Talent Lead - People, Culture & Founder Support

About the role

We're hiring a Talent Lead to build and nurture the people systems that power the Studio, its founders, and the ventures we build. You'll lead culture, talent, and people systems across the Studio - helping founders attract, develop, and retain exceptional teams. You'll support internal platform HR and performance management, working closely with the Head of Operations & Compliance to ensure consistency across Utopia's shared functions. This is a hands-on, early-stage role for someone who thrives at the intersection of venture building, talent design, and founder support - building scalable systems for hiring, onboarding, and learning that make "talent as a service" one of Utopia's most valuable offerings. Reports to: Studio Directors Dotted line: Managing Partner (for platform-wide HR and performance initiatives) Growth path: Head of People / Partner, Talent & Culture

Responsibilities

• Talent Strategy & Recruitment
• Lead end-to-end recruitment across the Studio - hiring world-class engineers, operators, and entrepreneurs
• Design and run recruitment processes for EIRs, venture teams, and platform hires
• Build and manage a founder talent pipeline aligned with our EIR model, Fellowship, and PODs system
• Partner with leadership to define roles, evaluate candidates, and ensure cultural fit
• Create hiring playbooks and interview frameworks that reflect our AI-native, founder-centric approach
• Leverage analytics and AI tools to improve sourcing, candidate assessment, and hiring efficiency
• Use AI tools for sourcing intelligence, talent mapping, and predictive hiring insights - designing data-driven recruitment strategies that improve quality and speed.
• Prototype and pilot "AI-native" talent processes such as automated screening, culture-fit evaluation models, and adaptive job design to support fast-changing venture needs.
• Culture & Team Development
• Embed Utopia's AI-native culture across the Studio - fostering curiosity, speed, and collaboration
• Champion a one-team culture - ensuring the Studio, Funds, and Platform teams work cohesively, with shared rituals and aligned values across all parts of Utopia
• Lead onboarding and internal learning programs so every team member and founder understands our mission, tools, and approach
• Organize rituals, workshops, and events that build belonging and psychological safety
• Coach team leads and founders on people leadership, feedback, and performance practices that scale
• Implement performance frameworks that balance accountability with learning
• Support leaders in designing incentive and retention models that align talent growth with venture outcomes
• Experiment with AI-enabled learning systems, internal mobility tracking, and real-time feedback tools that make performance data actionable.
• Collaborate with the Design Lead and Platform Engineers to create "people dashboards" that align team metrics (learning, engagement, retention) with venture KPIs.
• Pilot early experiments with AI copilots and HR assistants to enhance candidate experience, onboarding, and internal learning workflows.
• Founder & Venture People Support
• Provide HR advisory and culture-building support to founders within Studio ventures
• Help early-stage companies design hiring systems, onboarding processes, and talent development plans
• Build a network of advisors, coaches, and specialists who can support founders with leadership and team-building challenges
• Develop "people playbooks" that help ventures scale while keeping strong culture
• Coach founders on organizational design for AI-native teams - balancing technical depth, creative autonomy, and operational focus.
• Help early-stage teams structure roles, OKRs, and collaboration patterns for speed and clarity.
• Design simple toolkits that help founders run effective feedback and learning cycles without heavy HR infrastructure.
• People Operations & Systems
• Set up and manage foundational HR systems for the Studio (payroll, contracts, policies, compliance) in collaboration with the Head of Operations & Compliance and CFO on payroll and compliance processes
• Use AI-native HR tools (PeopleGPT, Deel, Ashby, Notion AI) to automate workflows and improve decision-making
• Keep Studio and venture talent data up to date and compliant with QFC and Qatar regulations
• Track and report Studio-level talent KPIs to leadership and QDB partners
• Implement lightweight people analytics to track key indicators - hiring velocity, retention risk, engagement, and learning impact - across ventures.

Additional Information

About The Studio The Studio is an AI-native venture builder for the Global South, purpose-built to transform high-barrier problems into scalable, investable companies. Partnering with domain experts & high-agency founders from concept to Series A, it both builds new ventures and re-engineers existing ones for AI-driven growth. Powered by UTOPIA OS - a modular, adaptive stack tailored to each venture - it compresses the path from concept to Series A to under 24 months.

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