Director of Talent Acquisition

About Instead

Instead is a tax platform designed to help taxpayers and tax professionals collaborate to save money on taxes. As the first company in decades to receive IRS approvals to E-file 1040, 1041, 1120, 1120S, and 1065 — we're re-inventing a complex category. Founded in 2023, Instead combines LLMs with tax law to make tax management a continuous, proactive process rather than a dreaded annual deadline.

Instead's investors include Sarah Guo from Conviction ), IRIS ) the largest tax software provider in the UK and many of our partners and customers who believe in our mission and vision. The Instead team comprises talented leaders from leading tax, financial services and fintech companies — Gusto, Intuit, Zenefits, Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer — as well as top tax & accounting firms such as PwC, BDO, RSM, and KPMG.

Instead was a 2024 Innovation Award Finalist in CPA Practice Advisor. Instead's CEO, Andrew Argue, is a CPA and has been named Top 100 Most Influential People in the Accounting Profession twice - Ones To Watch and CPA Practice Advisors 20 under 40.

About the role

We're seeking an experienced Director of Talent Acquisition to lead and scale our global recruiting function at Instead. You'll be responsible for overseeing the entire end-to-end recruiting process—from workforce planning and sourcing strategy through to offer acceptance and onboarding—across all departments and regions.

This role leads a growing talent team, currently including two junior recruiters, and will be directly responsible for ensuring we attract, assess, and hire exceptional talent for every position across the organization. You'll partner closely with executive leadership and department heads in the US and India to build scalable recruiting systems, deliver an outstanding candidate experience, and ensure our hiring goals align with Instead's rapid growth.

This is a high-impact, leadership role based in our Bangalore office, working closely with both India and US teams.

What you'll do

• Lead, manage, and mentor a growing team of recruiters responsible for full-cycle hiring across all departments.
• Design and execute a global talent acquisition strategy that supports current and future hiring needs.
• Own the end-to-end recruiting process—including sourcing, interviewing, selection, offers, and onboarding.
• Partner with hiring managers and executives to define role requirements, success profiles, and hiring plans.
• Implement data-driven recruiting processes, ensuring clear metrics on time-to-fill, pipeline health, and quality of hire.
• Build and maintain a robust candidate pipeline through proactive sourcing, networking, and partnerships.
• Oversee ATS management, recruiting operations, and compliance with global hiring policies and standards.
• Champion a world-class candidate experience, ensuring professionalism, transparency, and consistency at every stage.
• Drive employer branding initiatives to strengthen Instead's reputation as a destination for top global talent.
• Continuously improve interview processes, scorecards, and recruiter enablement through training and tools.

What you'll need

• 8+ years of experience in talent acquisition or recruiting leadership, preferably in a technology, SaaS or Tax services environment.
• Proven experience managing and developing recruiters and building scalable hiring processes.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end recruiting across multiple disciplines (engineering, product, tax, marketing, G&A).
• Demonstrated ability to partner with senior leadership and hiring managers globally.
• Experience with modern recruiting platforms, sourcing tools, and applicant tracking systems (ATS).
• Excellent organizational and communication skills with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-growth environment while maintaining quality and consistency

Nice to have

• Experience building recruiting operations in a startup or high-growth global company.
• Familiarity with AI or tech recruiting and global hiring strategies.
• Prior experience scaling teams across India and the US.
• Background in employer branding and recruiting analytics.

Why join us

• Lead the global recruiting function for a cutting-edge AI-powered tax technology company.
• Build, scale, and shape the future of Instead's hiring process and talent strategy.
• Be part of a collaborative, mission-driven team transforming an entire industry.
• Competitive compensation and benefits.
• Growth opportunities in leadership, people strategy, and global operations.
• Direct impact on company success through hiring the best talent across every function.

Equal Opportunity Employer - M/F/D/V

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

We trust our team with sensitive information, so all candidates who receive and accept employment offers must complete a background check before joining us.