About This Role
Varda is building the world's first space-based manufacturing platform, and we need an exceptional Senior Technical Recruiter to scale our engineering teams. Reporting to a Recruiting Manager, you will own end-to-end recruiting across key hardware and engineering disciplines: autonomous systems, propulsion, thermal, mechanical engineering, and structures. This is a strategic operator role - you'll build hiring strategies, execute full-cycle search processes, close senior-level talent, and serve as a trusted advisor to engineering leadership as we scale from startup to production.
What You'll Own
Strategic Leadership
- Design and execute recruiting strategies for engineering hiring across autonomous systems, propulsion, thermal, mechanical engineering, and structures
- Partner with engineering leadership to forecast hiring needs, set technical bars, and build world-class teams
- Build and optimize end-to-end hiring processes that balance speed, quality, and candidate experience
- Serve as the internal expert on engineering talent markets, compensation trends, and competitive intelligence
Full-Cycle Execution
- Source, screen, and close engineering talent through multiple channels: active search, referrals, passive outreach, and technical communities
- Manage 4-8 active searches simultaneously while maintaining exceptional candidate and hiring manager experience
- Conduct technical recruiter screens to assess engineering fundamentals, systems thinking, and hardware integration experience
- Lead offer strategy and close negotiations
- Own candidate experience from first touch through onboarding
Process & Systems
- Maintain recruiting infrastructure in Greenhouse (ATS)
- Partner with the Recruiting Operations Partner to continuously improve hiring processes and candidate assessment frameworks
What Success Looks Like
- Consistently deliver high-quality engineering hires on aggressive timelines
- Build strong partnerships with engineering hiring managers who trust your judgment and rely on your strategic counsel
- Create repeatable processes that scale as the team grows
- Maintain a strong technical bar while moving quickly in a competitive talent market
Requirements
Must-Haves
- 5+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, with significant focus on hardware or engineering roles
- Proven experience recruiting engineers for hardware-centric companies (aerospace, robotics, automotive, medical devices, or similar deep tech)
- Track record sourcing and closing senior and staff-level engineering talent in competitive markets
- Demonstrated ability to operate both strategically (building hiring plans, advising leadership) and tactically (sourcing, screening, closing)
- Strong technical fluency - you can speak credibly with engineers about their work
- Startup equity fluency - comfortable explaining equity structures, vesting schedules, and how to think about total compensation
- Experience managing full recruiting cycles in fast-paced, high-growth startup environments
Strongly Preferred
- In-house recruiting experience at a hardware or deep tech startup (Series A through growth stage)
- Experience hiring across multiple engineering disciplines including autonomous systems, propulsion, thermal, mechanical, or structures
- Familiarity with aerospace, defense, or other regulated industries with ITAR/security requirements
- Background building talent pipelines and long-term sourcing strategies for hard-to-fill technical roles
- Experience developing recruiting metrics, dashboards, and data-driven hiring insights
Compensation & Location
- Base Salary: $120,000 - $160,000 - This range reflects the potential levels at which we may hire for this role. Final compensation will depend on experience, skills, location, scope of responsibility, as well as internal equity.
- Equity Included
- Location: El Segundo, CA (onsite)