Contrario — Founding GTM

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA Compensation: $100,000–$150,000 + 0.1%–0.4% equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: None available Reports to: Arya (CEO)

About Contrario

Contrario is an AI-native recruiting platform that helps companies from seed to high-growth stages hire faster by combining a network of expert recruiters with AI agents. It works with 250+ venture-backed companies and 500+ boutique recruiting agencies, has reached $6M in annualized revenue, and has paid out over $1M to recruiters in under 6 months. The team is scaling toward $20M+ annualized revenue.

Founded: 2025 | Team size: 11–50 | Total funding: Not disclosed (backed by Y Combinator, Nexus VP, and angels from Hudson River Trading, Stanford, DoorDash, and OpenAI) Industry: Consumer Tech / Recruiting Website: contrario.ai Office: San Francisco, CA

Why Candidates Should Join

• Build the function: Zero-to-one founding GTM seat — own the entire growth function from scratch, working directly with the CEO.
• Real traction underneath you: $6M annualized revenue in under 6 months, 250+ customers and 500+ recruiter agencies, scaling toward $20M+ ARR.
• Compounding ownership: Founder narrative, paid acquisition, referral programs, launches, and events — systems that turn a placement-driven business into one that grows itself, plus meaningful early equity.

Intake Call Summary

• No intake call transcript was present on the role page. (An intake video is attached on Contrario but not transcribed here.)

The Role

A zero-to-one founding GTM role building Contrario's entire growth function from scratch, working directly with CEO Arya, owning how the market understands and engages with Contrario across both sides of the marketplace — recruiters joining the platform and companies needing to hire.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own how Contrario is understood and narrated across the market — strategy for founder LinkedIn and X presence, website messaging, case studies, and brand voice
• Build and scale growth programs on both sides of the marketplace: recruiter and customer referral systems, reactivation campaigns, and lifecycle marketing loops
• Design and execute outbound strategy and demand generation across recruiters and companies — messaging, sequencing, targeting, paid acquisition across LinkedIn, Meta, and Google, and CAC optimization
• Own product launches and events end-to-end, from positioning and copy through cross-channel coordination and recruiter dinners
• Build systems and processes that compound over time, turning a placement-driven business into something that grows itself

Tech stack: N/A (GTM role). Paid acquisition across LinkedIn, Meta, and Google.

Requirements

• New grad to early-career okay; raw talent over years
• Exceptional writer who loves content and brand narrative
• High agency, figure-it-out mindset, comfortable with ambiguity
• Genuine excitement for recruiting and marketplaces
• SF in-person, 5 days/week, startup intensity (9am-9pm culture)

Green Flags

• Founder or early startup GTM hire
• Content writer and narrative builder
• Unconventional background with evidence of grit
• Experience with Attio, RB2B, or marketplace GTM tools
• Top-school background (Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Penn, other Ivies)

Red Flags

• Multiple years of rigid marketing experience only
• Needs a defined scope, playbook, or heavy direction
• Not willing to hustle at startup intensity
• Unfamiliar with or unexcited about the recruiting space
• Cannot clearly articulate why Contrario and this role excite you

Role Details

Salary$100,000–$150,000Equity0.1%–0.4%Experience0–1+ yearsOn-site policyOn-site, San Francisco — 5 days/week (9am–9pm startup culture)Visa sponsorshipNone availableEmployment typeFull-timeLocationSan Francisco, CA

Benefits & perks: Annual company offsites (Hawaii, Cancun, Tokyo); premium healthcare (medical, dental, vision); free lunches and dinners (+ unlimited snacks and drinks); monthly wellness stipend; flexible PTO.

Screening Questions

Required Candidate Q&A on the Contrario submission form:

1. Why are you interested in working at Contrario?
2. What about the GTM role excites you most?
3. What's the most challenging thing you've ever done?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Chat with CEO — Conversation with CEO Arya. Stage 3 — Take Home Presentation + Review — Take-home presentation followed by review. Stage 4 — Work Trial (Onsite 1–2 days) — In-person work trial. Stage 5 — Offer Extended — Offer has been extended. Stage 6 — Candidate Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

No Ideal Companies section was present on the role page.

Ideal Candidate Profiles — DO NOT CONTACT

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles. (No LinkedIn URLs were present in the page source — only icon buttons.)

• Sophia Ma
• Diana Lim
• Ilaria Chen
• Gheed El Bizri

Rejected Candidate Feedback

No rejected candidate feedback was present on the role page.