People Scientist at Searchlight

Last updated 02.SEP.2021

Why Searchlight?

• Searchlight is creating a new category in people tech by making hiring objective, data-driven and measurable. Both companies and candidates win when we find better matches.

• Funded by top-tier investors like Founders Fund, Accel, and YC.

• Fast-growing team tackling a $150B market opportunity with a category-defining product.

• 77 NPS with customers like Zapier, Udemy, and Coda.

• Women-led and mission-driven company; founders are Forbes 30U30 with backgrounds from Stanford, Uber, Google, and McKinsey.

• Opportunity for meaningful ownership, leadership, and autonomy on a <10 person team.

Recommended Reading: Using Data for Hiring at Zapier

We are looking for a leader we can count on to:

• Establish Searchlight as a thought leader in the future of hiring and talent management by evangelizing the problem we’re solving, and become a thought leader themselves

• Maintain integrity and reduce bias in our product by giving direct input into our product informed by the latest research

• Conduct statistical analysis, surface insights from our platform’s data

Required Experience:

• PhD or PhD coursework in I/O Psychology, Human Resource Capital Management, Org Psych, or Org Behavior

• 3 years of experience conducting people research in an organization or consulting environment

• 1 year of experience working at an early stage startup

• Expertise in survey design and project management

• Have worked in HR Tech (nice to have)

• Has recruiting experience (nice to have)

• 1 year of experience working at a SaaS company (nice to have)

Success Profile:

• Excels in problem solving, critical thinking, and systems thinking

• Effective storyteller and communicator, both verbal and written. Comfortable presenting to internal and external audiences.

• Self-starter and fast learner, especially in ambiguity; you’ll need to define your own role at times and fill in gaps wherever needed

• Fluent in quantitative statistical methodologies

Hiring Process:

• Initial Screen (30 min) (Founder)

• Interview (30 min) 

  • Ask: Show a previous data analytics project

• Case Study Presentation (30 min with Founder + 30 min with Growth Advisor)

• Team Interview (2.5 hrs) (Full Team)

• Invite your references via Searchlight’s platform

• Final Interviews (2 hrs) (Founder + Board Member)

Key Teammates:

Kerry Wang - CEO/Cofounder

Anna Wang - CTO/Cofounder

Impact Description

Within...

1 month

• Become familiar with Searchlight’s product and market

• Review internal pre-hire assessments

• Provide thought leadership to 1 key project

3 months

• Create thought leadership content on hiring, references, DEI, and talent development

• Support sales team as needed to close new customers

• Advise on GTM and product roadmap

6 months

• Build a community of thought leaders in people

• Demonstrate the problem of not investing in people

• Evangelize Searchlight’s solution

Beyond

• Become a thought leader by establishing Searchlight as a thought leader in hiring, quality of hire, talent lifecycle, and DEI

More about Searchlight

Companies with the best talent win. But the way that companies hire hasn’t changed in decades, and recruiting as a core business function has been largely left behind by technology innovations in other functions like sales, customer success, marketing, etc. Job descriptions are still written in silo-ed documents, recruiting metrics end at time-to-fill instead of quality-of-hire, and we have a devastating diversity problem. While these are big challenges, we see a huge opportunity for Searchlight to own a ton of whitespace in the recruiting tech landscape.

Searchlight's full-cycle talent platform gives companies the right data and infrastructure to assess candidates and scale winning cultures. 

Logistics:

• Remote through Nov 2021 

• Located out of the San Francisco, CA office beyond Nov 2021 with hybrid in-person and remote work

• Weekly team dinners (remote) sponsored by the company

• Salary range $180-$250k 

• Significant Equity

• 401(k), Unlimited PTO, Health Insurance (100% paid premiums)

What Hybrid Work Means to Us

We are a fast-paced, tight-knit team that enjoys quality time working synchronously during core business hours. We have a PDX office and will have a SF office by EOY2021. We encourage team members to come into the office 2-3 times a week. 

Diverse and Inclusive Employer

We’re committed to providing equal treatment and opportunity to all applicants at every stage of the hiring cycle and throughout their life at the company.  We don’t discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected status.

Note: Research says men tend to apply even if they only meet ~60% of the job qualifications, whereas women and other marginalized groups are hesitant to do so. If you don’t match 100% of the job qualifications but think you’d be a great fit, we encourage you to apply!

Searchlight's mission is to build the best teams by helping companies hire the whole person, beyond resumes and interviews.

Searchlight's intelligent hiring software creates a profile of a candidate's team fit, strengths, and areas of growth through the people who've worked with them before. Our platform then matches the candidate to unique team profiles to predict top performers. Our customers like Udemy, Masterclass, and TrueCar now have the data they need to hire efficiently and effectively.

Our investors include Accel, Founders Fund, and Soma Capital.