperinsure/2b79c172-1dcd-43b8-8b36-a07a9785633d

## Job description

Recruiting Lead

Harper is an AI-native commercial insurance company in San Francisco. We're not bolting AI onto insurance — we're rebuilding the entire business as software, on a simple bet: turning expert human judgment into compute is one of the largest transitions left to make, and a trillion-dollar industry still run 90% by hand is the place to prove it. We've grown ~100x in the last year and we move at that speed — on-site, in person, long days, very high standards. Almost no one joins Harper for insurance; they join to build the company that replaces how it works.

## The role in one line

You are Harper's first dedicated recruiting hire. You source, sell, and close exceptional people yourself this week — and you build the function that lets Harper go from ~30 to 100+ without losing the bar.

## Why this role exists now

A rebuild this large is a talent problem before it's anything else. We're hiring against the best AI-native companies in the country for the same people, and at ~100x growth the cost of a mediocre hire — or a slow one — compounds fast. We don't have a recruiting function yet. You'll be it, then you'll build it.

This is not a coordination role. You're not scheduling other people's interviews or running a calendar. You're a closer and a function-builder: you find the candidate, you sell the bet, you close the offer, and then you build the system that lets the next ten hires happen without you in every loop. Execution and strategy — the same person doing both.

In 6–12 months you'll have filled critical roles yourself and stood up a repeatable recruiting machine that can absorb the next 10x. You'll also be thinking about the team we need 24 months out, not just today's open reqs.

## What you'll do

- Close candidates yourself. Source, screen, sell, and close across engineering, sales, and GTM. You own the funnel end to end.
- Own technical recruiting. Understand the stack, know which competitors to pull from, and carry a real mental map of the talent landscape. Evaluate whether an engineer is actually good — don't just pass resumes through.
- Build infrastructure for 10x. Repeatable sourcing strategies, structured interviews, calibrated scorecards that don't break when we triple headcount.
- Expand into GTM and operations. Once technical recruiting runs cleanly, stand up pipelines for sales, marketing, and ops.
- Partner with founders on hiring strategy. Work directly with founders — no committee, no approval chain. Push back when a spec doesn't make sense. Think 24 months ahead.
- Build and lead a team. Hire and manage recruiters as we scale, and set the bar for performance and velocity.

## Who you are

- A closer with a technical background — years recruiting engineers, with offers to prove it.
- You've scaled recruiting through rapid growth, not just done early-stage setup — you know the ebbs and flows from Series A through C and what breaks at each stage.
- You've built systems, not just filled roles, and you think about what fails at 10x.
- You have tenure and depth — 2–3 year in-house stints where you saw real scale, not a string of short stops.
- You move at founder speed. You close great candidates this week, not next month.
- You can sell the reality honestly — an intense, loud, collaborative, on-site trading-floor culture — to the people who want exactly that.
- You're ready to own the function and build a team under you.

## Requirements

- 6–10 years in recruiting, including scaling through rapid growth (Series A–C).
- 2+ years managing recruiting teams of 3+.
- Technical recruiting background strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to source, sell, and close directly — not just manage others who do.
- Experience building recruiting processes that survive 10x growth, and a deep understanding of technical roles and the talent landscape.
- Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate.

Nice to have: companies that scaled from 30 to 200+ (not repeated Series A stints); recruiting for AI-native or technical sales orgs; employer brand and recruiting-content experience; building recruiting teams from scratch.

The reality

On-site in San Francisco, Monday–Friday. The hours are long and the learning curve is steep. You'll be selling that intensity to candidates, so you have to want it yourself — the people who thrive here wouldn't have it any other way. If your instinct is to own outcomes rather than manage a process, this is the seat.

## Compensation & benefits

- Salary: $150,000–$200,000 + performance bonuses & equity
- Location: Monday–Frida, San Francisco, in-office
- Benefits: Uber commuter benefits; breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided; snacks/drinks/coffee daily; free gym membership; health, dental, and vision insurance.

Process

- People screen — initial fit and alignment.
- Founder screen — skills and culture fit.
- Super day — see how you operate in real time.

To apply: if you've built recruiting infrastructure that scales and can close technical talent others can't reach — send your resume and tell us about the hardest role you ever closed.

