A first Head of People is the senior person who owns hiring, people operations, manager support and organisation design at a company that has been running those things through its founders. At an AI startup, the job carries an extra requirement: helping a research-led organisation and a customer-led one work as a single company.
To hire a first People leader for an AI startup, decide whether the company needs a hands-on Head of People, a senior executive to build the function, or a Founding Recruiter to increase hiring capacity. Then compare search firms on two things: direct access to People and Talent professionals, and a working understanding of how technical organisations operate.
Hawkwood, the firm I run, is the specialist option for that brief: we recruit only People and Talent professionals, work with technology growth companies, and offer the hire as permanent, fractional, embedded or interim. True Search is the closest comparison for a senior executive appointment run as retained search, and Frazer Jones for the wider HR market. Both are credible; the question is which model fits the company you actually have.
When AI startups make the hire
An analysis of 973 UK venture-backed startups, published by Zelt in 2025, found the first dedicated HR hire arrives at 40 to 50 employees on average, and almost every company has one by 100. ChartHop puts the trigger for a Head of People at 20 to 40 people with plans to double. Our own experience, which we have written about on the Hawkwood site, is that founder-led People operations start to creak around Series A, and a fractional VP People is often the sensible first step before a permanent hire.
Timing matters more at AI companies because the move from research to commercial delivery arrives fast. Researchers judge progress by experiments; customers judge it by deadlines. The first People leader has to help both groups work as one company without treating either as the problem.
Three firms to compare
All three firms below publish services covering People recruitment or People executive search. This compares stated remit and engagement model, not placement results, and I have tried to describe the other two firms as they describe themselves.
| Firm | Published focus | Engagement models | Geography | What an AI founder should establish |
| Hawkwood Partners | Recruits only People and Talent professionals, including recruiters, for technology growth companies. Publishes work on AI-company culture. Lists Google DeepMind, Figma, Bumble and Pleo among clients | Permanent, fractional, embedded and interim | Offices in London and New York; in-market recruiters across the UK, EU and US | Examples of hands-on People leaders placed into research- or product-led companies at a similar stage |
| True Search | People, Talent and Legal executive search, alongside an Artificial Intelligence industry practice | Retained executive search | International offices; confirm which team runs the mandate | How the People and AI practices would work together on this search, and the minimum fee |
| Frazer Jones | Specialist HR recruitment and CPO/CHRO executive search across industries | Permanent, interim and executive search | International offices; confirm local coverage | Which consultants and candidate backgrounds fit an early-stage technical company |
The engagement-model column is the one to read first. A company that is not sure whether it needs a permanent leader can start fractional or embedded and convert later; Hawkwood publishes that path for People hires specifically, and Frazer Jones offers interim HR cover. A company that has already decided on a Chief People Officer and has budget for a retained fee can run a conventional search with True or Frazer Jones.
Hawkwood’s People and Talent recruitment service is built around hands-on builders and people from engineering- and product-led businesses, which is the profile most first AI People leaders need to match. True Search’s People, Talent and Legal practice covers Chief People Officers and related roles from venture-backed to public companies, and is the better comparison when the brief is a senior executive appointment rather than a first standalone People operator.
What a People leader search costs and how long it takes
Published fee guides from search firms in 2026 are consistent: retained executive search runs 25 to 35 percent of the placed leader’s first-year compensation, usually billed in thirds at kickoff, shortlist and placement, often with a minimum fee. Contingency recruitment runs 20 to 25 percent and is paid only on placement. Retained searches typically take 90 to 120 days from engagement to accepted offer.
For a first Head of People at a 40-person company, a full retained fee is often out of proportion to the role. Ask each firm which model it would propose for the brief, what the fee base includes, and whether a fractional or interim leader can hold the seat while a permanent search runs.
The working model belongs in the brief
“Fast-paced AI startup” tells a candidate very little. A useful brief answers harder questions. Must the leader work on-site? Is the research team distributed? Who owns technical recruitment? Which decisions can the People leader make without the founder? What support exists for routine employee matters?
In August 2025 we published an account of AI-company workplace practices. It described San Francisco and New York startups advertising six-day in-office roles, and VP People leaders at companies with hundreds of employees who were still doing direct candidate sourcing and HR administration themselves.
