The posting
About CoLab
At CoLab, we help mechanical engineering teams bring life-changing products to market years sooner.
We build AI for engineers designing cars, medical devices, and jet engines. Products this complex aren't sketched and sent to production. Teams spend months on iterations, reviews, and tests, predicting how every part performs before anything is built. CoLab is where those reviews happen, and we capture the rationale behind every change. Other tools show what changed between versions. Only CoLab knows why. That's how our AI helps manufacturers like Bobcat, Triumph Motorcycles, and GE Appliances make better decisions, eliminate rework cycles, and get to market faster.
Proudly based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, CoLab started with one customer in 2018. Since then we’ve raised a $72M Series C, been named the 57th fastest growing company in North America by Deloitte (Fast 500™), signed multi-year AI partnerships with companies like Bombardier, and grown to a team of 250+.
About the Role
CoLab has exceptional talent but the next chapter depends on the leaders and go-to-market talent we bring in over in our next stage of growth. The people who will sell, scale, and lead at CoLab rarely have their résumés on job boards. They're a GTM Leader quietly building a team at an industrial software company, a Solutions Engineer with a mechanical engineering degree and a quota, an enterprise AE who has closed seven-figure deals with aerospace OEMs. Finding them, and convincing them CoLab is worth the move, is a craft.
As our first Executive Recruiter, you'll build that craft in-house. You'll own the search process end to end for our most senior and hardest-to-fill GTM roles: Major Account Executives, Sales Directors, customer success, marketing, and revenue leadership, along with executive hires across the company. You'll partner directly with our executive team and hiring managers as a trusted advisor, not an order-taker, and you'll decide how we run executive search going forward, including when we use an external firm and when we don't. You'll work closely with the People Team, Talent Acquisition, and Senior Leadership Team.
Our Ideal Candidate
You've run senior searches yourself, either at a retained search firm or inside a high-growth company, and you know how to get passive executives and talent to take your call. You think like a GTM leader: you can talk quota attainment, sales cycles, and team build-outs credibly with a Senior Leader, and you can tell the difference between a rep who rode a great territory and one who built it.
You push back. When a hiring manager's wish-list doesn't match the market, you say so, bring data, and help them reset. You're comfortable being the first person in a function, building processes from scratch, and doing the sourcing yourself. This probably isn't the role for you if you prefer a high-volume req load, a fully built tech stack and team from day one, or a role where you hand candidates off after the first screen.
Job Responsibilities
- Own full-cycle search for executive (Director, VP, C-level) and hard-to-fill GTM roles, from intake through offer acceptance and handoff to onboarding
- Build and execute a sourcing strategy for each search, including market mapping, target company lists, and direct outreach to passive candidates
- Partner with executives and hiring managers to define role outcomes, scorecards, and compensation positioning before searches open
- Run a rigorous, consistent assessment process aligned to CoLab's Hell Yes criteria, including structured interviews, work samples where relevant, and deep reference checks
- Craft and deliver a compelling CoLab story to senior candidates, and manage complex offer negotiations and closes (equity, relocation, counteroffers)
- Build and maintain a long-term executive and GTM talent pipeline for anticipated future roles
- Design the executive search playbook, and decide when and how to engage external search partners
- Report on search health (pipeline, time-to-fill, pass-through rates, offer acceptance, quality of hire)
Qualifications
- Must-Haves: [8+] years of recruiting experience, with at least [4] years focused on executive or senior-level search (agency, retained search, or in-house) A track record of placing GTM roles and senior talent (VP’s, Heads of SE/CS/Marketing, senior enterprise AEs) at B2B SaaS companies Strong sourcing skills; you're comfortable finding and engaging passive candidates without relying on inbound Executive presence and business acumen; you can hold your own with C Suite, SVP’s and VP’s and advise them on the talent market Experience managing complex offers, including equity and multi-stakeholder negotiations Excellent written communication (your outreach is the first impression of CoLab to senior candidates)
- Bonus Points: (e.g. industry familiarity, specific tools, optional extras) Experience being the first executive recruiter at a Series B–D company Familiarity with Greenhouse, LinkedIn Recruiter, and AI-assisted sourcing tools
Extra Details
- Compensation: This is a full-time, permanent position with a competitive compensation package that includes an executive stock options package.
- Benefits: Canada: This role offers an extended health and benefits package that includes unlimited paid vacation and RRSP matching. USA: This role offers health and dental insurance (covered at 100% for the employee) and unlimited PTO.
- Remote/Hybrid Work: Our main office location is in St. John's, NL where we offer hybrid and remote opportunities. This role has the flexibility to work from anywhere within Canada or the USA.
- Travel: Periodic travel is required for employee and candidate events
Frequently cited statistics show that people who identify with historically marginalized groups are likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to help us break that statistic and apply even if you don’t meet every single qualification—your potential is what matters most to us.
