Senior Recruiter

UNKNOWN; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Relocation support

Health benefits

Retirement match

Flexible PTO

Lunches & snacks

AI tools

Job summary

Poseidon Aerospace, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, seeks a first dedicated Talent Acquisition hire to design and own the full recruiting function. You will source and close engineers, pilots, and operators essential to building our autonomous cargo fleet, partnering with the Head of People to shape headcount strategy.

You’ll recruit for highly specialized aerospace roles, sit on the People leadership table, and help scale as we grow, with onsite work in the Bay Area.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience in aerospace/defense startup or deep-tech.
• Experience taking the TA function from 0→1.
• Experience recruiting for highly technical roles: propulsion, avionics, controls, flight test.
• Hands-on experience configuring an ATS and setting up workflows.
• Strong sourcing across active and passive channels.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to engage senior technical candidates and executives.
• Comfort operating independently in a fast-moving startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Full-cycle recruiting: source to onboarding, partner with managers, build pipelines and be the primary point of contact for candidates.
• Infrastructure & Process: administer TA tools, design interview processes, metrics and workflows.
• Candidate Experience: greet onsite, design a fast, respectful candidate journey.
• Employer Brand & Sourcing: develop sourcing strategies across LinkedIn Recruiter and aerospace networks, universities & industry events.
• Strategic Partnership: advise Head of People and assist in workforce planning and hiring sequencing.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Sourcing

ATS configuration

Stakeholder communication

Startup experience

Tools

ATS setup

LinkedIn Recruiter

Job description

About Poseidon Aerospace

Poseidon Aerospace is reimagining how the world moves goods. We build and operate full-size autonomous cargo aircraft - capable of carrying two tons of payload over a thousand nautical miles. From remote communities to contested logistics operations, our platforms unlock a new cost curve for air freight, making it faster, cheaper, and accessible anywhere it's needed. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with locations in Washington DC, Oregon, and Maine; we're building something consequential.

About the role

This is Poseidon's first dedicated Talent Acquisition hire. You will own all of the full recruiting function end to end; from designing the process and standing up the infrastructure to personally sourcing and closing the engineers, pilots, and operators who will define our fleet. You'll be the first face candidates see and the last voice they hear before signing. You will also sit at the table with the Head of People and Talent to shape headcount strategy as we scale.

This role is for someone who has recruited in aerospace or defense, understands what it means to hire for highly specialized technical roles, and is energized by the challenge of building from scratch. We work onsite and this role is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Responsibilities

• Full-Cycle Recruiting: Own the hiring process from sourcing all the way to the hand-off for onboarding. Partner with hiring managers, build proactive pipelines for hard-to-fill roles, and serve as the primary point of contact for candidates
• Infrastructure & Process: Administer our TA tools, design and document interview processes and evaluation rubrics, build and maintain recruiting metrics, develop workflows and candidate communication standards
• Candidate Experience: Greet and host candidates onsite, create a candidate journey that is fast, respectful, and genuinely differentiating, even for candidates we don't advance
• Employer Brand & Sourcing: develop and execute sourcing strategies across LI Recruiter, aerospace-specific talent networks, universities, military transition pipelines, and industry events. Draft compelling job posts and social content that communicates Poseidon's mission and differentiation, and represent Poseidon at events as needed (may require travel)
• Strategic Partnership: Serve as the primary TA partner to the Head of People and act as a strategic advisor to hiring managers, contribute to workforce planning discussions and help prioritize hiring sequencing as the company grows

Qualifications

• 7+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with a meaningful portion of that in a startup aerospace, defense, aviation, or an adjacent deep-tech environment
• Demonstrated experience taking the TA function from 0->1
• Experience recruiting for highly technical roles: propulsion, avionics, controls, flight test, or related engineering disciplines
• Hands-on experience owning or significantly configuring an ATS, you have set up workflows, not just used them
• Strong sourcing skills across both active and passive candidate channels
• Excellent written and verbal communication; capable of representing the company to senior technical candidates and executives alike
• Comfort operating independently in an ambiguous, fast-moving startup environment

What you get from us

• Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity
• Relocation support if applicable
• Employee Health Benefit Plans
• 6% Retirement matching
• Flexible PTO
• Free lunches, snacks, and a stocked fridge at our offices
• AI tools and subscriptions