Contrario — Founding BizOps

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA Compensation: $100,000–$130,000 + 0.1%–0.3% equity Hiring count: 2 Visa sponsorship: None available Reports to: Founding team

Contrario (YC W25) is building an AI-powered recruiting marketplace that pairs domain-expert recruiters with AI agents to help fast-growing companies hire high-quality talent faster. The platform automates sourcing and administrative work while keeping human judgment at the center of recruiting. Backed by Y Combinator and Nexus Venture Partners, with angels from Hudson River Trading, Stanford, and OpenAI, Contrario works with 250+ companies across engineering and GTM roles, including Decagon, Listen Labs, and Wispr Flow.

• Founded — 2025
• Team size — 11–50
• Backing — YC W25, Nexus Venture Partners; angels from Hudson River Trading, Stanford, OpenAI
• Industry — Consumer Tech / AI recruiting
• Website — contrario.ai
• Office — San Francisco, CA

• Founding-level ownership: You own the relationship engine of the marketplace end-to-end — client accounts, the recruiter network, and demos — with outsized ownership from day one.
• Backed and moving fast: YC W25 and Nexus Venture Partners, angels from Hudson River Trading and OpenAI, already working with 250+ companies including Decagon, Listen Labs, and Wispr Flow.
• Perks: Annual company offsites (Hawaii, Cancun, Tokyo), premium healthcare (medical/dental/vision), free lunches and dinners plus unlimited snacks and drinks, monthly wellness stipend, and flexible PTO.

A founding-level BizOps seat owning the relationship engine of the marketplace: managing client accounts and the recruiter network end-to-end while also running sales demos for the companies you manage. Roughly 80% of the role is relationship-driven work (client accounts, recruiter relationships, demos) with 20% focused on building the systems and playbooks that help the marketplace scale. Built for someone who thrives in ambiguity, builds trust fast, and wants outsized ownership early.

• →Own a portfolio of customer accounts from onboarding through successful hires, becoming the go-to contact for every client you manage.
• →Manage relationships with Contrario's highest-performing recruiters, supporting consistent placements and keeping them actively engaged.
• →Run product demos independently, understand hiring needs, close straightforward opportunities, and transition new customers into account management.
• →Keep the marketplace moving: chase down stalled searches, unblock recruiters, handle unhappy customers, and escalate the right things quickly.
• →Identify and expand accounts by recognizing new roles and additional hiring needs organically through deep customer knowledge.
• →Build systems and playbooks that help the marketplace scale, working closely with the marketplace operations team.

• 1 to 2 years in operations, recruiting, PE, consulting, or similar high-agency environment (exceptional new graduates also considered)
• High-volume relationship management across clients and partners
• High agency: operates without a playbook
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Bachelor's degree from a US, CAN, or UK university
• SF in-person, five days per week

• Former founder or early sales hire
• Has personally run outbound
• Turned successful campaigns into repeatable systems
• Genuinely excited about the product as a user

• Needs a playbook to operate
• Only inbound or administrative experience
• Too senior or unwilling to grind in-person
• Not US-based or unwilling to relocate to San Francisco

• Salary — $100,000–$130,000
• Equity — 0.1%–0.3%
• On-site policy — San Francisco, five days per week
• Visa sponsorship — None available
• Employment type — Full-time
• Location — San Francisco, CA
• Experience — 1–2 years
• Hiring count — 2

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Initial Screen Stage 3 — Case Study Stage 4 — On-Site Stage 5 — Offer Extended Stage 6 — Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.