Talent Acquisition & Development Lead

Ephos is building vertically integrated, advanced packaging solutions on glass panels. We transform raw glass into electronic and optically active substrates for die-to-die connectivity, manufactured entirely within our own facilities. Our systems are built for companies developing AI accelerators, including hyperscalers and top-tier chip designers.

We have already delivered products to leading global firms, and we are currently building a new fabrication facility to scale production by 100x. This expansion is backed by a $50M EU CHIPS Act grant—the first ever awarded to a startup.

The role

You will be Ephos’s first dedicated People hire, responsible for building the people function from scratch at a critical moment in the company’s growth. As we scale headcount rapidly and compete globally for world-class talent in photonics, glass substrates, and advanced packaging, you will own the full people agenda, from sourcing and hiring to compensation, performance management, and culture. This is a rare opportunity to shape how a category-defining company is built.

Your responsibilities

• Own end-to-end recruiting: build proactive talent pipelines for highly specialised technical and operational roles, lead outbound sourcing campaigns, and manage the full hiring cycle from first contact to offer continuously improving time-to-hire and candidate experience.
• Design and implement Ephos’s core people infrastructure: a levelling framework, salary bands benchmarked to the global market, a promotion policy, and a performance management process that rewards high performers and consistently raises the bar.
• Partner with team leads and line managers to drive a high-performance culture: coach them on goal-setting, feedback, and accountability, and help Ephos make the most of the new team lead roles being created across the organisation.
• Track, report, and act on key people metrics and present regular updates to leadership.
• Drive talent development initiatives that build expertise from within, helping Ephos become the place where the next generation of leaders in photonics and advanced packaging is created.

The candidate we are looking for

• 3–7 years of People experience, including a meaningful stint as an early or solo People hire in a high-growth startup; demonstrated track record of building people processes from scratch rather than inheriting and maintaining established ones.
• Strong generalist People capabilities across recruiting, compensation design, performance management, and employee relations.
• Analytical and data-driven.
• Comfortable operating without established playbooks in a fast-moving environment.
• Excellent communicator and trusted partner to senior stakeholders.
• Can commit to full time office presence. As an early-stage startup, we thrive on real-time collaboration, rapid feedback, and building a tight-knit team culture in person.
• Ephos is a demanding environment. We operate with exceptional ambition and move fast, because the market gives us no other option. We expect excellence from you, as we do from one another. This environment offers unmatched opportunities to learn, build, and grow, but it also requires significant commitment.

What we offer

• Top of the market salary.
• Stock options; granted at this stage, they can become extremely valuable.
• An exceptional opportunity for growth.

The hiring process

• Interview with our Head of Operations.
• Interview with our CTO.
• Interview with our CEO.