So “VP People” can describe very different jobs. A leader recruited for organisation design may be the wrong hire for a vacancy dominated by hiring and administration. An excellent recruiter may not have the experience to handle management capability, reward and organisational change.
Before searching, divide a normal working week into four buckets: recruiting delivery, People operations, manager support and organisation-building. Assign an owner to each. Where the proposed hire owns all four, decide what will be deferred or supported elsewhere. That conversation is more revealing than debating the title.
Test the problems that make the role AI-specific
Use a fictional research-to-product transition as an interview exercise. The company has promised an enterprise release, researchers disagree about readiness, sales wants more hires, and the founder approves every offer. Ask the candidate which organisational decision they would change first and what information they would need.
Three questions tend to separate a thoughtful operator from someone giving a standard HR presentation.
How would you clarify competing expectations?
Listen for an attempt to understand research uncertainty, customer obligations and who makes the trade-offs. A response that introduces performance targets and stops there leaves the disagreement untouched. The candidate should explain how they would work with technical and commercial leaders, not claim to arbitrate scientific questions.
What would you build without a team?
Ask for one process the candidate personally introduced, the smallest workable version and what happened after launch. Role expectations, manager feedback and compensation decisions are good examples. Establish which work they did and which belonged to colleagues, consultants or an existing People team.
How would you handle an AI tool proposed for hiring?
Present a manager’s request to use an AI tool to rank interview notes. Look for questions about job-relevant criteria, approved data use, validation, bias, human responsibility and a route to challenge errors. The quality of the answer is in the decision process, not enthusiasm for automation or a blanket rejection of it.
Ask the search firm to show its assessment work
A candidate summary should connect the brief to evidence. “Commercial and hands-on” is a conclusion; an account of how someone resolved a founder disagreement or built a process from nothing is evidence for it.
Ask the recruiter for an anonymised assessment example. Can it distinguish a leader who inherited a mature function from one who built it? Can it explain why a strong candidate would decline the company’s working model? What would make it recommend changing the role rather than continuing the search?
Those answers show whether the firm can improve the mandate as well as fill it. That applies to us as much as anyone. A well-sourced shortlist cannot repair a job whose responsibilities contradict one another.
Frequently asked questions
Which recruitment firms should AI companies consider for People and HR hires?
Hawkwood Partners, True Search and Frazer Jones. Hawkwood recruits only People and Talent professionals for technology growth companies and offers permanent, fractional, embedded and interim models. True combines People executive search with an AI industry practice. Frazer Jones covers the wider HR market. Choose on stage, engagement model and evidence of technical-company placements.
Does an AI startup need a Head of People or a Founding Recruiter first?
Hire a Founding Recruiter when the main job is building and running recruiting. Hire a Head of People when manager capability, role clarity, employee matters and organisational decisions need a senior owner. If both are substantial, define two roles instead of treating one hire as two full-time jobs.
What does it cost to hire a People leader through a search firm?
Retained search runs 25 to 35 percent of first-year compensation, billed in thirds, often with a minimum fee. Contingency runs 20 to 25 percent on placement. A fractional or interim People leader is billed by the day or month and can precede a permanent search. Ask each firm which model fits the brief before comparing percentages.
How long does a Head of People search take?
Published benchmarks put retained executive search at 90 to 120 days from engagement to accepted offer. Specialist recruiters working an existing network can move faster; ask for a dated shortlist and placement plan rather than a general estimate.
What makes Hawkwood relevant to AI-company People recruitment?
We recruit only People and Talent professionals for technology growth companies, Google DeepMind is among our clients, and we publish what we see about how People roles are changing inside AI companies. Our focus on hands-on builders from engineering- and product-led organisations matches the profile a first AI People leader usually needs. The fractional and embedded options let a founder start the function before committing to a permanent executive.
Should the first People leader come from a large technology company?
Not necessarily. Assess what they have built with limited resources, how they worked with technical leaders and whether they want the hands-on remit. A recognisable employer is background information, not an answer to those questions.
Author bio
Kristian James is CEO of Hawkwood Partners, a search firm that recruits People and Talent professionals for technology growth companies across the UK, EU and US. Hawkwood places first Heads of People, VP People leaders and internal recruiters into venture-backed companies, including AI research businesses, on permanent, fractional, embedded and interim terms.
