Senior Recruiter, Manufacturing

Job description

WHO WE ARE Proxima Fusion is Europe's fastest-growing fusion company and the continent's best-funded fusion player, as well as the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). Backed by over €650M and powered by a growing team across Munich, Zurich, and Oxford, we are developing the hardware and infrastructure needed to deliver the world's first commercial stellarator fusion power plant. Our concept advances the most mature fusion technology out there, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, through two next-generation machines: Alpha and Stellaris. Our work combines stellarator optimization, advanced computation, machine learning, and high-temperature superconducting magnets to unlock higher-performance designs that were previously out of reach. Turning these designs into a functioning fusion power plant requires excellence and ownership across every discipline, from physics and engineering to software, manufacturing, law, and business functions. WHY JOIN PROXIMA FUSION - Work on a civilisation-scale problem - Clean, baseload fusion energy is one of the few genuinely world-changing challenges, and every hire in Finance, People, or Legal directly accelerates the path to a working stellarator. - Grow as fast as the company does - With headcount set to roughly 5x in a few years and major technical milestones ahead on the path to our demo machine and first power plant, your role grows under you; today's hire is tomorrow's function lead. - Tackle problems that don't exist elsewhere - Fusion sits at a rare intersection of deep-tech R&D, industrial procurement, government relations, and venture financing, so non-tech functions face challenges no other workplace can offer. YOUR IMPACT As a Senior Recruiter, you'll join Proxima Fusion's Talent Acquisition team, reporting into our Recruiter lead, at a moment when we're scaling on two fronts at once: growing our deep-tech engineering and science teams, and building out the manufacturing workforce behind Alpha and Stellaris. You'll take full ownership of complex, often niche searches, act as a trusted advisor to hiring managers, and help shape how the TA team hires for manufacturing and industrial roles alongside our technical hiring. This is a senior, hands-on role for someone who wants more scope and more say in how we build the function, without stepping away from the recruiting itself. WHAT YOU WILL DO - Own and execute full-cycle recruitment for critical roles, with a focus on manufacturing roles. - Lead recruitment for manufacturing and production roles as we ramp up facilities — technicians, operators, quality and manufacturing engineers — building sourcing channels beyond the usual technical hiring playbook. - Partner closely with hiring managers, including senior technical and manufacturing leaders, to define hiring needs and build tailored sourcing strategies that go well beyond LinkedIn. - Drive top-of-funnel strategy: proactively source and engage exceptional passive talent, in German and English, via recruitment events, conferences, and talent communities across the DACH region and beyond. - Act as a senior voice within the TA team: mentor junior recruiters, share sourcing craft, and help set the bar for what good looks like. - Champion an outstanding candidate experience at every touchpoint, adapting your approach for very different audiences — from a senior scientist to a shop-floor hire. - Contribute to TA projects beyond your own reqs: improving workflows and tooling, building out our German-market employer brand, or delivering interview training. - Help the Head of Talent Acquisition build a high-trust, high-rigor process that supports scaling without compromising on quality. WHO YOU ARE - You are a or professional-fluency German speaker with full professional fluency in English, and you're comfortable recruiting and building relationships in both languages. - You bring several years of hands-on, full-cycle recruitment experience in a startup or scale-up, ideally spanning both technical and manufacturing/industrial hiring. - You have experience recruiting internationally for niche and difficult-to-fill roles, and are used to working with very selective, technically demanding hiring teams. - You have direct exposure to hiring for manufacturing, production, or industrial operations roles, and understand how that differs from hiring engineers or scientists. - You thrive in fast-paced, high-stakes environments and take ownership seriously. - You're deeply motivated by quality — your standards are high and you won't settle for less. - You have exceptional sourcing instincts and know how to identify talent others might overlook. - You think outside the box on sourcing and attraction, using LinkedIn as one tool among many — including events, talent communities, and conferences. - You're organized, autonomous, and eager to improve the systems and processes that let a TA team scale. - You communicate clearly, act decisively, and work well with demanding stakeholders. - You're genuinely excited to help build something audacious from the ground up, and to help shape a growing TA team along the way. INTERVIEW PROCESS - Recruiter Interview (30–45 min) - Panel Interviews (3 rounds, 60 min each) This role sits at L3 of our framework; please inquire during the recruitment process for further information. At Proxima Fusion, our mission is bold: making limitless clean energy a reality. To get there, we need a high-performing, diverse team that brings different perspectives, challenges assumptions, and builds together with purpose. We know that diversity of thought and experience leads to better ideas, stronger execution, and a more resilient team. We don't look at how you identify, what you look like, who you choose to worship, or what ethnicity you are. We care about what you can bring to the table.