Recruiting Manager

Chaos Industries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

CHAOS Industries is hiring three Recruiting Managers to lead a growing recruiting team. You will coach 4-6 recruiters and sourcers, partnering with engineering, product, and G&A leaders to translate business priorities into hiring plans and pipelines.

You will be hands-on, close to critical searches, and help shape how the recruiting organization scales while maintaining high-quality candidate experiences. Remote work is not indicated; this role requires onsite presence in Los Angeles

Qualifications

• 8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience focused on technical/engineering roles.
• 3+ years managing recruiters, coaching, and developing people.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders to plan headcounts and strategies.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 4-6 recruiters and sourcers with clear ownership expectations.
• Translate business priorities into recruiting strategies, timelines, and pipeline goals.
• Align recruiters to hiring managers and teams, adjusting workloads as priorities shift.
• Monitor pipeline health, time-to-fill, offer acceptance, and recruiter productivity.
• Serve as escalation point for recruiters, managers, and candidates to keep searches moving.
• Coach on role scoping, sourcing strategy, candidate assessment, and closing.
• Champion structured, inclusive interviewing and manager training.
• Manage external agencies and contract recruiters with same quality standards.
• Contribute to leadership with scalable playbooks, templates, and market insights.
• Use AI/automation to improve outreach, talent mapping, and reporting.
• Protect candidate and company information, including sensitive hiring needs.
• Deliver proactive candidate experiences from initial outreach to offer.
• Work 4-5 days onsite at our Los Angeles (Hawthorne) office.

Skills

Leadership

Full-cycle recruiting

Stakeholder management

Data-driven

AI/automation awareness

Engineering/technical hiring

Coaching & development

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Greenhouse ATS

Job description

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com .

Role Overview

We are hiring three Recruiting Managers to lead the next stage of growth for our recruiting team. Each Recruiting Manager will lead a team of 4-6 recruiters and sourcers, reporting to the Head of Recruiting. This is the first layer of management on our team, and you will help shape how it works!

You will partner directly with engineering, product, manufacturing, operations, and G&A leaders to turn business priorities into hiring plans, and you will coach your recruiters to act as trusted advisors to their hiring managers, not order-takers. You will be accountable for the speed, quality, and candidate experience of every search on your team, while building the playbooks, metrics, and habits that let us scale without lowering the bar.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will be close to the work, step in on critical searches and closes, and be a strong voice in how the broader recruiting organization evolves. Experience recruiting for engineering roles in defense, aerospace, or other highly regulated technical industries is a major plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 4-6 recruiters and sourcers, setting clear expectations for ownership, urgency, and execution, and giving regular, direct feedback
• Partner with senior hiring managers and functional leaders to translate business priorities and headcount plans into recruiting strategies, timelines, and pipeline goals
• Own recruiter alignment to hiring managers and teams, balancing workload and skill set across your team and adjusting as priorities shift
• Monitor pipeline health, time to fill, offer acceptance, and recruiter productivity, using data to spot problems early and recommend changes
• Serve as the escalation point for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates, resolving issues directly and keeping searches moving
• Coach recruiters on role scoping, intake, sourcing strategy, candidate assessment, and closing, with a focus on identifying exceptional people for hard-to-fill technical roles
• Strengthen interview quality and consistency by championing structured, inclusive interviewing, calibration, and hiring manager training
• Manage external recruiting agencies and contract recruiting partners used for niche or surge hiring, holding them to the same quality and candidate experience standards as the in-house team
• Contribute to the recruiting leadership team by building scalable playbooks, templates, and process improvements, and by sharing hiring trends and market insights
• Use AI and automation to improve efficiency in areas such as outreach, talent mapping, and reporting, while applying strong judgment and verifying outputs for accuracy and bias
• Protect candidate and company information, including the handling of sensitive and export-controlled hiring needs
• Deliver and model an outstanding, proactive candidate experience from first outreach through offer
• Work 4-5 days onsite out of our office in Los Angeles (Hawthorne), California
• 8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience focused on technical and/or engineering roles, with a track record of closing complex or hard-to-fill positions
• 3+ years of experience managing recruiters, including coaching, performance feedback, and developing people at different experience levels
• Experience building recruiting strategies and managing execution against timelines and business goals
• Proven ability to build trusted partnerships with senior business leaders, using market data and business context to influence hiring decisions
• Strong understanding of engineering roles and technical skill sets such as software, hardware, systems, or manufacturing
• Data-driven mindset, with experience tracking recruiting metrics and translating them into clear recommendations for stakeholders
• Experience managing multiple searches, recruiters, and priorities at once in a fast-paced, changing environment
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to deliver direct feedback and handle escalations with empathy and confidence
• Working knowledge of ATS systems (Greenhouse preferred), sourcing tools, and structured interview practices
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Preferred Requirements

• Experience