Senior Technical Recruiter

Job description

**Who We Are** Salient Motion designs, manufactures, and supports advanced motion control and actuation systems for aerospace, defense, and robotics applications. We're a fast-growing, venture-backed startup building the next generation of intelligent motion systems, partnering directly with leading organizations to bring new technology from concept to deployment. **About the Role** Salient Motion is growing rapidly. We're looking for a Senior Technical Recruiter to be the on-the-ground anchor of our recruiting function as we scale. You'll own full-cycle recruiting for our core engineering requisitions and take on a significant share of our current hiring load. Our Head of People & Talent oversees the function remotely, so this role is the senior recruiting presence in the office: someone who can run day-to-day recruiting operations independently, make sound calls in the moment, and represent the People & Talent function to engineering leadership and candidates on-site. This is a high-ownership, high-visibility individual contributor role. You'll have real influence over how we hire for the next phase of the company. *A couple other things:* - We are open to relocating you - We have great benefits - We are well funded, and generating revenue - We just moved into a new large HQ in Hawthorne, CA, with presence still in Torrance, CA - We need folks onsite, but provide a lot of flexibilty **What you'll do:** - Own full-cycle recruiting for our most critical and complex requisitions, primarily core engineering roles across hardware, embedded/firmware, controls, mechanical design, robotics, and software engineering - Take on a significant share of the team's current recruiting load, adding capacity as we scale rapidly - Serve as the senior, on-site point of contact for recruiting; run day-to-day operations independently - Partner directly with engineering leadership to scope roles, define hiring criteria, and build role-specific sourcing strategies - Proactively source and engage passive candidates in aerospace, defense, robotics, and advanced motion/controls, building talent pipelines in a niche, high-demand field - Manage the candidate experience end-to-end: screening, interview coordination, feedback loops, offer negotiation, and closing - Build and refine hiring processes, interview scorecards, and structured interview loops to support rapid headcount growth - Track and report on pipeline health, time-to-fill, and hiring funnel metrics, flagging risks and bottlenecks proactively - Navigate compliance considerations relevant to defense-adjacent hiring (e.g., US person requirements and export control awareness) in partnership with Legal/People. **What you need:** - U.S. Citizen or PERM required due to ITAR Compliance - 5+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, with a track record of hiring hardware, mechanical, electrical, robotics, or embedded software engineers - Demonstrated success sourcing and closing passive candidates for hard-to-fill, specialized technical roles - Prior experience operating with a high degree of autonomy, ideally supporting a recruiting function while a manager worked remotely or across multiple sites - Strong presence and sound judgment; comfortable being the go-to recruiting voice in the room with engineering leadership - Comfort operating in a startup environment with high ownership, ambiguity, and limited process; you build what doesn't exist yet - Strong ability to partner with technical hiring managers, translate engineering requirements into sourcing strategy, and act as a trusted advisor - Excellent communication and organizational skills; able to manage multiple searches simultaneously and prioritize under a high-growth hiring load - Experience with ATS platforms (e.g., Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby) and modern sourcing tools - Must be willing and able to work on-site consistently; this role is the in-office anchor for the recruiting function **Nice to haves:** - Experience recruiting in aerospace, defense, robotics, automotive, or other hardware-intensive industries strongly preferred **What we have to offer:** We are not just building components. We are reshaping the future of the Aerospace and Defense component industry, which is a $300B+ market! Come join us and help build next generation systems that will make a massive impact at global scale. - Direct impact: your hires will shape the team building the next generation of motion control and robotics technology - Work alongside founders and engineering leadership, not buried in a large TA org - Salary Range: $145,000-$165,000, plus equity and benefits at a well-funded, fast-moving startup - Mission-driven work at the intersection of aerospace, defense, and robotics innovation - Exceptional healthcare benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision) - Medical is 100% covered by the company - Flexible PTO Policy - 401K - More to come!