Talent Operations Coordinator, R&D

Cognition
San Francisco, CA
On-siteCareer-pivot friendly

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-level talent operations professionals with technical recruitment experience who thrive in dynamic, collaborative environments.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 2+ years in technical recruitment coordination and a knack for process optimization
    — “You've spent 2+ years doing recruiting coordination, recruiting ops, or talent ops somewhere fast and technical
  • Individuals who enjoy managing complex, high-stakes logistics with a focus on candidate experience
    — “the reason candidates leave every interaction feeling genuinely taken care of
  • People who are comfortable working in a small, high-performing team with significant autonomy
    — “small, sharp team where your work is genuinely felt

Things to consider

  • Geographic flexibility is required, as the role is based in San Francisco
    — “You're based in San Francisco or ready to be
  • The role demands attention to detail, particularly around time zones and calendar management
    — “juggling calendars, time zones, and last-minute changes so nobody's ever caught off guard

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience in managing technical hiring pipelines and improving interview processes
    — “Work shoulder-to-shoulder with recruiters and hiring managers, flagging issues before they become problems
  • Emphasize your ability to adapt to fast-changing environments and handle multiple priorities
    — “don't mind things changing under you week to week
  • Showcase your track record in ensuring smooth candidate experiences and clear communication
    — “Keep everyone in the loop. Candidates, interviewers, hiring managers with updates that are clear, timely, and never robotic
  • Demonstrate your initiative in identifying and fixing inefficiencies in hiring workflows
    — “Poke at how the R&D team hires and runs meetings, and fix what's clunky before anyone has to ask
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Mid

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • run point on scheduling and interview logistics
  • keep everyone in the loop
  • fix clunky processes
Typical background
2+ years of experience in recruiting coordination, recruiting ops, or talent ops

Skills & requirements

Required

Recruiting CoordinationRecruiting OpsTalent OpsLogisticsProcess ImprovementData Analysis

Preferred

AshbyTechnical Recruiting

Stack & domain

Recruiting CoordinationRecruiting OpsTalent OpsCommunicationProblem SolvingTeamworkRecruitingTalent Management

About the role

Original posting from Cognition via Ashby

WE ARE AN APPLIED AI LAB BUILDING END-TO-END SOFTWARE AGENTS.

We're the makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer.

Our team is extremely talent-dense. Among our founding team, we have world-class competitive programmers, former founders, and leaders from companies at the cutting edge of AI including Scale AI, Palantir, Cursor, Waymo, Tesla, Lunchclub, Modal, Google DeepMind, and Nuro.

Building Devin is just the first step—our hardest challenges still lie ahead. If you’re excited to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and build AI that can reason on real-world tasks, apply to join us.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As Talent Operations Coordinator supporting R&D, you're the reason candidates leave every interaction feeling genuinely taken care of—and the person our researchers, engineers, and R&D leadership count on when they need something to just work. Part calendar guru, part host, part quiet fixer of whatever's about to go sideways, you make sure hiring never becomes the bottleneck.

The people you help bring on now will shape what Cognition's R&D team looks like for years. This role fits you if you get a kick out of solving logistics puzzles fast, don't mind things changing under you week to week, and actually enjoy the chaos of meeting new people all day.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Talent Coordination for R&D

  • Run point on scheduling and interview logistics for the R&D team, juggling calendars, time zones, and last-minute changes so nobody's ever caught off guard
  • Greet and host candidates onsite, reading the room and adjusting so each person feels comfortable, whether they're a first-time interviewer or a seasoned researcher
  • Keep everyone in the loop. Candidates, interviewers, hiring managers with updates that are clear, timely, and never robotic
  • Work shoulder-to-shoulder with recruiters and hiring managers, flagging issues before they become problems and adjusting plans on the fly
  • Own our ATS data (Ashby) so the pipeline stays clean and nothing slips through

Operational Excellence

  • Poke at how the R&D team hires and runs meetings, and fix what's clunky before anyone has to ask
  • Pull together numbers on hiring pace, time to hire, and team growth for leadership
  • Help pull off team events, offsites, and research show-and-tells
  • Spot the cracks in the process early and build something more scalable before they turn into real problems

YOU MAY BE A FIT IF

  • You've spent 2+ years doing recruiting coordination, recruiting ops, or talent ops somewhere fast and technical
  • You're the person who double-checks a calendar invite's time zone before it goes out, every time
  • A clunky process bugs you enough that you just go fix it—nobody has to ask
  • You genuinely care whether the interview went well for everyone involved: the candidate, the hiring manager, the interviewer squeezing this in between meetings
  • You can hold a dozen moving pieces at once without losing your cool
  • People trust you to follow through, every time, no reminders needed
  • You like people, all kinds of people, and it shows
  • You know how to keep sensitive information sensitive
  • Bonus points if you've supported a technical or research team before, or already know your way around Ashby
  • You're based in San Francisco or ready to be

WHY JOIN COGNITION

  • Real partnership with R&D and Talent leadership, not just admin support
  • A shot at scaling something from the ground floor
  • Plenty of room to grow the role as the R&D Talent team grows
  • Small, sharp team where your work is genuinely felt

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Cognition is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process - please let us know if you need any.

Source: Cognition careers (Ashby)

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