Lead Technical Recruiter

Red Cedar Ventures; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

Job summary

Grounded in Detroit is immediately hiring a Lead Technical Recruiter to build our first in-house recruiting function. You will own end-to-end hiring across manufacturing, engineering, software, and operations, partnering with founders on headcount and strategy.

You’ll craft roles, design interview loops, and scale pipelines with a human-centric process. You will shape our employer brand and connect with candidates beyond just compensation, while navigating a fast-moving startup environment that

Qualifications

• 5+ years of in-house technical recruiting experience (agency background acceptable if also in-house).
• Proven ability to hire hard-to-fill roles across engineering and manufacturing.
• Experience building pipeline and process from scratch with limited infra.
• Strong sourcing and candidate assessment skills.
• Clear, persuasive communicator with managers and candidates.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting across manufacturing, engineering, software, field ops, and generalist roles.
• Partner with hiring managers to define roles, write job descriptions and design interview loops.
• Build and manage top-of-funnel pipeline through sourcing, events, referrals, and creative channels.
• Run a fast, human-centered recruiting process with a strong candidate experience.
• Create systems and workflows for scale: ATS hygiene (Ashby), scorecards, tracking, calibration.
• Track and report pipeline and hiring metrics to keep searches on track.
• Partner with founders on headcount planning and cost projections.
• Help shape employer brand online and offline with sharp messaging.

Skills

In-house recruiting

Technical recruiting

Sourcing

Pipeline building

Negotiation

Communication

Organization

Ashby ATS

Tools

Ashby

Job description

About Grounded

Grounded is a 25-person Detroit-based startup building modular electric platforms for specialty vehicles. We take cab chassis from OEMs like Ford and Harbinger and build configurable vehicle systems on top, serving mobile healthcare, RVs, command centers, food and beverage, pet care, and more. Our customers include Colgate, Nokia, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and Portland PD. We've raised ~$5M in VC funding and are shipping vehicles in market today.

Location

Detroit Factory HQ

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

On-site

Department

Operations & Finance

Position

Lead Technical Recruiter

City/Location

Detroit, MI (in-person)

About Grounded

Grounded is a 25-person Detroit-based startup building modular electric platforms for specialty vehicles. We take cab chassis from OEMs like Ford and Harbinger and build configurable vehicle systems on top, serving mobile healthcare, RVs, command centers, food and beverage, pet care, and more. Our customers include Colgate, Nokia, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and Portland PD. We've raised ~$5M in VC funding and are shipping vehicles in market today.

The Role

We're hiring our first in-house recruiter. Grounded is scaling fast - production has to roughly triple this year, and nearly every team is hiring: manufacturing engineers, technicians, mechanical and software engineers, sales, and operations. Today the founders run recruiting themselves. That doesn't scale.

What you'd actually do

• Own full-cycle recruiting across manufacturing, engineering, software, field ops, and generalist roles - from first outreach to signed offer
• Partner with hiring managers to define roles: write job descriptions that attract the right people and design interview loops that actually evaluate them well
• Build and manage top-of-funnel pipeline through sourcing, events, referrals, and creative channels
• Run a fast, human-centered recruiting process that delivers a best-in-class candidate experience
• Create the systems and workflows for scale: ATS hygiene (we run Ashby), scorecards, candidate tracking, calibration loops
• Track and report pipeline and hiring metrics - funnel conversion, time-to-fill, offer acceptance rate - to keep individual searches and overall hiring on track
• Partner with the founders on headcount planning: what we hire, in what order, and what it costs
• Help shape our employer brand online and offline, and translate it into sharper outbound and sourcing messaging

What we're looking for

• 5+ years of in-house technical recruiting experience (agency background is fine if you've also worked in-house)
• Strong track record hiring hard-to-fill roles on both the engineering and the build side - manufacturing engineers, technicians, production and quality talent, alongside design, systems, and software engineers
• Demonstrated ability to close hard candidates, including comp negotiation - you've won people who had other offers, and you know how to make an equity story land with someone who has never held equity before
• Comfortable building pipeline and process from scratch, with minimal existing recruiting infrastructure to lean on
• Excellent sourcing and candidate assessment skills
• Clear, compelling communicator - written and verbal - who builds real relationships with both candidates and hiring managers
• Highly organized and self-directed; thrives in fast-moving, low-structure environments
• Motivated by mission and able to connect with candidates beyond just comp and perks

Nice-to-haves

• Experience hiring in automotive, EV, or industrial manufacturing
• Recruiting at an early-stage startup
• Comfort recruiting into the Midwest manufacturing talent market

Compensation

Competitive base salary + meaningful equity in Grounded + comprehensive health insurance

Why this role is different

Most recruiting jobs hand you a req list and an ATS someone else configured. Here you build the entire function from zero - and the company along with it. At 25 people, every hire changes what Grounded is, and you'll make those calls directly with the founders. You'll pitch candidates on something real: the people you close will be building vehicles on our shop floor within the month, and you'll have a front-row seat to the rebuilding of American vehicle manufacturing.