Recruiting Operations Manager

About the role

Applied Intuition is seeking a Recruiting Operations Manager to lead the coordination, systems, and process infrastructure that underpins our recruiting function. In this hands-on role, you will manage a team of recruiting coordinators and own the day-to-day health of our recruiting systems to ensure they operate reliably at scale. You will build the operational strategy that allows recruiting to grow cleanly as the business expands across our offices and industry segments. You will work cross-functionally with Recruiting Teams and People Operations to ensure that the strategies and processes you design benefit the entire People organization, not just recruiting. You must be comfortable defining high-level operational strategy while also diving into the details of ATS workflows and background check exceptions, translating complex needs into clear, repeatable solutions. At Applied Intuition, you will build and maintain the documentation and data hygiene practices that a publicly traded company requires, creating foundations that support auditability and long-term scalability. You will serve as a systems owner for the digital infrastructure that supports physical AI, ensuring that recruiting operations remain robust, consistent, and aligned with the company's growth trajectory.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own the end-to-end strategy for the day-to-day operation of recruiting systems, including Ashby and ModernLoop, ensuring they function reliably as hiring volume scales.
• Manage the performance of the recruiting coordination team, overseeing scheduling, candidate communications, and interview logistics to deliver a consistently high-quality experience for candidates and interviewers.
• Design and implement operational strategies for recruiting that remain effective in a fast-paced, scaling organization, then translate those strategies into documented, repeatable processes.
• Take ownership of data hygiene across recruiting systems, maintaining clean requisition data, accurate candidate and pipeline records, and consistent reporting inputs for the broader People team.
• Build and document processes with an eye toward future SOX compliance, applying the rigor and auditability expected of a publicly traded company even before formal requirements are imposed.
• Partner closely with People Operations on shared responsibilities, including offer letter management and background checks, ensuring clean handoffs and eliminating dropped details between teams.
• Lead, manage, and develop a team of recruiting coordinators, recruiting operations specialists, and recruiting systems members to a standard of operational excellence and consistency across the function.
• Serve as the primary systems owner for recruiting tools, driving improvements, troubleshooting exceptions, and coordinating with cross-functional stakeholders to resolve issues efficiently.
• Define and track key operational metrics for recruiting, identifying bottlenecks, and implementing process improvements that increase efficiency and reliability.
• Collaborate with hiring managers and cross-functional leaders to align recruiting operations with business priorities, ensuring that process design supports both speed and quality of hire.
• Maintain strong documentation of procedures, configurations, and decisions within recruiting systems, creating a knowledge base that supports continuity and scalability.
• Proactively identify risks in the recruiting workflow and develop mitigation strategies, ensuring that issues are resolved before they impact candidate experience or hiring timelines.
• Support special projects as needed, including the evaluation and rollout of new tools, integrations, and process changes that enhance recruiting operations.
• Work closely with the recruiting team to ensure that operational improvements are adopted effectively and that team members are trained and supported in using new processes and systems.
• Contribute to the broader People Operations function by sharing insights from recruiting operations that can improve company-wide processes and employee experience.
• Ensure compliance with internal controls and regulatory expectations related to public company operations, embedding best practices into everyday workflows.
• Act as a subject matter expert for recruiting systems and operations, providing guidance to stakeholders and helping them understand the implications of process and system changes.

Requirements

• Hold a Bachelor's Degree and possess 5+ years of experience in recruiting operations, with hands-on experience in recruiting coordination and recruiting systems.
• Have 3+ years of people management experience, leading a team through growth and operational scaling.
• Bring direct experience operating in fast-paced, scaling organizations, building operational strategies that remain effective as headcount and hiring volume increase.
• Demonstrate proven experience building and documenting processes that are repeatable and support data hygiene across recruiting systems.
• Show recruiting programs experience, including the design, execution, and optimization of structured recruiting initiatives.
• Have experience working closely with People Operations as a shared partner on offer letter management and background checks.
• Be comfortable managing confidential and sensitive information in compliance with company policies and regulatory requirements.
• Be able to communicate clearly and professionally with cross-functional stakeholders at all levels of the organization.

Nice to have

• Demonstrate experience with Ashby and ModernLoop specifically, including configuration, reporting, and workflow optimization.
• Bring working experience and proficiency with Ashby, Workday, and Google Workspace.
• Have experience in publicly traded companies, particularly building or supporting processes with future SOX compliance considerations in mind.

Practical notes

This role is based in Sunnyvale and requires in-office work, with an expectation that employees are present 5 days a week. The company recognizes the importance of flexibility and trusts employees to manage their schedules responsibly, which may include occasional remote work, adjusted start times for morning meetings, or early departures to accommodate family commitments. There may be occasional travel required between offices as business needs dictate. This role is not eligible for remote work arrangements on an ongoing basis.