SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Plaid is hiring a Senior Technical Sourcer to own top-of-funnel talent acquisition for engineering, infrastructure, data science, AI/ML, and security roles. This is a high-visibility research and sourcing role focused on finding exceptional technical talent in niche and emerging domains where qualified candidates are scarce and predominantly passive.
You will be responsible for end-to-end sourcing strategy and execution: market research and mapping, competitive talent teardowns, advanced boolean and x-ray search across unconventional sources, personalized outreach that earns replies from senior engineers, and pipeline qualification before handoff to recruiters. You will carry multiple technical searches simultaneously while maintaining rigorous data hygiene and ATS discipline.
A core part of this role is turning research into actionable intelligence—building market maps, talent density views, and competitive hiring insights that shape role scope, leveling, and search strategy with hiring managers and recruiters. You will represent Plaid authentically as often a candidate's first impression of the company.
Plaid powers financial connectivity for millions of users across thousands of companies including Venmo, SoFi, Fortune 500 firms, and major banks. The company was founded in 2013, is headquartered in San Francisco, and has offices in New York, Seattle, Washington D.C., Raleigh, London, and Amsterdam. Plaid's network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK, and Europe.
Key responsibilities include: owning top-of-funnel strategy across multiple technical domains; running deep talent research using market maps, org mapping, competitor analysis, conference/publication mining, and open-source community research; finding niche talent in AI/ML, applied research, distributed systems, and security; writing personalized outreach with measurable response rates; operating at volume without losing precision; building diverse pipelines by design; partnering with recruiters and hiring managers on role calibration; tracking and reporting funnel metrics; and representing Plaid authentically to candidates.
Qualifications: 6+ years of technical sourcing/recruiting experience, including in-house sourcing at a high-growth technology company. Mastery of sourcing research techniques and tools including boolean and x-ray search, LinkedIn Recruiter, GitHub, technical communities, publications, conferences, and CRM/ATS workflows. Demonstrated success in high-volume, high-urgency environments managing multiple technical searches simultaneously without losing detail. Genuine fluency in technical skill sets—ability to evaluate GitHub profiles, job specs, and research papers for relevance. Proven track record sourcing for at least one hard-to-fill domain such as AI/ML, data science, data infrastructure, distributed systems, or security engineering (bonus if fintech experience). Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with short, specific, human outreach. Data discipline using funnel metrics to guide effort allocation. Meticulous attention to detail and personal ownership of data hygiene. Candidate-first approach built on empathy, transparency, and consistent follow-through.
Nice-to-have: Experience sourcing in fintech, financial services, or regulated environments. Experience producing talent intelligence or market mapping presented to senior leadership that influenced hiring decisions. Experience building sourcing playbooks, training sourcers, or evaluating/rolling out sourcing tools. Experience sourcing for distributed or international teams. Familiarity with inclusive sourcing practices and track record building diverse technical pipelines.
