Head of Talent

Company Overview

Foundational is building a network of AI-native, autonomous factories for modern contract manufacturing. We’re reshoring critical supply chains so companies can produce high‑quality products domestically, quickly, and at competitive cost.

Foundational exists to make reindustrialization practical. Our factories are autonomy-first, reconfigurable by design, and orchestrated by a unified, AI-native factory operating layer that connects design through production.

Transformative Opportunity

Recent breakthroughs in robotics and physical AI have shifted autonomous manufacturing from a theoretical promise to a deployable capability, triggering a global race to operationalize these systems at scale. The challenge is no longer whether autonomy works, but who can integrate AI-native robotics into real production environments.

The ability to manufacture advanced products domestically is now central to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security. Foundational is focused on deploying these capabilities at scale during a decisive decade for American industrial leadership.

Who We Are

Foundational was built by executive leadership from Google’s physical AI platform and America’s two largest contract manufacturers.

Manufacturing critical products requires trust. The Foundational team has deployed AI systems at multi-billion-dollar scale and delivered thousands of products across hundreds of manufacturing facilities.

Role Overview

We are hiring a Head of Talent to lead Foundational’s recruiting strategy and execution while owning core people operations as the company scales. This role is responsible for building a high-performing team across engineering, manufacturing, and operations, and for establishing the foundational HR systems that support a growing, in-person organization.

This role requires both strategic leadership and hands-on execution. You will personally drive critical hires while designing scalable recruiting processes, and you will own essential people operations such as payroll, benefits, and HR administration. Working closely with founders and functional leaders, you will ensure that how we hire and how we support our team reflects Foundational’s standards, values, and pace.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead Foundational’s recruiting strategy across technical, operational, and leadership roles, with a focus on quality, speed, and long-term fit.

• Personally drive end-to-end recruiting for priority hires, including sourcing, screening, process design, closing, and candidate experience.

• Build and maintain recruiting infrastructure and systems (ATS, interview processes, metrics) to support consistent, high-quality hiring as the company scales.

• Partner closely with founders and functional leaders to translate business needs into clear role definitions, hiring plans, and interview criteria.

• Own core people operations, including payroll, benefits administration, compliance, and coordination with external HR, finance, and legal partners.

• Establish and maintain HR policies, onboarding processes, and employee lifecycle workflows appropriate for a growing, in-person organization.

• Serve as a trusted partner to leadership and employees on people-related matters, balancing empathy, clarity, and sound judgment.

• Help shape Foundational’s culture by reinforcing high standards, ownership, and integrity through hiring and people practices.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of experience in talent, recruiting, or people operations roles, with ownership of hiring strategy and execution in fast-growing organizations.

• Demonstrated success recruiting for technical, operational, and leadership roles in demanding environments such as startups, manufacturing, or industrial technology.

• Hands-on experience running end-to-end recruiting processes, including sourcing, interview design, closing, and candidate experience.

• Practical experience owning or partnering on HR operations such as payroll, benefits, compliance, and coordination with external vendors or PEOs.

• Strong judgment and communication skills, with the ability to advise leadership and handle sensitive people matters with discretion and professionalism.

• A builder mindset: comfortable operating in ambiguity, creating structure from scratch, and doing both strategic and detailed work as needed.

• Alignment with Foundational’s mission and an in-person, high-ownership culture focused on execution and long-term impact.

Why Join Foundational

Foundational is built for people who want their work to matter. The ability to manufacture critical products domestically is central to U.S. economic strength and national security, and we are focused on turning that imperative into execution at scale.

We operate with a strong bias toward delivery. Progress is measured by what runs in production, what holds up under pressure, and what improves over time. Ownership, judgment, and follow-through define our culture.

Foundational brings together the most experienced leadership team in autonomous manufacturing — operators who have run the largest contract manufacturing platforms in the United States, alongside engineers who have built and deployed large-scale systems at Google. This combination positions us as the clear leader in this category, with both the credibility and capability to set the standard for autonomous production.

We reward exceptional outcomes exceptionally. Compensation and equity are structured to reflect responsibility, impact, and results, with meaningful upside for those who help build and scale the business. For those aligned with the mission and motivated by execution at scale, Foundational offers the opportunity to help define one of the most consequential industrial transformations of the next decade.