Strategic Staff Hardware Recruiter for Aerospace & Defense Tech

Shield; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a highly strategic and execution-focused Staff Hardware Recruiter to help scale critical engineering organizations. This role owns full-cycle recruiting for specialized hardware roles in Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics, Embedded Systems, and Avionics, supporting next-generation aerospace and autonomous systems development.

The ideal candidate thrives in high-growth environments and partners closely with engineering leadership to shape hiring strategy, workforce

Qualifications

• 7+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, including ownership of hardware engineering searches.
• Proven success recruiting Electrical Engineers, Power Electronics Engineers, Embedded Hardware Engineers, Avionics Engineers, or similar talent.
• Strong sourcing and market-mapping capabilities in competitive technical domains.
• Experience partnering with senior engineering leadership in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

• Own full-cycle recruiting for hardware engineering roles across Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics, Embedded Systems, Avionics, PCB Design, Power Distribution, RF, Systems Integration, and related domains.
• Partner with engineering leadership to define hiring strategy, interview processes, and prioritization plans.
• Build proactive sourcing strategies for difficult-to-find technical talent across aerospace, defense, automotive, robotics, energy, and adjacent industries.
• Advise leadership on market trends, compensation competitiveness, and hiring risks.
• Drive pipeline management, funnel health, data accuracy, and stakeholder communication.
• Influence workforce planning and align hiring with business priorities.
• Improve recruiting scalability through process improvements and tooling.
• Deliver exceptional candidate experience while maintaining urgency and high quality.
• Mentor junior recruiters and sourcers to elevate recruiting practices.

Skills

Full-cycle recruiting

Hardware recruiting

ATS systems

Stakeholder management

Tools

Sourcing platforms

Job description

Shield AI is seeking a highly strategic and execution-focused Staff Hardware Recruiter to help scale critical engineering organizations. This role owns full-cycle recruiting for specialized hardware roles in Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics, Embedded Systems, and Avionics, supporting next-generation aerospace and autonomous systems development.

The ideal candidate thrives in high-growth environments and partners closely with engineering leadership to shape hiring strategy, workforce