All job descriptions are not created equal. In a world of complex products and solutions, top professionals want to know all about your business, its prospects, who they’ll be working for and what they need to deliver. And with young startups, many backed by deep or niche tech, this becomes even more important! Explore the essentials on writing a Startup Job Description that showcases your business and help you attract the best talent!
We recently worked with two startup clients in the health tech space, helping them hire for leadership sales and growth roles. One wanted ‘pre-revenue growth experience,’ while another employer requested ‘someone who had scaled an existing business quickly and also had done GTM (go-to-market) ….’
Same industry, similar roles…yet a BIG difference in the contenders list!
That’s what makes startup hiring different – even in look-alike roles, there are aspects that are very distinct, and when spelt out clearly, it makes it easier and faster to connect with the right candidates. This is true whether you’re hiring via a job ad or while working with a talent partner.
As a founder, defining your role early on, also helps you avoid expensive mistakes in bringing on team members who are not a fit on experience or skills, or both!
It also saves you time and interview iterations unlike when the role details are sketchy.
This article is a part of our Series on
How to Attract Top Talent for your Startup
Explore all essential, relevant and practical aspects of crafting a compelling startup job description (JD)
A. Learn how startup roles are different
B. Essential components of your job description, and bonus ones
C. Crafting your startup job description – great examples and ideas
D. The long and short – creating a JD quickly, when you don’t have the time
A. Are Startup roles different from conventional ones? If so, how?
Startup roles (and JDs) differ from traditional ones, due to the innate nature of work in early-stage ventures. Which means that delivering cross-functional outcomes is essential as opposed to only working with cross-functional teams.
Typically, many young startups are on the path of rapid growth, and have limited systems and processes, so experience – and willingness to work – in ambiguous environments is key.
In a nutshell, most early to mid-stage startups will seek employees who have a hands-on approach, bring a blend of skills & functional experience, and demonstrate comfort with chaos!
If you’re hiring, how you describe the role and what you write is key to attracting talent with relevant experience.

B. What to include in your JD – Specifics, Details, Extras, Promise
Keep in mind that while details are good, the JD needs to include specific info rather than being long and generic.
Essentials
- Role title & location
- Company details (the smaller you are, the more specific please)
- Responsibilities the candidate will deliver (day in the life of…)
- Essential qualifications (educational, skills and experience)
- Desirable attributes (soft and behavioral skills)
- Compensation & benefits (even the non-cash ones matter)
Bonus adds
- Whom will the candidate work with
- Employer culture
- Interview process
C. Crafting your Startup Job description with these key components
Explore the essential parts of any job description that are particularly relevant to a startup talent environment and some inspiration and examples on how you can share/enhance? the appeal of the job you’re advertising for.
1. Role title – think through this beforehand. Ditto for Location
The title of the role you’re hiring for must showcase the function, seniority, and ideally be aligned to startup vocabulary. There are no strict rules but some of the real examples below will show the difference between how tech startups title their roles compared to traditional companies. Of course, some will be common across both too.
But keep the job titles flexible since you need to plan for growth and bigger team sizes!
Growth and Sales Lead versus Territory Development Manager
Sales Engineer vs Sales Consultant
Customer Success or Customer Engagement vs Customer Support
Member Experience Manager vs After-Sales Support
Revenue Enablement Lead or Revenue Operations Manager vs Director of Finance & Operations
While early level sales roles like SDRs and BDRs are universal, Field Sales Rep or On-Site Sales Associate typically belong to brick and mortar companies.
Are you open to remote employees who work remotely? If the job requires them to be on-site, is there flexibility around Hybrid work?
Make sure you mention this (if your job portal doesn’t have the location field).
2. Inform, build interest and excitement – Company info is Critical!
Simply put, candidates want to know what your business actually does, especially if you are a young startup!
In our work with hundreds and hundreds of professionals moving between, or to a startup job, the key questions are all around the business!
When you’re attracting high-caliber talent, this is the most important piece of info that you will need to share.
Here are some options and examples of how startups talk about their business to help inspire you!.
Specific summary about the business
[We are…] a rapid growth LegalTech SaaS start-up who have developed an advanced AI tool that writes, reviews, and amends contracts. We work with a number of top global law firms and major corporations removing hours of back and forth and bureaucracy.
I say ‘specific’ because the company outline below feels very generic, by contrast – it doesn’t tell us anything about which sector, what kind of tools etc.
We are at the forefront of developing the next generation of AI tools for the financial services industry and beyond.
Traction and success
Grammarly is the world’s leading AI writing assistance company trusted by over 30 million people and 70,000 teams.
Highlight reel
Ordergroove chooses to mention several key points
- Raised $40M from top- notch investors
- Headquartered in the heart of NYC (with offices in Austin and Denver)
- Over 100 clients including The Honest Company, L’Oreal, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, PetSmart, GNC and Pepsi.
