Principal · Talent Strategy
Najat Andreozzi
Modern Talent Strategist for Growth-Stage Companies
Builds recruiting orgs, hiring systems, and retention programs from the ground up — and scales them as headcount compounds. Ten-plus years and 15+ startups across the frontier of AI and high-growth technology. Founding recruiter at ARPA-H (scaled the agency from 12 to 118 employees, including the Responsible AI team), currently at McKesson AI Lab, previously at McKinsey Leap. Sources deeply specialized talent — ML researchers, systems engineers, infrastructure leads — through non-traditional pipelines including GitHub, arXiv, Hugging Face, and open-source communities. Trusted partner to founders and C-suite leaders on hiring strategy, org design, executive compensation, and retention.
Selected impact
- Built recruiting functions from zero three times — ARPA-H, McKesson AI Lab, and McKinsey Leap — each at the frontier of AI and high-growth technology.
- At ARPA-H, scaled the agency from 12 to 118 employees in under two years, including engineers, computational scientists, data scientists, and Responsible AI leadership.
- Currently delivering 30+ ML and data-platform hires across McKesson's AI Lab while maintaining a 75% senior mix across 10–15 simultaneous open roles.
- Recruited for teams operating within formal research partnerships with Google DeepMind and Anthropic.
- Delivered 10+ leadership hires per month across OpsTech IT and cloud infrastructure at Amazon.
- Maintains an independent database of 200+ LLM infrastructure engineers sourced across GitHub and arXiv — an active pipeline for niche technical roles.
- LinkedIn Talent MVP (Top 10%) 2023 and 2024; LinkedIn Talent Beacon 2025 (#1 contributor in a talent community of 30K+ recruitment professionals).
What she hires
Consistently 75%+ senior mix — engineers and leaders who set technical direction at the frontier of AI.
- Executive
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- Directors, VPs, and C-suite (CTO, CIO, CDO)
- Senior IC
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- Staff, Principal, and Distinguished Engineers
- ML / Research
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- ML Research & Applied ML
- LLM Infrastructure & MLOps
- Data Science & AI Product
- Infrastructure
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- Distributed Systems
- Platform & Infrastructure Engineering
Approach — Identify · Build · Scale · Retain
A complete talent function, not just a search. Sourcing the people traditional pipelines miss, standing up the systems that turn hiring into a repeatable function, and designing the comp and retention programs that keep top performers after the offer is signed.
- Identify
- AI/ML executive and senior IC search across non-traditional pipelines. Sourcing through GitHub, arXiv, Hugging Face, Papers With Code, open-source communities, and PhD ecosystems. Reaches passive candidates traditional pipelines cannot.
- Build
- Zero-to-one recruiting function design. ATS implementation (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday, iCIMS, Avature). Structured hiring processes, calibration frameworks, technical interview loops, hiring playbooks, and recruiter mentorship.
- Scale
- Hiring architecture and org design as headcount compounds. Pipeline analytics, employer brand, candidate experience, and 75%+ senior mix across 10–20 concurrent searches. Advisor to CIO and CDO leadership on workforce design.
- Retain
- Comp benchmarking, salary band frameworks, leveling, and executive offer strategy (developed at McKinsey Leap). Leadership-bench design and succession planning that keeps top performers after the offer is signed.
- Technical stack fluency
- PyTorch · TensorFlow · JAX · Kubernetes · Spark · Ray · distributed systems · MLOps · supply chain optimization (Gurobi, OR-Tools, CPLEX) · smart contracts / Solidity · video streaming infrastructure.
- AI-powered recruiting
- Claude · ChatGPT · Copilot · Perplexity · GEM · HiredScore · Juicebox · hIREez · LinkedIn Recruiter.
Career arc
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2025 – Present
Senior Technical Recruiting Consultant — AI / ML · McKesson AI Lab Initiative
Remote (Chicago)
Lead full-cycle technical recruiting for a newly launched AI Lab across ML platforms, data infrastructure, supply chain research, and AI-enabled products. Maintain a 75% senior mix across 10–15 open roles simultaneously. Advisor to executive leadership (CIO & CDO) on workforce design and recruitment strategy. Independent research project: mapped 200+ emerging engineers and researchers working on LLM infrastructure and model tooling.
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2023 – 2025
Founding Principal Technical Recruiter · ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health)
Washington, DC / Remote
Built the recruiting function from zero for a newly launched federal research agency; scaled from 12 to 118 employees in under two years, including engineers, computational scientists, data scientists, and Responsible AI leadership. Managed ~20 senior technical and research searches simultaneously. Implemented the agency's first ATS; designed structured hiring processes, calibration frameworks, and technical interview loops. Recruited for teams operating within formal research partnerships with Google DeepMind and Anthropic.
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2022 – 2023
Senior Technical & Executive Recruiter · McKinsey & Company — Leap by McKinsey (Business Building)
Global / Remote
Recruited founding engineering teams for new technology ventures across McKinsey's business-building arm — CTOs, founding engineers, AI specialists, and technical leads. Advised founders on executive compensation benchmarking and offer strategy; built salary band frameworks for early-stage ventures with no existing comp data.
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2020 – Present
Principal · Founder · Executive & Technical Recruiter · Andreozzi Consulting
Remote / Global
Lead executive and AI/ML technical search for the firm's clients. Earlier scope: technical and executive searches for ~15 early-stage startups across AI/ML Research, Web3, and video streaming; managed 5 concurrent client relationships across highly specialized technical domains.
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2020 – 2021
Leadership Sourcer (Contract) · Amazon
Remote
Delivered 10+ leadership hires per month across OpsTech IT and cloud infrastructure; built and managed complex senior pipelines across multiple business units at scale.
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2017 – 2020
Senior Recruiter → Internal Executive Search Partner · Advantage Solutions (Upshot / AMP Agency)
Delivered 500+ hires in three years; promoted to Executive Search Partner within the engagement.
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2014 – 2017
Project Manager → Head of Talent Acquisition · Heated Details Inc.
Joined as a project manager at a design and development agency; took on recruiting for tech and account management teams and transitioned fully into talent acquisition.
Recognition & thought leadership
- LinkedIn Talent MVP (Top 10%) — 2023, 2024
- LinkedIn Talent Beacon 2025 — #1 contributor on a talent community of 30K+ recruitment professionals
- Authored "How I Hire Staff-Level AI Talent"; featured on LinkedIn Talent webinars
- Active LinkedIn Talent Community contributor and Certificate in AI Talent Innovation (LinkedIn Talent Community)
Education
- MSc International Management — University of Le Havre, France
- BA English — University of Lyon, France · Education Exchange, UC Irvine
- Certificate in AI Talent Innovation — awarded by LinkedIn Talent Community
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