## About Harper

## Company Overview

- **One-liner**: Harper is an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage that uses data and automation to help mid-sized businesses secure optimal coverage faster and at lower cost.
- **Entity Type**: Private startup (Y Combinator Winter 2025, raised $47 million)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Dakotah Rice (CEO) and Tushar Nair (CTO)

## Core Business

- Primary industry: Commercial insurance (Excess & Surplus lines brokerage)
- Target customers: Mid-sized businesses with complex insurance needs, spanning technology, life sciences, aerospace, construction, and consulting
- Mission: "We want to become the largest insurance brokerage in the world with the best NPS." (Source: [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/harper))

## Products & Services

- **Harper Hub**: Proprietary AI-native platform that automates form filling, carrier matching, and client communications, cutting weeks from the traditional quoting timeline.
- **Brokerage Services**: Comprehensive commercial insurance products including General Liability, Professional Liability (tech E&O with no AI exclusions), Cyber Insurance, Commercial Auto, Commercial Property, Umbrella, and Bonds – all placed through an AI-enhanced workflow.
- **Specialty Expertise**: Deep coverage for regulated industries such as FDA‑regulated labs, aerospace contractors, and security guard firms.

## Market Standing

- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$47 million** (confirmed on company website and Y Combinator profile; some third‑party sources list a lower figure but official sources indicate $47M)
- **Notable Investors**: Y Combinator (pre‑seed lead); other investors not publicly detailed
- **Growth Signals**: Writing over **$6 million in annualized premiums** across 35 states (as of early 2025); **6,000+ clients** with **98.78% client retention**; headcount of 39 employees growing **353% year‑over‑year**; **19 open positions**; 100% success placing tech E&O without AI exclusions.

## Competitive Advantages

- **AI‑native infrastructure**: Proprietary technology automates quoting, binding, and service, enabling faster turnaround and lower overhead compared to traditional brokers.
- **Deep niche expertise**: Focus on complex, regulated industries (tech, life sciences, aerospace) where incumbents often struggle.
- **High retention**: 98.78% client retention rate and proven ability to place hard‑to‑cover policies (e.g., tech E&O with AI exclusions) signal strong customer trust.
- **Data‑driven underwriting**: Real‑time analysis of prior interactions and quote intelligence to match businesses with the best carrier.

## Strategic Focus

- Scaling the AI‑native brokerage to serve the mid‑market today and eventually all businesses (commercial insurance commissions represent a $100B+ market).
- Aggressively hiring across engineering, sales, operations, and partnerships to support rapid growth.
- Expanding carrier partnerships and geographic reach (currently licensed in 35 states).

## Why Work Here

- **Early‑stage impact**: Join a Y Combinator‑backed startup at its inflection point, building the AI‑native future of insurance.
- **High‑leverage roles**: Engineers and GTM professionals work directly on systems (LLMs, automation) that drive measurable business outcomes.
- **Culture**: "Human expertise amplified by AI" – domain knowledge meets cutting‑edge technology; teammates from Goldman Sachs, Coinbase, and other top firms.
- **Work environment**: San Francisco headquarters with both in‑office and remote roles available depending on the position.
- **Compensation**: Competitive startup salaries (e.g., $160K–$230K for engineering roles per job listings).
- **Career growth**: Fast‑growing company (353% headcount growth) with opportunities to shape processes and take on ownership early.

## Sources

1. [harperinsure.com](https://harperinsure.com/) – Company website (home page)
2. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/harperinsure](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/harperinsure) – Careers page
3. [ycombinator.com/companies/harper](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/harper) – Y Combinator company profile
4. [linkedin.com/company/harperinsure](https://www.linkedin.com/company/harperinsure) – LinkedIn company page
5. [builtin.com/company/harper-harperinsurecom](https://builtin.com/company/harper-harperinsurecom) – Built In company profile

## Other roles at Harper

- [Customer Service Representative](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-service-representative-harper-san-francisco-hp7kmwk29e1f) — San Francisco, CA
- [Customer Service Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-service-manager-harper-san-francisco-rmk9xyfgeny4) — San Francisco, CA
- [Engineering Manager/TLM, Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-tlm-platform-harper-san-francisco-8h29hpszw0g7) — San Francisco, CA
- [Engineering Manager, Growth](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-growth-harper-san-francisco-fasf4sj96myf) — San Francisco, CA
- [Product Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-engineer-harper-san-francisco-2x6dytf3hvfp) — San Francisco, CA
- [Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/platform-engineer-harper-san-francisco-gg66r2c8ygc1) — San Francisco, CA
- [Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-harper-san-francisco-kh2x5jhcsqz5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Data Automation Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/data-automation-specialist-harper-san-francisco-dng49ww48npf) — San Francisco, CA
- [Data Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/data-analyst-harper-san-francisco-93nb7rksmnsn) — San Francisco, CA
- [Content Coordination](https://feeny.ai/job/content-coordination-harper-san-francisco-5dvvkf840yt3) — San Francisco, CA