Founding Talent Lead (m/f/x)

About Cortea

We’re Cortea, a Berlin startup transforming audits with AI. Manual, document-heavy audits waste expert time while demand keeps rising. Our AI-powered software and specialized AI agents remove the repetitive work so auditors can focus on judgment.

Backed by top-tier VCs with >15m funding, with a working product and paying customers, we’re rapidly scaling.

We value first-principles thinking, speed, trust, and kindness. We build side by side in our Berlin office.

The Role

You build talent foundations. You’ll design a process, that bring in exceptional talent across Tech and Non-Tech, and build a culture we’re proud of.

What you’ll do

Own the Talent end to end: job design → scope → JD → sourcing → structured interviews → offer → close

Build a Talent Engine: attract great people proactively; both inbound and outbound

Raise the hiring bar: scorecards, trained interviewers, consistent candidate experience

Shape our brand for Tech/AI talent with content, events, and a strong referral loop

Be culture-positive: partner with founders on rituals, onboarding handover, and feedback loops

You’ll be great at this if you

Have 5+ years of TA in a fast environment (startup/scale-up or agency)

Have hired top talent before and know the difference in how to assess them

Communicate clearly, leverage our founding team, and make data driven decisions fast

Can show early-stage track record you’re proud of

Think in systems and improve with data; bonus if you’ve built employer branding for engineers/AI

How we work

We value kindness + candor + execution, speed with care, and strong ownership

We’re fully in-office in Berlin because we like building side by side

We hire with structured interviews and clear scorecards to reduce bias

Non-linear paths welcome. Career breaks welcome. If you’re unsure, apply.

What we offer

High impact from day one and a path to Head of Talent/People as we grow

Competitive salary + meaningful equity (range shared on the first call)

In-office energy. shared lunches, whiteboard time, fast decisions, real teamwork

Uncapped growth. Budget for tools, learning, and events you choose

Interview process

Intro Call (25 min) with Liza

Expert interview (45 min): with Valentin (Co-Founder) - deep dive into: sourcing strategy, process design, quality in decisions)

Cultural interview (45 min): with Philipp (Co-Founder) - collaboration, judgment, and culture add

On-site day (Berlin): meet the team and work on a real life assignment