Founding Technical Recruiter for Cleared AI Defense

UNKNOWN; Arrington (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance.

HSA plan (optional)

Health Reimbursement Account

Life insurance (company paid)

401(k) with full match (day one)

Gym and fitness membership

Unlimited PTO

Federal holidays + extra time off

Job summary

Unknown is seeking a Founding Technical Recruiter in the Arlington area. This is a full-time onsite role where you will build the recruiting function from the ground up, owning everything from first touch to signed offers, including creating pipelines for TS/SCI and polygraph roles.

You will lead outbound sourcing, demonstrate deep technical credibility with engineers, and close candidates while working alongside the founding team to shape the recruiting function for a defense AI startup.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of full-cycle or full-desk recruiting with meaningful technical hiring.
• Proven ability to source passive candidates and build pipeline from nothing.
• Demonstrated ability to close candidates personally, including competing offers.
• Comfortable discussing technical details with engineers about what they build.
• Operate autonomously with minimal direction.
• U.S. citizenship and based in the National Capital Region.

Responsibilities

• Full-cycle recruiting across all functions and levels: sourcing, screening, scheduling, candidate management, offers.
• Develop a cleared TS/SCI and polygraph candidate pipeline; reach non-traditional talent pools.
• Outbound sourcing via LinkedIn Recruiter, referrals, events, and community channels.
• Demonstrate technical credibility in conversations with engineers.
• Construct offers and close candidates, explaining compensation and equity where relevant.
• Maintain Ashby pipeline hygiene, stages, scheduling, and weekly leadership metrics.
• Support employer brand through posts, content, events, and recruiting presence.
• Activate referrals across CIA officers, Special Operations veterans, and frontier engineers.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Sourcing passive candidates

Close candidates

Engineer conversations

Autonomous work

US citizenship

DC-area familiarity

Tools

Ashby

Job description

Unknown is seeking a Founding Technical Recruiter in the Arlington area. This is a full-time onsite role where you will build the recruiting function from the ground up, owning everything from first touch to signed offers, including creating pipelines for TS/SCI and polygraph roles.

You will lead outbound sourcing, demonstrate deep technical credibility with engineers, and close candidates while working alongside the founding team to shape the recruiting function for a defense AI startup.