Executive Recruiting Lead

Zoox is seeking a strategic and experienced Executive Recruiting Lead to build and scale our in-house executive search function. In this critical player-coach role, you will act as a trusted thought partner to the C-suite, shape the executive recruiting strategy and infrastructure, personally lead high-impact Director+ searches, and manage a dedicated team to deliver our most mission-critical hiring needs.

In this role, you will...: Leadership: Design and scale a world-class executive search function, including managing/coaching a small team, development of internal executive research capabilities and long-term succession planning. End-to-End Recruitment: Own and drive the entire executive recruitment lifecycle, from initial strategy meeting to candidate offer and closing, ensuring a seamless and high-touch experience for all executive candidates. Hands-on Executive Search: While leading the function and team, remain actively involved in the full-cycle execution of high-priority, mission-critical searches, personally driving candidate generation, engagement, and closing for select senior-level roles. Market Mapping & Sourcing: Develop sophisticated, data-driven market maps of executive talent in relevant industries (e.g., autonomous technology, automotive, software, hardware engineering, operations, finance). Candidate Engagement: Articulate the Zoox mission, vision, and unique culture compellingly to high-profile executive candidates, often involving complex compensation, negotiation, and relocation strategies. Confidentiality & Discretion: Handle extremely sensitive and confidential candidate information and internal organizational details with the utmost professionalism and discretion. Partnering with Leadership: Serve as a trusted advisor and strategic partner to the CEO, Co-Founder, C-suite, and other senior leaders on talent planning, and executive hiring best practices. Process Improvement: Drive continuous improvement in executive search processes, leveraging tools, metrics, and interview methodologies. Passive Candidate Conversion: Develop and execute tailored strategies to attract and successfully engage highly passive, hard-to-reach executive candidates, effectively converting passive interest into active candidacy. Qualifications: Experience: 8+ years of experience with executive searches (Director+) and 15+ total recruiting experience. Technical Domain Ex