Sapphire Ventures

Director, & People & Talent

Job Description 

 

Level: Director

Location: SF / Bay Area, San Francisco or Menlo Park office. 

Hiring Manager: Elizabeth Patterson, Partner, People & Talent 

Role Type: Full Time

Compensation: Base pay range: $225k-$250k; Standard benefits plan

About Sapphire Ventures:

Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire) is a technology-focused Venture Capital firm that focuses on helping growth-stage technology companies become category-defining leaders. Sapphire has backed many successful companies and the team typically invests anywhere from Series B to pre-IPO. For a listing of our portfolio see: https://sapphireventures.com/companies/. The firm enjoys an open-door, collaborative culture - and spirited intellectual debate is encouraged! Sapphire was originally borne out of one of the world's leading enterprise software companies but has been fully independent since 2011.

Known for its expertise in enterprise technology, the team focuses on a wide range of business software and technology infrastructure. In August 2022, Sapphire was recently named a top 10 investor in the Forbes Cloud100, a ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world (1).

Separately, the firm also manages an evergreen-like fund investment vehicle, which invests in other early-stage venture capital funds, and an early-stage fund of its own focused on sports, media, entertainment, and e-commerce technology. The firm has offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, Austin, and London.

What You’ll Do

You’ll report to our Talent Partner and help drive value to Sapphire’ portfolio companies, pipeline companies, and investors by:

  • Creating the ultimate go-to-market talent network for connecting executive talent with portfolio and pipeline company needs.
  • Cultivating and nurturing long-term relationships with exceptional leaders. 
  • Becoming the “go-to” person for advice and counsel on effective GTM hiring tactics and best practices with the portfolio, the firm, and with leaders with whom you’re building or have relationships.
  • Collaborating with portfolio GTM leadership to anticipate, define, and meet evolving GTM hiring needs.
  • Partnering with portfolio and pipeline company GTM leadership to crack the most important strategic topics in the sales organization, sharing best practices around executive hiring, org design and compensation - accelerating time to hire and elevating the quality of hires for the portfolio.
  • Expertly managing and referring key service providers to our portfolio as appropriate to include executive search firms, coaches, relevant revenue technology partners, etc. 
  • Referring strategic investment opportunities to the investment team as they arise.
  • Conducting targeted research and initial engagement efforts, building a broader foundation for effective connections and diverse network expansion.
  • Overseeing digital communities on Sapphire’s Slack Channels and LinkedIn with Sales Leaders on relevant go-to-market thought leadership content. 
  • Orchestrating and hosting differentiated GTM leadership events and communities for our portfolio and pipeline companies, and members of the broader VC community.
  • Acting as a brand ambassador and steward of Sapphire and our values.  

What we’re looking for

The right person for Sapphire’s Director of Talent must be authentically interested in the business of venture capital, technology, and the GTM ecosystem. In addition, the Director of Talent must have:  

  • 7 - 10 years of Go-to-Market leadership recruiting experience within a retained search firm, an in-house executive recruiting team at scale.
  • Superpowers as a connector. You are thrilled and energized by making relevant and proactive introductions between Sales, Marketing, and Go to Market leadership more broadly. 
  • Demonstrated experience partnering with start-up executive teams to build diverse, global leadership teams. 
  • A strategic mindset and communication skills to collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders.  
  • You thrive in a data rich world, and have superb general research capabilities.
  • Previous experience and/or exposure to key U.S. and international markets and exposure to Sales executive networks within startup as well as public communities.
  • Strong focus on creating an incredible executive candidate experience, and comfort navigating ambiguity.
  • You have a proven track record of seeing ambiguity and building structured and/or scalable programs and practices that deliver measurable outcomes. 
  • Impeccable level of discretion when handling highly sensitive, confidential and non-routine information.
  • Successfully delivers on all deadlines and flawlessly executes in a very fast-paced environment.
  • Proficiency with various business systems including some combination of Google Workspace, LinkedIn Recruiter, Thrive TRM, AON/Radford, Pave, Carta, Getro.com, Hubspot, Affinity, Monday.com. 
  • 4-year degree from a college or university is preferred. 

Our Values

Culture is critical to us, and we are transparent about our vision and principles:

  • Team Player - Experience with and passion for teamwork and cross-functional collaboration
  • Dedicated to Winning - Having the guts to take on a new challenge and the risk to be successful
  • Intellectual Curiosity - Exhibits an entrepreneurial and creative ethos and is continually compelled to learn and explore new ideas
  • Authentic Relationships - Relationships are the key to driving our collective success. Suburb at nurturing authentic, diverse and congenial long-term relationships 
  • Excellence - Put your passion for game changing Talent Acquisition to work!

Every day our team is honored to work with entrepreneurs and innovators from every corner of the globe, and we aim to build a team that reflects the diversity of our portfolio. We aren’t looking for someone who ticks every single box on a page; we’re looking for lifelong learners who can bring their own perspectives and unique experiences to make us better. This role can be based in Menlo Park or San Francisco, California.  If you think you’d be a great fit, please get in touch and tell us about yourself. 

Our Benefits

  • Sapphire Ventures offers a competitive salary and bonus plan
  • 100% paid Health/ Dental and Vision plans for employees and dependents
  • 401(K) Plans/ Profit sharing
  • Collaborative, transparent, and fun-loving culture
  • Various employee development and training opportunities to participate in
  • Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States to apply
  • Sapphire Ventures is committed to a firm policy of equal employment opportunity for all employees and job applicants.

 

About Sapphire Ventures

Sapphire is a leading global technology-focused venture capital firm with more than $10.2 billion in AUM(2) and team members across Austin, London, New York, Palo Alto and San Francisco. For more than two decades, Sapphire has partnered with visionary management teams and venture funds to help scale companies of consequence. Since its founding, Sapphire has invested in more than 170 companies(3) globally resulting in more than 30 IPOs and 45 acquisitions(4). The firm’s investment strategies — Sapphire Ventures, Sapphire Partners and Sapphire Sport — are focused on scaling companies and venture funds, elevating them to become category leaders. Sapphire’s Portfolio Growth team of experienced operators delivers a strategic blend of value-add services, tools and resources designed to support portfolio company leaders as they scale.

 

 

 

NOTE:

 

  • Forbes “The Cloud 100 2022” as of August 2022; Fund Analysis of The Cloud 100 2022, Global Technology Group, Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory, Citi; Source Forbes, Bessemer Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures. Pitchbook; Sapphire did not pay compensation to participate in this third-party ranking.
  • “AUM” — Assets Under Management (AUM) represents Sapphire’s Regulatory Assets Under Management as of 12/31/2021 per ADV filed March 2022.
  • “Figures represent all Sapphire direct growth investments made since the firm’s inception in 2011 to December 2022.
  • Figures represent all Sapphire direct growth investments that have had an IPO or public listing from the firm’s inception in 2011 to December 2022. The specific companies identified may not be representative of all of Sapphire’s investments and no assumption should be made that the investments identified were or will be profitable. A complete alphabetical list of Sapphire’s investments made by its direct growth investing funds is available here.

 

For more information about Sapphire please visit www.sapphireventures.com

 

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