Head Of Talent Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Head of Talent roles qualify for H-1B visa and O-1 visa sponsorship when the position requires a bachelor's degree or higher in human resources, organizational psychology, or a related field. Employers in tech, consulting, and high-growth startups sponsor most frequently. For detailed occupation requirements, see the O*NET profile.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
We're looking for a Head of Talent to build our talent function from scratch and help define how Mach9 attracts, evaluates, and closes exceptional talent. You’ll work closely with the CEO, CTO, and broader leadership team on high-priority talent initiatives, from headcount planning and compensation strategy to our talent brand and DEI efforts. You’ll also build and manage a growing team, setting the bar for how Mach9 attracts, evaluates, and closes exceptional talent. This is a truly cross-functional role. You’ll build and lead a team while staying on the ground with candidates, running your own searches across technical and non-technical roles and a range of seniority levels, wherever the business needs you most. It’s a rare chance to join early, shape the talent org alongside the founders, and work on something that matters.
Responsibilities
- Own full-cycle recruiting across technical and non-technical roles: Sourcing, coordinating, and closing.
- Own the candidate experience end-to-end: Every touchpoint, every piece of feedback, every offer call; we want every person who goes through our process to walk away excited about what we're building, whether or not they join.
- Build the recruiting infrastructure from scratch: ATS, interview rubrics, comp calibration, hiring manager alignment, then keep improving it as we grow.
- Partner with founders on talent strategy and headcount planning: Help the founders translate the business plan into a hiring plan: how many people, in which roles, and in what order. Forecast hiring needs and budget so we’re never scrambling.
- Lead our talent brand: Define what makes us a place top people want to join, and make sure it shows up consistently in outreach, content, events, and every candidate conversation.
- Build and manage a growing talent team: Hire and develop recruiters and coordinators, and decide when to add sourcers and specialists as we grow.
- Budget and vendor ownership: Recruiting spend, tooling, job boards, and agency fees.
- Track the data that matters: Passthrough rates, time-to-fill, offer acceptance rates. Use it to make better decisions, not just report numbers.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 6+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience; startup experience and experience managing or mentoring recruiters are strong pluses.
- Comfortable with modern recruiting tools (ATS platforms like Ashby, sourcing tools, LinkedIn Recruiter).
- Builds relationships quickly across all levels (candidates, hiring managers, founders) and adjusts communication style accordingly.
- Creative sourcer who finds candidates others overlook, and tenacious enough to follow through.
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail; can run multiple open roles across different functions simultaneously without things falling through the cracks.
- Clear, direct communicator in writing and in conversation - equally comfortable selling a candidate on the role and pushing back on a hiring manager.
INTRODUCTION
We're looking for a Head of Talent to build our talent function from scratch and help define how Mach9 attracts, evaluates, and closes exceptional talent. You’ll work closely with the CEO, CTO, and broader leadership team on high-priority talent initiatives, from headcount planning and compensation strategy to our talent brand and DEI efforts. You’ll also build and manage a growing team, setting the bar for how Mach9 attracts, evaluates, and closes exceptional talent. This is a truly cross-functional role. You’ll build and lead a team while staying on the ground with candidates, running your own searches across technical and non-technical roles and a range of seniority levels, wherever the business needs you most. It’s a rare chance to join early, shape the talent org alongside the founders, and work on something that matters.
Responsibilities
- Own full-cycle recruiting across technical and non-technical roles: Sourcing, coordinating, and closing.
- Own the candidate experience end-to-end: Every touchpoint, every piece of feedback, every offer call; we want every person who goes through our process to walk away excited about what we're building, whether or not they join.
- Build the recruiting infrastructure from scratch: ATS, interview rubrics, comp calibration, hiring manager alignment, then keep improving it as we grow.
- Partner with founders on talent strategy and headcount planning: Help the founders translate the business plan into a hiring plan: how many people, in which roles, and in what order. Forecast hiring needs and budget so we’re never scrambling.
- Lead our talent brand: Define what makes us a place top people want to join, and make sure it shows up consistently in outreach, content, events, and every candidate conversation.
