Talent Acquisition Manager, Singapore

About Blackpanda Somewhere in Asia tonight, a server room is on fire. Not literally — though sometimes it might as well be. A ransomware note is blinking on a managing director's screen in a tower above Singapore. A family office in Hong Kong is locked out of its own ledgers. A trading desk in Japan is running orders on paper.

Across the South China Sea in the Philippines, a hospitality group has just learned its booking system isn't its own anymore. Somewhere — Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia — a CIO is staring at the ceiling at three in the morning, wondering who to call. That call comes to us. Blackpanda is Asia's premier cyber crisis response firm — Lloyd's of London–accredited, regionally headquartered, and built for one purpose: to walk in when the worst has already happened, and walk out leaving the company still on its feet.

We do incident response and digital forensics. That is it. No identity crisis about what we are. We are pure IR, and we like it that way. Three channels, one operating force. We reach the market in three ways, and every channel feeds the same unit. Consulting. Hourly, senior-led engagements for enterprises and board-level matters where complexity, sensitivity, or scale demand our most experienced operators.

IR-1. Our proprietary fixed-cost subscription is sold through IT channels and underwritten on our own insurance paper. IR-1 puts a real response solution in the hands of mid-market and small companies who have never been able to afford traditional cyber cover — paid up front, before the breach, with our team on the other end of every activation.

Traditional cyber insurance. Full-stack policies for the mature, board-level buyer, with our response practice on the inside of every claim. Not a panel. Not a vendor. Our own people. As a Lloyd's coverholder, the revenue arrives before the breach, not after it. Where traditional insurers park that float in markets, we pour ours straight back into the team — into people, training, tooling, and hours on the keyboard against real adversaries.

Our gross margins run roughly two times those of traditional IR firms, and every point of that advantage compounds inside the unit. The Cyber In-Extremis Force. At the centre of everything is the CIF. We borrowed the term from the special operations world, and you'll understand what we mean by it. In extremis describes the moment a situation has moved beyond the tolerance of conventional units.

When the building is already burning. When there is no time, no margin, no second chance. In-extremis forces are the no-fail option — who you call when calling anyone else means accepting the loss. Blackpanda was founded by three former operators of the Commander's In-Extremis Force, one of five CIF teams the United States military positioned around the world, theirs based out of Okinawa.

They built this firm because they had served inside the original — and they know what right looks like. How the best are selected. How the best are trained. How the best stand ready when the call comes. They are building the cyber equivalent the only way they know how: same standards, same discipline, same refusal to compromise on who gets to wear the patch.

We set a hard floor under who is allowed in the room. Every responder on the CIF roster holds — or is actively earning — multiple SANS Institute certifications, the most rigorous DFIR qualifications in the field. Network forensics, enterprise cloud, Linux, Windows, adversary tradecraft. The company pays for the coursework.

The company pays for the certifications. The bar is not negotiable. By the end of 2026, Blackpanda expects to field 25 full-time incident responders — by a wide margin the largest pure-IR team in Asia-Pacific and Japan. You want to run with the best? You have to be trained by the best. We do this so that one day there is no question — inside the firm or outside it — about who is the best.

Our Core Values

• Sincerity — If we say we'll do it, it's as good as done. In combat, you have to know your right flank will be there at 0200 when they said they would. The work is the same.
• Unity — Debate fiercely, then commit fully. We all row in the same direction.
• Efficiency — Timing beats speed, precision beats power, leverage beats strength.
• Humility — Humility forms the basis of honor. We listen, then we act, then we listen again.
• Grit — We don't sugarcoat setbacks or bad news. We face challenges head-on and we don't quit when it gets hard. Our story: Blackpanda is Asia's leading cyber incident response company, delivering digital emergency response across three integrated channels: IR consulting, IR-1 assurance subscriptions, and Lloyd's of London-underwritten cyber insurance. Each is purpose-built for a different buyer, whether enterprise, mass market, or sophisticated risk-transfer clients, and each stands alone as full incident response. Together, these channels reach the entire commercial market, because our mission is to provide digital emergency response for everyone. Buy all three and they combine into the complete post-attack recovery solution: preparation in advance, response the moment you're hit, and financial recovery paid for by insurance. One local team to help you get ready, respond, and recover. Our Mission: To provide digital emergency response to everyone. Our Vision: Accessing cyber incident response is as universally accessible as dialing 9-1-1.

