EMEA Talent Acquisition Partner (R5549)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit [](https://shield.ai/). Follow Shield AI on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai), [X](https://x.com/shieldaitech), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI). ### Job Description: We’re hiring a Strategic Talent Acquisition Partner to help power our next phase of growth across EMEA. This is a high-impact, business-critical role at the heart of Shield’s AI international expansion—supporting new market entries, building and scaling best-in-class sales and engineering organisations, and partnering with senior leaders to shape our future. This is not a transactional recruiting role. You will operate as a strategic advisor, market expert, and builder—owning how talent enables scale across diverse EMEA markets. ### What you'll do: Strategic Talent Partnership - Partner closely with senior and executive-level stakeholders to understand business objectives, growth plans, and capability gaps. - Translate market entry and growth plan into scalable, data-driven regional talent acquisition strategies. - Act as a thought partner and advisor on talent trends, market intelligence, and competitive hiring strategies. - Advise leaders on market feasibility from a talent perspective (availability, cost, timing, and risk). Execution with Excellence - Own the end-to-end recruitment lifecycle for all roles including senior, critical, and hard-to-hire roles. - Partner to design and execute sourcing strategies that attract high-impact engineering and commercial talent across the EMEA region - Shape local hiring approaches while maintaining a consistent global hiring bar. Employer Branding & Talent Attraction - Act as an EMEA ambassador for our employer brand, ensuring we are positioned as an employer of choice in the region - Partner with Branding, Comms, and Leadership to shape and localise our employer value proposition for different EMEA countries. - Identify and activate employer branding opportunities (events, content, communities, referrals, social presence). - Ensure inclusive, consistent, and authentic candidate experience that reinforces our brand and values at every touchpoint. Driving at Scale - Use data to forecast hiring needs, track progress, and continuously optimise our recruitment performance. - Improve TA processes, tools, and ways of partnering to support speed, quality, and scale. - Be a visible voice for talent across the EMEA leadership community. ### Required qualifications: - Proven experience as a strategic talent acquisition partner driving full cycle hiring for both engineering and go to market talent within the defence space or Public Sector Saas space. - Demonstrated success supporting new market entries and scaling teams at pace. - Strong credibility working with senior leaders and executives as a trusted talent advisor and business partner. - Deep understanding of EMEA talent dynamics, sourcing strategies, and competitive intelligence. - Highly consultative, commercially minded, and comfortable operating with ambiguity. - Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.