Talent Operating Expert - Next Level Operations

About Level & NLO:Level Equity is a private investment firm focused on rapidly growing software and technology-driven businesses. Level provides long term capital across all transaction types in support of continued growth. The firm was founded in 2009 and has raised over $4.5 billion in committed capital. 

Level’s NextLevel Operations (NLO) program is focused on driving growth in our portfolio through active partnerships with our investment team and portfolio leadership to “Level Up” operations and outcomes. The team is made up of experienced operators focused on the main 3 pillars of portfolio execution: Product & AI, Go-To-Market, and Finance & Operations.  

NLO Values:We Are One Team- We practice transparency and communicate frequently to ensure we are aligned with our investment and portfolio partners. 

This is Not Our First Rodeo- We build our team with direct, relevant operational expertise that aligns with our portfolio companies’ needs. 

We Look to Cross Pollinate- We maniacally search for best practices across our entire ecosystem and make them repeatable for the benefit of all. 

We Can Push the Mop- We can do the work! We offer hands-on kits, templates and project management to maximize the likelihood that organizational improvements take hold and translate into tangible enterprise value creation.

We Move the Needle- Organizations can go bankrupt “getting better.” We prioritize our time and yours on items that will materially impact the value of the organization. 

About the Role: You will be a Talent Expert responsible for improving portfolio hiring outcomes through proactive candidate sourcing, creating repeatable hiring processes, and tighter accountability with portfolio leadership. You’ll help ensure we have the right people in the right seats at the right time while building a scalable talent system across the Level ecosystem. A core success metric for this role will be Time to Source: improving the speed, quality, and consistency of getting qualified candidates into active pipelines for priority portfolio roles. You will report into NLO Finance & Operations and partner closely with NLO Operating Partners, Level deal teams, portfolio CEOs, and talent partners/recruiters across our portfolio of companies. Some main areas of the role include:

Build & run portfolio talent programs

• Create a repeatable discovery stage for candidates and maintain a living, searchable database aligned to recurring portfolio role archetypes.
• Produce qualified shortlists quickly for time-sensitive roles; continually improve Time to Source through systems, data, and relationships.
• Host a recurring Talent Meeting to review open roles, assess pipeline health, and actively scrape/match from the candidate database.
• Maintain and improve the NLO Special Operators: program strategy, expectations, selection criteria, operating process, and portfolio engagement model.

Improve portfolio hiring execution & accountability

• Drive a portfolio-wide approach to “right people / right seats / right time,” including clear role definition, prioritization, and pipeline health.
• Build mechanisms to support CEOs in talent execution (planning, process adherence, cadence, and outcomes).
• Establish a consistent way to judge execution quality across leadership teams (e.g., scorecards, operating cadence, funnel reporting).
• Assist with backchanneling by leveraging our ecosystem to run discreet reference checks and surface candid, actionable insights on candidates.

Upgrade portfolio hiring tooling & processes

• Implement and drive better utilization of hiring scorecards (role scorecards, structured interviews, calibration, decision quality).
• Create and manage a process for CEO 360s and portfolio talent development.
• Create a process and manage comprehensive internal CEO performance reviews, partnering with internal stakeholders to ensure consistency and follow-through.

Strengthen partnerships & expand sourcing surface area

• Develop tighter partnerships with recruiters: define “who is in market,” expectations, coverage model, performance tracking, and feedback loops.
• Increase “surface area” across Level and the portfolio to mine relationships for talent (founder/exec networks, operators, board members, functional leaders, alumni).

About You. You are the Ideal Candidate If:

• You align with our NLO Values.
• You have a strong track record in executive talent, talent operations, or strategic recruiting- ideally across B2B software and/or private equity-backed environments.
• You are systems-oriented: you enjoy building repeatable processes (scorecards, databases, cadence, metrics) that drive better hiring outcomes.
• You can credibly partner with (and push) CEOs and functional leaders—balancing urgency, rigor, and relationship.
• You’re a proactive network builder: you naturally expand surface area, cultivate relationships, and keep warm pipelines.
• You’re highly organized and comfortable mining for data.
• You are motivated by measurable outcomes.

Requirements: 

• Meaningful experience in talent acquisition, executive search, or talent leadership (in-house, retained search, or a hybrid), with demonstrated success filling senior leadership roles.
• Strong competency in structured hiring: scorecards, calibration, structured interviews, and decision hygiene.
• Experience building or operating talent systems (candidate CRM/database, sourcing workflows, vendor programs, reporting).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to influence senior leaders with clarity and tact.
• Strong analytical and program management skills- able to define KPIs, run cadences, and drive adoption across many companies.
• You are in New York City or the surrounding areas to work in either the NYC or the Greenwich office on a regular basis.