Head of Talent

Odyssey is pioneering world models, the next frontier of artificial intelligence. By learning from the real-world, Odyssey is training a new kind of generative model, capable of generating cinematic, interactive worlds in real-time. Odyssey’s mission is to reinvent film, gaming, and beyond.

Odyssey was founded in late 2023 by Oliver Cameron (Cruise, Voyage) and Jeff Hawke (Wayve, Oxford AI PhD), two veterans of self-driving cars and AI. They’ve since recruited a world-class team of AI researchers from Cruise, Waymo, Wayve, Tesla, Microsoft, Meta, and NVIDIA; lead computer graphics researchers from EA, Ubisoft, and Valve; and technical artists behind Hollywood blockbusters like Dune, Godzilla, Avengers, and Jurassic World.

Odyssey has raised significant venture capital from GV, EQT Ventures, Air Street Capital, DCVC, Elad Gil, Garry Tan, Soleio, Jeff Dean, Kyle Vogt, Qasar Younis, Guillermo Rauch, Soumith Chintala, and researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, Meta, and Midjourney. Ed Catmull, the founder of Pixar, serves on Odyssey’s board.

As our Head of Talent at Odyssey, you will be responsible for creating a hiring strategy that matches our ambitious technical objectives in the immediate, medium and long term. Then you will execute on that strategy, pivoting along the way to meet the needs of a dynamic startup.

You will drive our overall HR and Talent priorities with a strong focus on technical recruitment (ML engineers, software engineers, research scientists). Additionally, you’ll oversee all aspects of People leadership ensuring that our growing team thrives in a high-performance, insanely fast-paced environment.

Talent Acquisition

• Own full-cycle recruiting for key technical hires.
• Develop a proactive sourcing strategy to build an elite pipeline of researchers and engineers.
• Partner closely with hiring managers to understand talent needs and refine job descriptions. You are not afraid to make controversial recommendations.
• Create and implement best-in-class recruiting processes that help us scale–fast.
• Manage relationships with agencies, external recruiters, and other talent partners.
• Establish and evangelize our employer brand to attract top-tier AI talent.

Retention & Job Architecture

• Be a leader to all employees.
• Define and implement job architecture across engineering, research, and operational teams, ensuring clarity in job levels, career paths, and compensation bands.
• Establish a structured (but Odyssey-scale appropriate) career progression framework (including job descriptions & competencies) that motivate employees to grow within the company.
• Partner with leadership to ensure internal equity and alignment with external benchmarks in compensation, promotions, and job leveling.

HR & People Operations

• Oversee onboarding, benefits, performance management, and culture-building initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with employment laws and best HR practices for a global footprint of employees & contractors
• Act as a trusted advisor for employees & managers on HR-related topics, including career growth and compensation.
• Support leadership in organizational planning and development.

• Experience in technical recruiting, ideally for AI or DeepTech startups.
• Demonstrated success hiring researchers and engineers in competitive talent markets.
• A track record of successfully scaling teams in a high-growth startup or tech company.
• Strong sourcing skills, with expertise in niche AI talent networks.
• Some experience with (or willingness to learn) HR operations (payroll, benefits, compliance).
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic fast-paced startup environment where priorities can change often.

Why Join Us?

• Be a critical player in shaping the future of Odyssey.
• Be the driving force behind talent, retention and employer brand at one of the most exciting generative model startups, with the freedom to build the people function your way.
• Competitive compensation package, including equity, giving you the opportunity to grow with a fast-scaling, high-impact startup.
• You thrive in an environment that values autonomy, directness (we mean it), and all ideas.