Talk about your backers and investors
TIFIN is a fintech platform backed by industry leaders including JP Morgan, Morningstar, Broadridge, Hamilton Lane, Franklin Templeton, SEI, Motive Partners and a who’s who of the financial service industry.
Conversational Loglines
After adding a clear summary of their Medical AI tech, DeLorean adds a sentence that readers are sure to remember.
DeLorean AI is the disruptor of the global healthcare market. Think “Kodak meets the iPhone”, the uber effect for healthcare.
Technical Strength(s)
Again DeLorean states it simply and effectively. This is a once- in- a- lifetime opportunity. DeLorean AI is a disruptor. The nearest competitor is a generation behind.
Funding and fortunes
With a successful Series B investment of $60 million, we are poised for rapid growth and are on track to achieve $30 million in ARR by 2025 and $65 million in ARR by 2026.
Link to an authority piece or blog
Mercury is changing how startups bank* and in 2023, we grew transaction volume by 90% to $95B total.
Industry and workplace credentials
Iterable takes pride in the various recognitions and talk about their employer brand.
We’ve been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work – SF for the past five years, recognized as one of Inc’s Best Workplaces and Fastest Growing Companies,
Notably, Iterable has also been listed on Wealthfront’s Career Launching Companies List and has held a top 10 ranking on the Top 25 Companies Where Women Want to Work.
Founder credentials
Credal.ai leads with the work of their founding team
Ravin (Co-founder & CEO) helped grow 2 companies from Series A to Unicorn status
Jack (Co-founder & CTO) started his career at H1 and Palantir.
Value statements
Helix by HL/ TIFIN speaks to their culture and values, something every prospective employee wants to understand! They keep their words conversational but the message is powerful.
- Grow at the Edge. We are driven by personal growth. We get out of our comfort zone and keep egos aside to find our genius zones. With self-awareness and integrity, we strive to be the best we can possibly be. No excuses.
- Understanding through Listening and Speaking the Truth. We value transparency. We communicate with radical candor, authenticity and precision to create a shared understanding. We challenge, but once a decision is made, commit fully.
We can help you find Top Talent for YOUR Startup!
3. Include work outcomes and responsibilities that the candidate needs to deliver
When it comes to job responsibilities, you need to be clear on what you want them to do. Especially if you need your future team member to deliver tasks across functions.
Typically, Revenue and Sales tend to be involved in Marketing, Operations aligns with HR, and Finance and Compliance may go hand in hand for some early-stage companies. You can mention what the day-to-day responsibilities will look like, and if it’s a senior role, include some of the larger goals they need to accomplish.
In this role outline for a Senior Product Designer, note how Grammarly uses clear verbs , includes strategic deliverables and still mentions details clearly .
In This Role, You Will
- Collaborate with product managers, engineers, content designers, data scientists, and user researchers to design efficient growth systems, conduct experiments , and create new experiences that significantly boost new user growth .
- Partner with the Organic Acquisition Marketing and Creative team to optimize our website, ensuring potential customers easily understand Grammarly’s value before signing up.
- Understand Grammarly’s strategic business goals and user needs to actively contribute toward identifying key growth opportunities and building a cohesive roadmap with your team .
- Conduct user testing on your designs, capture insights gained , and seamlessly integrate these findings into iterative design improvements .
- Mentor designers and cross-functional partners , fostering agile problem-solving and delivering high-quality outcomes .
- Maintain high design standards that showcase Grammarly’s trusted brand .
4. Defining Experience – ensure details
Lots of Startup Job Descriptions will mention industry experience e.g. Fintech or SaaS, But if you have specific role requirements for sales, growth or marketing roles, do call those out. If your role is that of an individual contributor, very common in newer startups, mention that.
Check out these examples on criteria you can include.
Growth stage
- You have been through the Series A to C stages of a high-growth company
- You have been a part of early Stage Startups, especially in a growth role
Individual contribution (even at C-levels)
- Comfortable being an individual contributor, carrying a bag as well as leading our sales function
Target sectors
- 7+ years of experience in UX design, specifically within enterprise SaaS businesses.
- ‘0-1 experience’ in the product space specifically related to fintech product (0-1 refers to very early stage often at MVP, pre-revenue stages, sometimes even earlier)
Outcome- based
- Demonstrated track record of individually selling deals with an average yearly price of +$1.5M
- Have a track record of scaling revenue from $25m+ to $100m+ ARR.
5. Skills or qualifications? Or both?
You can mention both but lead with the higher prerequisite. For qualifications, mention a wider band if you’re not sure or you need the hustle more than the higher ed.
E.g – 7 – 15 years of work in finance teams, preferably F P & A
Cross-functional experience – in the 2 examples role descriptions below, they also ask for related experience outside the core area.
