Talent Acquisition Lead

Edtech.com's Summary

Passage is hiring a Talent Acquisition Lead to build and lead a comprehensive recruitment strategy that attracts exceptional talent aligned with the company's mission. This role involves owning the end-to-end hiring process, developing innovative sourcing strategies, enhancing employer branding, and partnering with leadership to hire for future growth.

Highlights

Lead full recruiting lifecycle from sourcing to offer acceptance for technical, operational, and leadership roles.
Develop creative sourcing strategies beyond traditional platforms to find high-performers and mission-aligned individuals.
Craft and communicate Passage's mission and narrative to attract top talent.
Build and promote an employer brand that positions Passage as a destination for ambitious engineers and builders.
Design and run creative hiring campaigns including technical storytelling, engineering challenges, and community events.
Collaborate with hiring managers to define roles and future-focused hiring criteria.
Refine hiring processes and manage applicant tracking system (ATS) with integration of AI-driven screening tools.
Champion company culture by ensuring hires embody Passage's values and high-performance mindset.
Requires 3-5+ years in talent acquisition, preferably in high-growth startups or agencies, with strong communication, tech-savviness with ATS and AI tools, and proven success hiring ownership-driven candidates.
Annual compensation ranges from CA $70,000 to CA $120,000, including equity offerings.

Talent Acquisition Lead Full Description

Talent Acquisition Lead

Who we are: We build technology that removes barriers blocking talent from opportunity, combining the latest advancements in AI with human judgment.

How we expand access: Access isn't real if it's unaffordable. Through our sister company, Passage Funding, we provide financing for international students.

What we believe: Access to opportunity should not be determined by geography, gender, or wealth. We reinvest a portion of our profits to support those cut off from education - including our Afghan program.

Access is the product: We build AI that turns paperwork into decisions, and decisions into real outcomes.

Our mission is bold but simple: by 2030, we aim to dismantle the barriers preventing brilliant minds from accessing the opportunities they deserve.

The role

We are looking for a Talent Acquisition Lead who will build the engine that attracts exceptional people to Passage.

This is not a traditional recruiting role. Your mandate is to identify, attract, and win the builders who will define Passageâs next decade.

You will combine disciplined recruiting operations with creative employer branding initiatives that make Passage a magnet for world-class talent.

Who you are

You are a hunter of potential and a curator of culture.

You understand that in a mission-driven startup, talent is not just a list of skills. It is a mindset. You know how to identify people who take ownership, move fast, and care deeply about impact.

You are energized by building systems from scratch and by the challenge of finding exceptional individuals who do not respond to traditional recruiting methods.

You are also a storyteller. You know how to communicate the Passage mission in a way that attracts ambitious engineers, operators, and builders who want their work to matter.

What you will do

Own the full recruiting lifecycle

Lead the end-to-end hiring process from sourcing to offer acceptance
Recruit across technical, operational, and leadership roles

Build the sourcing engine

Develop sourcing strategies that go beyond traditional platforms
Identify unconventional high-performers, builders, and mission-aligned individuals

Tell the Passage story

Craft and communicate the narrative of Passage to attract exceptional talent
Ensure candidates clearly understand the mission, impact, and ambition of the company

Build the employer brand

Position Passage as a destination for ambitious engineers and builders
Develop employer branding initiatives that showcase our work, culture, and mission

Run creative talent attraction projects

Design and execute creative hiring campaigns to attract top engineers and operators
Launch initiatives such as technical storytelling, engineering challenges, founder content, or community events that bring the best talent into our orbit

Partner with leadership

Work directly with hiring managers to define roles and hiring criteria
Ensure we hire for where the company is going, not just where it is today

Operationalize hiring

Refine hiring SOPs and manage our ATS
Integrate AI-driven screening tools to keep the process fast, fair, and high quality

Champion culture

Act as a guardian of the Passage values
Ensure every hire strengthens our high-ownership, high-performance culture

Qualifications

3â5+ years of experience in talent acquisition, ideally within a high-growth startup or a fast-paced agency environment.
Proven track record of hiring "builders"âpeople who take ownership and thrive in ambiguity.
Exceptional communication skills: You can sell the Passage vision to anyone, from a Senior Engineer to a Business Ops Associate.
Tech-savviness: Comfortable using modern ATS platforms and experimenting with AI tools to streamline workflows.
Sharp talent judgment and strong interpersonal awareness: You can read between the lines of a resume to find the drive and character underneath.

Location

Passage operates with an in-office working model.

Candidates must be based in Toronto or open to relocating and working five days per week in our Toronto office.

Ready to join us?

Weâre on a mission to make the world a fairer place, one student at a time. If youâre excited to work hard, innovate fearlessly, and find the people who will help us achieve global impact, weâd love to meet you.

The expected annual compensation for this role ranges from CA $70,000 to CA $120,000, and it includes an equity offering.

Note: Artificial intelligence may be used in the screening or assessment of applicants.

If your experience doesnât perfectly match every requirement but youâre excited about this role and confident you can thrive in it, we encourage you to apply.

Original Job Description