- Build and manage a growing talent team: Hire and develop recruiters and coordinators, and decide when to add sourcers and specialists as we grow.
- Budget and vendor ownership: Recruiting spend, tooling, job boards, and agency fees.
- Track the data that matters: Passthrough rates, time-to-fill, offer acceptance rates. Use it to make better decisions, not just report numbers.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 6+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience; startup experience and experience managing or mentoring recruiters are strong pluses.
- Comfortable with modern recruiting tools (ATS platforms like Ashby, sourcing tools, LinkedIn Recruiter).
- Builds relationships quickly across all levels (candidates, hiring managers, founders) and adjusts communication style accordingly.
- Creative sourcer who finds candidates others overlook, and tenacious enough to follow through.
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail; can run multiple open roles across different functions simultaneously without things falling through the cracks.
- Clear, direct communicator in writing and in conversation - equally comfortable selling a candidate on the role and pushing back on a hiring manager.
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Head Of Talent Jobs
Frame the role as a specialty occupation
USCIS scrutinizes HR leadership roles for specialty occupation status. Emphasize that the position requires a specific degree in human resources, industrial-organizational psychology, or business, not just any bachelor's degree, in your application materials.
Target companies with a sponsorship track record
Tech companies, management consulting firms, and venture-backed startups sponsor Head of Talent roles most consistently. Filtering by employers who have filed H-1B LCAs in prior years significantly improves your chances of landing a sponsoring offer.
Highlight measurable talent outcomes in your resume
Sponsoring employers expect senior-level impact. Quantify results: hiring velocity improved, attrition rates reduced, employer brand rankings gained. Concrete metrics make the specialty occupation argument easier for immigration counsel to support.
Understand the O-1A as a fallback pathway
If you missed the H-1B lottery, the O-1A visa is available year-round with no cap. Heads of Talent with industry recognition, publications, or board memberships may qualify, and approval timelines can be faster than the standard H-1B route.
Align your degree field to the job description
A degree in a tangentially related field, like general business, can weaken an H-1B petition for this role. Ask your prospective employer's immigration attorney to review the job description before it's posted to strengthen the specialty occupation foundation.
Negotiate sponsorship into the offer early
Sponsorship discussions are easier before an offer is extended than after. Raising it early signals professionalism, gives legal teams time to assess feasibility, and avoids delays if the employer needs to engage outside immigration counsel for the first time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Head of Talent role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
Yes, but it requires careful framing. USCIS expects the position to normally require a bachelor's degree in a specific field, human resources, organizational psychology, or industrial-organizational psychology, not just any degree. Generic HR leadership roles that accept any major can face RFEs. The job description and employer's recruitment history both factor into the analysis.
Which visa types do employers typically use to sponsor Heads of Talent?
H-1B visa is the most common pathway, filed by the employer and subject to the annual cap and lottery. O-1A is an alternative for candidates with demonstrated extraordinary ability, such as speaking at major HR conferences, publishing research, or holding leadership roles in professional associations. L-1A applies if you're transferring from a foreign affiliate of a U.S. company into a senior people leadership role.
What degree do I need to get sponsored as a Head of Talent?
A bachelor's degree or higher in human resources, organizational psychology, business administration with an HR concentration, or a closely related field is standard. A general business or unrelated degree can complicate the H-1B petition unless paired with substantial specialized experience. Some employers will accept equivalent experience under the 3-for-1 rule, though this adds complexity to the petition.
How do I find Head of Talent roles where employers are open to visa sponsorship?
Most job postings don't prominently flag sponsorship willingness, which makes filtering difficult on general platforms. Migrate Mate is built specifically for this, every role listed is from an employer open to visa sponsorship, so you can focus on applying rather than screening. Filtering by role seniority and industry helps narrow to the employers most likely to have immigration infrastructure already in place.
Are approval rates for H-1B petitions in HR leadership roles lower than in tech?
Historically, yes. HR and people operations roles face higher RFE rates than software engineering or quantitative fields because specialty occupation status is less straightforward to establish. Approval rates improve significantly when the petition includes a detailed explanation of why the role requires a specific degree, supported by industry wage data and the employer's internal job architecture documentation.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Head Of Talent jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.