Talent Acquisition Manager

Talent Acquisition Manager
About Tailscale
Tailscale is making safe connection effortless by delivering software that makes it easy to securely interconnect people and their devices, no matter where they are. From hobbyists to multinational corporations, teams of every size use Tailscale each day to protect their networks, share access to internal tools, and more. We're building a future for the Internet that's easy, sensible, and safe, like it used to be. Founded in 2019 and fully distributed, we're backed by Accel, CRV, Insight, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital.
About the Role
We’re looking for an experienced Talent Acquisition Manager to lead and develop a high-performing team of Talent Acquisition Partners while partnering with business leaders to deliver exceptional hiring outcomes.
This is a hands-on people leadership role responsible for recruiting performance across one or more business functions, such as Engineering, Product & Design or GTM & G&A. You’ll coach and develop Talent Acquisition Partners, translate business priorities into recruiting strategies, and ensure the team operates as trusted advisors to hiring leaders while consistently delivering against hiring goals.
You’ll partner closely with Talent Acquisition Operations and Sourcing, which provide the programs, systems, analytics, sourcing expertise, and operational infrastructure that enable recruiting success. We’re looking for a leader who brings strong recruiting judgment, business acumen, and a data-informed approach and thrives in a fast-moving environment where priorities evolve.
Key Responsibilities
Lead & Develop Talent Acquisition Partners
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of Talent Acquisition Partners through clear expectations, ongoing feedback, career development, and performance management.
- Coach Partners to strengthen recruiting strategy, stakeholder management, candidate assessment, influencing, negotiation, and closing capabilities.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, inclusion, strong judgment, and continuous improvement.
- Build team capability and adapt priorities, coverage, and ways of working as business and hiring needs evolve.
Drive Recruiting Strategy & Performance
- Translate business priorities and hiring plans into actionable recruiting strategies, team priorities, and execution plans.
- Establish a high bar for recruiting excellence and ensure consistent execution, from intake and search strategy through candidate assessment, offer, and close.
- Review search performance, pipeline health, hiring velocity, and team capacity to identify risks and drive accountability for outcomes.
- Provide guidance and hands-on support for complex, high-priority, or executive searches when needed.
Partner with Business Leaders
- Build trusted relationships with senior leaders and serve as a strategic advisor on hiring priorities, talent markets, workforce needs, and recruiting strategy.
- Help leaders navigate talent availability, hiring tradeoffs, timelines, and market realities while maintaining a consistently high hiring bar.
- Proactively identify hiring risks and partner with Talent Acquisition Partners and business leaders to develop solutions.
- Create accountability around effective hiring practices, timely decision-making, interview quality, and candidate experience.
Use Data & Market Intelligence
- Bring expertise and comfort with recruiting data and market insights to assess performance, identify hiring risks, and improve team and search outcomes.
- Use pipeline, funnel, hiring velocity, capacity, and market data to identify trends and guide recruiting priorities and decisions.
- Translate recruiting performance and talent market insights into actionable recommendations for Talent Acquisition and business leaders.
- Partner with Talent Acquisition Operations to ensure reporting and analytics effectively support team performance and business decision-making.
Partner Across Talent Acquisition
- Collaborate closely with Sourcing, Talent Acquisition Operations, and TA leadership to align recruiting strategies, resources, and priorities with business needs.
- Partner with Sourcing on pipeline strategy and difficult-to-fill talent needs, and with TA Operations on processes, systems, analytics, enablement, and technology adoption.
- Share business and recruiter feedback to improve recruiting programs, tools, workflows, and AI-enabled practices.
- Contribute to broader Talent Acquisition initiatives that improve candidate experience, team effectiveness, and scalability.
What We Are Looking For
- 8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience supporting technical and/or business organizations in high-growth technology environments, including 2–5+ years leading and developing recruiting teams.
- Demonstrated success coaching experienced Talent Acquisition Partners, setting clear expectations, managing performance, and building high-performing teams.
- Proven ability to partner with senior business leaders as a trusted advisor, using strong judgment and consultative skills to influence hiring strategies and decisions.
- Strong recruiting expertise and business acumen, with the ability to translate organizational priorities and hiring plans into effective recruiting strategies and team execution.
- Strong analytical skills and comfort using recruiting data, market intelligence, and performance metrics to identify challenges, drive accountability, and improve hiring outcomes.
- Ability to lead through ambiguity, balance strategic priorities with hands-on leadership, and adapt team focus as business needs evolve.
- Strong communication, coaching, and stakeholder management skills, with experience partnering effectively across Sourcing, Talent Acquisition Operations, and other cross-functional teams.
Nice to Have
- Experience leading recruiting across multiple functions, including Engineering, Product, Design, GTM, and/or G&A.
- Experience helping scale recruiting and organizational growth within a high-growth technology company.
- Experience partnering closely with dedicated Sourcing and Talent Acquisition Operations teams to improve recruiting effectiveness and scalability.
- Experience hiring globally across North America, EMEA, and/or APAC.
- A track record of developing strong recruiters into trusted business advisors while consistently delivering against ambitious hiring goals.
As a company, we strive to maintain fair and equitable compensation practices within our team across all roles and all levels. Tailscale's compensation package includes base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits. The salary range displayed on each job posting represents the target range for a new hire's base salary. Individual offers may vary based on experience and skill set.
US Pay Range
$158,000 - $197,000 USD
Frequently cited statistics show that people who identify with historically marginalized groups are likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to help us break that statistic!
What We Offer
- An inclusive, flexible environment where you can be your authentic self. We recognize the impact of diverse voices and backgrounds on the growth of our people, product, and company. And that flexibility in how and when you work empowers our team to integrate work and life.
- A competitive total compensation package. This includes a base salary, an equity incentive plan and variable commission (for quota-based roles).
- Comprehensive group benefits with no waiting period. Take advantage of coverage for health, vision, dental, and more for you and your family!
- Remote first company—most of our teams work fully remotely. Enjoy a change of scenery wherever you can get wifi, participate in virtual and in-person social events, and leverage our corporate co-working program to visit WeWork (or other similar spaces near you). Some roles require in-office collaboration depending on team needs, which will be clearly noted in the job descriptio