Director of Talent

Director of Talent

Position: Full-time

Location: Oakland, CA (on-site)

Expected Start Date: ASAP 2026

Expected compensation range: $110,000-$180,000 (including bonuses)

About oWOW

At oWOW, we’re on a mission to Accelerate Housing Abundance to Unlock Human Potential.

We design and build housing up to 65% below market cost and deliver it in months instead of years by automating design, industrializing construction, and deploying prefabricated, componentized building systems at unmatched speed.

oWOW is growing quickly to expand project delivery across the state of California and nationwide. Our goal is to start construction on 2,000 affordable housing units by the end of 2026.

The Role

The Director of Talent is responsible for building and operating a high-performance talent system that consistently delivers the right people into the right roles at the right time, enabling oWOW to scale with speed, clarity, and excellence.

This role owns hiring execution, workforce planning, and comp philosophy. You will partner closely with leadership while raising the bar at oWOW.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives in fast-moving environments, brings strong talent judgment, and can build systems that scale.

What You’ll Do

1. Own Hiring Execution & Outcomes

Deliver priority hires on time, meeting agreed time-to-fill targets by role category
Run end-to-end recruiting for critical roles (from role definition through offer acceptance)

2. Maintain Role Clarity & Outcome Scorecards

Ensure every role has a clear scorecard defining outcomes, competencies, and success metrics before hiring begins
Partner with leaders to translate business needs into well-scoped, outcome-driven roles

3. Design Scalable Talent Systems

Maintain a predictable recruiting funnel that produces qualified candidates weekly
Standardize & continuously improve hiring processes, interview structures, and decision criteria across teams
Train interviewers and hiring managers to ensure high-quality, unbiased, and consistent hiring decisions

4. Workforce Planning & Forecasting

Partner with department leaders to forecast workforce needs tied to project pipelines and growth plans
Proactively staff upcoming projects rather than reacting to urgent gaps

5. Enable Retention & Performance

Improve first-year retention and performance outcomes for new hires across all departments.
Identify patterns, risks, and opportunities to improve hiring quality and onboarding outcomes
Continuously raise the bar for talent quality across the organization
Create comp philosophy and implement it at oWOW

6. Create an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Core Values

oWOW: Produce outstanding results that surprise and amaze people
Ownership: Understand what you are accountable for & take responsibility for your results.
Curiosity: Challenge conventional thinking & explore creative solutions.
Teamwork: The combination of trust, communication & collaboration.

Benefits