Product with Product Marketing
- Proven success in executing product launches that drive early adoption and revenue growth. Plus, at least 5 years of experience in product marketing.
Product Marketing with PR and Pre-sales
- Roll up your sleeves to get things done – this can be anything from writing a press release to negotiating a sponsorship to interviewing customers, or whatever the project requires.
6. Compensation – if you’re paying it, tell them!
Be sure to include stock options in your startup job description if they are on the table – those are a big draw.
Here’s an example from Netflix that generally posts a wide pay range. Apple does a similar thing and adds a Location variable too.
Base pay may vary considerably depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
In this JD, an early-stage company is upfront on how they want to pay you with an equity-only payout.
“No one gets rich by working” which is why we are offering 100% early stock option ownership — not a cash salary. We are a pre-money start-up with ~20 passionate fully-remote members contributing part-time sweat equity for a limited ownership stake.
7. Include Benefits & Perks
Pinterest is sharing their remote work and other details via a link to a dedicated branded page.
Our new progressive work model is called PinFlex, a term that’s uniquely Pinterest to describe our flexible approach to living and working. Visit our PinFlex landing page to learn more.
Sure has perks and they want you to use them.
What we do for you:
- Unlimited PTO… no really, we want you to take it!
- Mental Health Breaks – company provided meditation app and a weekly wellness hour
- WFH stipend to help you work your best while being remote….
Doola speaks to employees in another way aside from the 401K and other benefits.
- Commuter benefit
- Free food and snacks
- Annual company retreat
- Bring your dog to work
Learn how Maroon Oak can help you Attract the Best Startup Talent
for YOUR unique requirements!
8. Bonus Round – extras that you can add!
Aside from the essentials, many startup job descriptions include extra details that candidates find very helpful!
Whom will you work with – whether you’re talking about their hiring manager or the team they will lead, make sure you make it personal in context.
The Chief Revenue Officer will be responsible for ensuring the execution and direction of ViClarity’s strategic plan, in partnership with the Global CEO.
Scale AI – As a Director of Operations, you will lead the team that builds and delivers datasets for our customers for one of the Gen AI verticals.
Interview process
Elevate does a great job of sharing how they hire.
At Elevate Labs, we seek to build high-impact teams with high talent density, and we invest a lot of time and care into the hiring process. Your resume will be reviewed by a human, so we encourage you to keep your resume short (one page should do), double-check for grammar errors, and submit it as a PDF.
During the hiring process, you can expect conversational-style sessions and an in-depth portfolio review.
Employee Assessments
Another startup laid this down for their remote roles
PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND CHECK-INS SCHEDULE
- Weekly 1:1s.
- Annual performance review.
D. The long and short of it – putting together a JD quickly.
You don’t have the time – we get it!
As a startup founder, you are doing a million things simultaneously and can’t write a whole lot of detail, that too with no notice usually!
Here’s how to write a great job description for your startup, crafted quickly!
While you can’t ditch the essentials (not if you want the hiring process to be meaningful and efficient), here’s the simple approach to chunking the work.
- Create a template of what you want to share (we have one for you)
- Break down your JD in 2 main parts, the common info and the role-specific details.
Common elements – These tend to be constant unless there is a major update (or you like to tweak regularly).
Typically, Company details and perks and benefits (e.g 401K, PTO, Allowances) fall in this category.
Borrow the sentences from the company deck, website and LinkedIn pages, to write 1-3 paras on your venture. If you don’t want to take the time to do this, link to the various digital and online assets that you have.
Do write a line or two on culture (formal or not, speed-centric or measured, leadership-driven or consensus-led etc.)
Similarly for perks, compile the list once, and include it in all JDs.
Role specific – Details and responsibilities of the role and compensation (Salary, bonus, equity) – vary for each role and will need customizing.
Most founders and team leaders are pretty clear on what they want in their next employee, so articulate your ask in simple language in the following order.
Focus most on the responsibilities they need to deliver.
Qualifications can be brief unless you need technical skills and certifications.
Similarly, details around desirable personality and soft skills are important, and most JDs do cover collaboration, teamwork and problem-solving, but keep these brief. And include any target soft skills that are different.
Instead, (depending on your company and role) include traits like ‘a scrappy mindset, a learner’s approach, comfort with ambiguity, ability to work with people under tight deadlines and amidst fluid processes….’ etc.
Your personality skills sections should have exactly the questions you would ask in an interview or the qualities you would assess your future employee for.
Conclusion
Writing your kickass JD may seem like a tedious, even trivial chore, but it is a lot more valuable than many realize. And the reward – a hiring narrative that attracts and persuades good candidates to get excited, or at least start a conversation with your startup.
Source: LinkedIn and Company Career Pages
A little time, some careful thought, and your role – and how you describe it – will rock!