Head of Talent

Head of Talent

$200k – $250k • meaningful equity

Summary:

• Backed by some of the best in the game – Forerunner Ventures, YC, Lux, Soma, Paul Graham, Joe Montana, Innospark, the founders of Instacart and Dropbox, and many other top angels and funds
• Founders are recent Harvard grads with quant experience at Jane Street and BoA and years of experience as sharp sports bettors
• $300B annually bet on sports in the US and the size of the market is rapidly growing, particularly given the opportunity for operators to capitalize on the sweepstakes business model
• Currently the only way to bet is with retail sportsbooks, which have egregious margins, discriminatory and inefficient practices, and a stale betting experience
• Novig is a sports prediction market that guarantees users the best lines by allowing them to play directly against friends or the market, rather than against the house, making the sports trading experience more efficient , fair , and, most importantly, profitable

What will you do?

• Own the company-wide talent strategy: build and execute a scalable hiring roadmap aligned with business priorities.
• Own talent branding: craft messaging, content, and events that tell Novig’s story and attract exceptional operators and engineers.
• Drive candidate experience: ensure every candidate feels respected, informed, and excited to engage with Novig - even if they don’t receive an offer.
• Partner with leadership: work directly with the CEO, COO, and exec team to forecast headcount needs, design org structures, and set quarterly hiring goals.
• Build the recruiting infrastructure: optimize our ATS, interview training, scorecards, referral programs, and data dashboards.
• Build the recruiting team: hire and mentor recruiters and coordinators; establish accountability and best-practice processes.
• Track and report metrics: monitor time-to-fill, candidate quality, funnel health, and hiring velocity; share insights with leadership.
• Act as a strategic advisor: influence compensation design, leveling frameworks, and org planning in partnership with People and Finance.

What are we looking for?

• 6-10+ years of recruiting experience, with at least 3+ in-house and 2+ leading or managing recruiting teams.
• Proven success scaling a startup from ~30 to 100+ people, ideally in a technical or regulated industry.
• Ability to partner directly with founders and executives on workforce planning and org design.
• Deep sourcing and closing ability - you can personally fill mission-critical roles while building scalable systems.
• Highly analytical and metrics-driven; experience building dashboards and tracking performance across funnels.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication; can clearly articulate Novig’s mission to top candidates.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity with a bias toward speed, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
• Genuine passion for building teams, shaping culture, and creating equitable hiring systems.

Nice to Have

• Experience recruiting at an early-stage startup (Series A/B), where systems/processes weren’t already in place.

• Familiarity with sports, trading, or prediction markets or a demonstrated ability to ramp quickly in new domains.

• Track record of closing senior/leadership hires.

• Ability to build and iterate on recruiting infrastructure (ATS setup, interview training, process documentation).

• Analytical mindset with comfort tracking recruiting funnel metrics and reporting to leadership.

• Existing network of top operators/engineers that can be tapped early. 

• Experience with creative tools like Figma, Photoshop, Adobe Premiere CC, or others

Who is Novig?

At Novig, we have reimagined the sports betting landscape by building a sweepstakes-based sports prediction market. Our innovative platform allows users to engage in sports predictions without traditional gambling constraints. By leveraging the sweepstakes model, we ensure compliance with regulatory requirements while providing a unique, engaging, and profitable experience for our users. Our goal is to make sports prediction more accessible, fair, and enjoyable.

Novig’s founders, Jacob and Kelechi were sophisticated sports bettors who grew increasingly frustrated by the latency, discriminatory practices, monotony, and non-profitability of the retail sports betting experience.

As the regulatory landscape evolves in the United States, Novig is positioned to become a leading innovator with our unique focus on research and technology.

How does Novig approach compensation?

We are big believers in providing excellent compensation to everyone on the team as we build.

• We offer salaries at the top of the benchmarks you’d find for senior roles at big name companies
• We provide equity to all employees regardless of role. We are looking for people who can grow with us as we scale our team and product, and we think it’s important for all employees, especially our first few teammates, to have significant equity in the company so you have skin in the game and our incentives are aligned.

What benefits does Novig offer?

We are embarking on an ambitious journey and are committed to providing generous benefits, even at this early stage.

• Robust health, dental, and vision plans, covering 100% of health premiums and 90% of dental and vision premiums
• Generous 401(k) plan, matching up to 4% of base salary
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with $1,080 annual company contributions
• $27/day food or commuter stipend when working in our NYC office