What we are looking for

A Talent Acquisition Manager based in Blackpanda HQ in Singapore who will run hiring across all Blackpanda offices. The CIF is only as good as the people we let into it, and that selection starts with you. On a given week you will be sourcing a SANS-certified responder out in Tokyo, running a hiring-manager intake for an enterprise seller in Hong Kong, closing a Managing Director offer that has to survive a counter-offer, and tightening an interview kit because the last three candidates all looked the same on paper and very different in the room.

You will own the hiring engine end to end, from the first conversation about why a role exists to the day the new hire walks through the door. You will report to the VP People and Culture and work alongside the People & Culture Manager, who owns everything from contract to exit. Your job is everything before that: finding, assessing, and closing people against a bar we refuse to lower.

We are growing toward 25 full-time responders, part of the total 75 full-time employees by the end of 2026, with new regional offices to follow after our Series B. Every one of those people will come through a process you designed. Hiring at Blackpanda comes in waves, not a steady stream. When the wave hits, you run a dozen searches at once.

Between waves, you build: the talent pipelines, the employer brand, and the relationships that mean the next wave starts with a shortlist rather than a blank page. A standing pipeline of the right people is option value for the leadership team, and we expect you to treat it that way. The right person is equal-part recruiter and builder.

Comfortable sourcing and closing candidates themselves, rigorous about assessment, and able to hold a hiring manager to the standard without slowing the business down. We are not looking for someone who wants to process requisitions through an existing machine. We are looking for someone who wants to build one. This is a first hire, as we build out the team together with the company growth.

Responsibilities

Full-Cycle Recruitment Own full-cycle recruitment across Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia — intake, sourcing, screening, interview coordination, assessment, references, offer, and close — for roles from incident responders and engineers to sales, operations, and leadership. Run a structured intake with every hiring manager before a role goes live: why the role exists, what success looks like at 6 and 12 months, the scorecard, the compensation band, and the interview plan.

Source actively, not just post and wait. Build and work pipelines through LinkedIn Recruiter, the DFIR and SANS community, industry events, referrals, and direct outreach. Screen candidates against agreed criteria, including AI-assisted CV screening, and present shortlists with a clear recommendation and the evidence behind it.

Partner on senior and executive searches with the VP People and Culture and the C-Suite, including top-grading interviews, candidate presentations, and case studies. Manage offers end to end with the VP People and Culture: compensation benchmarking, equity explanation, counter-offer risk, and negotiation. Hand every hire over cleanly to the People & Culture Manager for contracts, work passes, and onboarding.

Hiring Process, Systems & Reporting Design and maintain a consistent interview process across the company: structured interview kits, scorecards, case studies, reference check templates, and debrief formats that make hiring decisions evidence-based rather than instinctive. Train and enable hiring managers to interview well, score consistently, and give candidates a professional experience.

Own the ATS (BambooHR) as the single source of truth for every requisition and candidate. Keep it clean enough that anyone can see the status of any role without asking you first. Produce the hiring reporting the leadership team runs on: open roles, pipeline health, time to fill, source of hire, funnel conversion, offer acceptance, and cost per hire.

Run background checks through our approved third-party provider, in line with our regional and SOC compliance requirements, and apply data protection obligations to candidate data in every market. Flag non-compete, non-solicitation, and notice-period risks early, and work with the Legal team on how we approach candidates from clients, partners, and competitors.

Talent Pipelines, Employer Brand & Partners Build and maintain strong talent pipeline for all high-value hires, including but not limited to DFIR responders, sales, and regional leadership — so that the next hiring wave starts with a shortlist. Hiring starts before we know. Own recruitment agency and search firm relationships: selection, written agreements, fee terms, briefs, and performance.

