Ryan B

Talent Acquisition Lead with 10 years of experience building recruiting functions, hiring systems, and scalable talent infrastructure across automotive, advanced manufacturing, AI, SaaS, robotics, automation, and engineering. Twice hired as the first dedicated Recruiting Lead to build recruiting functions from the ground up—from hiring strategy and ATS implementation to AI-enabled sourcing, recruiting analytics, automation, executive partnership, and hiring manager enablement. Known for leveraging AI and automation to create sourcing engines that consistently deliver difficult-to-hire engineering and manufacturing talent.

My experience spans venture-backed startups, automotive, advanced manufacturing, SaaS, and consulting environments where I've partnered with founders, executives, and engineering / plant leadership to solve complex hiring challenges.

Principal Consultant & Founder at Foundry Talent Advisory (2025 – Present)

Founded an independent talent advisory consultancy focused on helping startups and advanced manufacturing organizations build high-performing technical teams while advising on technical recruiting strategy, recruiting operations, and AI-enabled talent acquisition.

• Specialize in building recruiting functions from the ground up, advising on hiring strategy, process development / improvement, ATS/CRM implementation, sourcing infrastructure, recruiting analytics, and hiring manager enablement.
• Lead searches for senior engineering, AI, robotics, automation, manufacturing, product, and software talent across North America.
• Design AI-powered sourcing ecosystems combining automation, semantic search, outreach sequencing, and custom workflows to improve recruiter productivity and candidate engagement.
• Serve as a strategic advisor on HR technology, recruiting process optimization, and workforce planning for organizations scaling technical teams.

Talent Acquisition Leader, North America at Treves Group (2023 – 2025)

Recruited as the first dedicated North American Talent Acquisition hire responsible for building the company's recruiting function from the ground up due to a lack of real infrastructure or technology, inconsistent or missing processes, and a mixed-maturity hiring team.

• Designed recruiting strategy, implemented a modern ATS/CRM ecosystem, deployed AI-enabled sourcing workflows, and created scalable hiring processes supporting engineering and advanced manufacturing growth.
• Built talent pipelines while simultaneously designing the recruiting machine itself.
• Further modernized the technical recruiting function by implementing AI-enabled / automated workflows, structured interviews, and rounding out the TA tech stack from near-zero; reduced time-to-hire by 37%.
• Led full-cycle recruiting for highly specialized engineering roles including: Automation / Controls Engineers, Product Engineers, Industrialization Engineers, Process Engineers, and more.
• Deployed programmatic job ads, AI sourcing, and automated, multichannel outreach campaigns, resulting in a 40% increase in qualified technical applicants.
• Partnered with engineering and operations leadership to ensure talent readiness aligned with automation deployment timelines, manufacturing launch schedules, and production ramp milestones.
• Designed and executed a strategic recruiting roadmap for Advanced Engineering and Industrialization talent, aligning hiring plans with manufacturing technology initiatives and future-state automation capabilities.
• Built data-driven recruiting dashboards and funnel analytics, enabling leadership visibility into hiring velocity, pipeline health, and hiring risks tied to launch milestones.
• Leveraged data visualization and narrative storytelling to communicate recruiting performance and workforce risks to business leaders.
• Built targeted passive pipelines for hard-to-find technical talent, dramatically improving pipeline quality and reducing time-to-hire by 37%.
• Implemented structured interview frameworks and hiring manager enablement programs to improve hiring quality and consistency.
• Regularly traveled to manufacturing plants across North America to partner with plant leadership, conduct onsite interviews, support hiring events, and provide candidates with immersive facility tours.
• Built strong partnerships with plant managers, manufacturing engineering leaders, operations executives, and HR teams to support production launches and workforce planning.
• Utilized a variety of channels to source top talent: Passive recruiting, Talent mapping, Competitive intelligence, Internet sourcing, Online technical communities, Referral campaigns, Boolean/X-Ray searches. AI sourcing, Market mapping.

Sr. Recruitment Consultant (Technical & GTM) at Concero (2021 – 2022)

Served as an embedded Recruiting Lead for venture-backed startups, establishing recruiting operations, ATS infrastructure, sourcing systems, AI workflows, hiring processes, and reporting where no dedicated recruiting function previously existed.

• Built recruiting infrastructure from zero: ATS/CRM implementation, automated workflows, funnel analytics, and reporting structure / dashboards.
• Recruited senior technical talent including AI/ML Engineers, Software Engineers, DevOps Engineers, and Technical Product Leaders.
• Introduced AI-powered sourcing platforms and automated candidate outreach campaigns, reducing time-to-hire by 25%.
• Delivered market intelligence and talent availability analysis to founders and executives to guide hiring strategy.
• Maintained >90% offer acceptance rate by aligning candidate value propositions with company vision and growth strategy.

Director of Talent Acquisition at Escalent (2019 – 2021)

First TA-focused hire, brought on to transform a legacy TA organization into a modern, data-driven technical recruiting engine supporting analytics, software, and technology consulting teams.

• Led full-cycle recruiting for roles across mobility, energy, and fintech domains.
• Partnered with practice leaders and PE stakeholders to forecast talent needs and align hiring with complex project demands.
• Implemented ATS automation and analytics enhancements, cutting administrative overhead by 30% while improving pipeline visibility.
• Implemented data-driven recruiting analytics and executive dashboards, improving hiring visibility and forecasting capabilities.
• Regularly presented hiring performance, funnel metrics, and market insights to executive leadership.
• Served as internal expert on technical labor markets, compensation trends, and sourcing strategy.

Recruitment Manager & Sr. Technical Recruiter II at Reliance One Inc. (2015 – 2019)

• Led full-cycle recruiting for highly specialized engineering and technical roles, supporting automotive OEMs and Tier l’s, automation integrators, and advanced manufacturing organizations.
• Developed and executed creative sourcing strategies in extremely constrained talent markets, consistently filling mission-critical roles.
• Trained and mentored a team of 8 recruiters, building repeatable, high-performance sourcing and outreach playbooks.
• Acted as trusted advisor to engineering leadership, informing hiring strategy with real-time market intelligence.
• Consistently ranked #1 recruiter in gross profit and placements across the organization.

Studies in Communications & Advertising – Michigan State University (2026)