Keep agency spend low by making direct sourcing and referrals do the heavy lifting. Run the employee referral programme and make it easy for our team to bring us the people they would want on their right flank. Build Blackpanda's employer brand across the region: job descriptions that sound like us, a careers presence that tells the CIF story, and a visible presence at the conferences, communities, and universities where our future hires are.

Protect the candidate experience. Every candidate hears back, on time, whatever the outcome.

Qualifications

Required 5–8 years of recruitment experience, with at least 3 years in-house and at least 2 years hiring across more than one country in Asia-Pacific. A track record of hiring technical talent — cyber security, digital forensics, engineering, or similarly scarce profiles — and of hiring into commercial and sales roles.

Strong direct sourcing skills: Boolean search, LinkedIn Recruiter, and the persistence to find and engage people who are not looking. Experience in a high-growth or scaling company where the talent function was small and the recruiter did the work rather than delegating it. Extraordinarily high levels of attention-to-detail, project and task management skills, and overall ability to execute and get things done on time to standard in an impressively consistent and formidable manner.

Experience designing structured interview processes and scorecards, and the confidence to push back on a hiring manager when a decision is not supported by the evidence. Comfort with ATS and HRIS platforms, and with spreadsheets and reporting — you should be able to answer a pipeline or time-to-fill question the same day it is asked.

Excellent written and spoken English, and the judgement to write a job description that sells as well as a rejection that respects the candidate. Absolute discretion with confidential information, including compensation and leadership searches. Willingness to travel regionally several times a year and to flex hours across time zones.

Preferred Direct recruitment experience in one or more of Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, or Malaysia. Executive or leadership search experience, including top-grading or similar structured assessment methods. Agency background combined with in-house experience, and an understanding of how to get the best out of search partners.

An existing network in the cyber security or DFIR community in Asia-Pacific. Experience hiring into a new country — first local hires, market mapping, and compensation benchmarking without existing data. Working proficiency in an additional regional language besides English (Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Filipino, or Bahasa Malaysia).

Relevant professional certification (IHRP-CP/SP, SHRM-CP/SCP, CIPD, or a recognised recruitment certification) or a degree in Human Resources, Business, Psychology, or a related field. Who this suits You are organised and detail-oriented to the point of being slightly annoying about it. You are exceptionally punctual.

You can tell the difference between a candidate who interviews well and a candidate who will do the job well, and you design processes that do the same. You would rather lose a candidate than lower the bar, and you would rather find a better one than lose the role. And you want to build something — a real hiring engine, in a real company, at the point in its growth where the people you bring in still shape what it becomes.

What we offer

40 days paid leave per year inclusive of public holidays, which may be taken at the discretion of the employee subject to compliance with our Leave Policy and the approval of their manager. Limited Work From Anywhere policy allotment, allowing for work from alternate locations contingent upon coverage provided by teammates and approved by manager for 5 days per quarter.

Enrolment in the company's comprehensive corporate health plan that includes a large direct billing network for medical and dental coverage. Opportunities for inter-office travel, including a required annual week-long Tribe Onsite meet-up and quarterly week-long leadership Offsites. $5000 USD/year for professional training budget contingent on approval from manager with 12-month retention requirement Competitive base salary with performance-based variable compensation tied to market results, plus equity participation in Blackpanda's growth.

Declamation: Candidates who successfully pass the Interview stage may be required to complete a Case Study, used to evaluate their technical knowledge and application of their skills in practical scenarios relevant to the role. Blackpanda is committed to building a culturally diverse company, and we value a broad set of opinions in our team.

As we grow, we are looking to build a team with a range of viewpoints at its core, and we encourage applications from minority candidates and all genders however you identify (X/F/M). Blackpanda does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruitment agencies. We will not be responsible for any fees related to unsolicited candidates submitted by recruiters with whom we have not established explicit, written agreements for our job vacancies.

By submitting any candidate information, recruiters agree to forfeit any claim to fees should their candidate be hired without an established agreement with Blackpanda.