Senior Technical RecruiterAs a Senior Technical Recruiter at Castelion, you will play a critical role in building an elite engineering and technical organization responsible for developing and manufacturing next-generation hypersonic defense systems. You will own full-cycle recruiting across some of our most complex and competitive technical disciplines, partnering directly with engineering leaders to identify, engage, and close exceptional talent.
This is a highly hands-on role for a recruiter who knows how to build pipelines from scratch, navigate competitive talent markets, and consistently deliver results. We are looking for someone who takes extreme ownership, operates with urgency, and understands that great recruiting requires much more than managing applicants and coordinating interviews. You create activity, build relationships, challenge conventional approaches, and find exceptional people who may not be actively looking.
Responsibilities- Own full-cycle recruiting for highly technical and specialized engineering positions across multiple disciplines, from initial sourcing through offer acceptance.
- Partner closely with engineering leadership and hiring managers to understand technical requirements, establish hiring priorities, and develop targeted recruiting strategies.
- Proactively identify, engage, and attract exceptional passive candidates through creative sourcing strategies, market mapping, referrals, and direct outreach.
- Build and maintain robust talent pipelines across disciplines such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software, firmware, RF, radar, GNC, propulsion, systems engineering, and other specialized technical functions.
- Develop a deep understanding of competitive talent markets, including defense primes, high-growth startups, aerospace companies, and adjacent technology industries.
- Lead candidate calibration and evaluation discussions, ensuring alignment between technical qualifications, demonstrated execution, and organizational values.
- Drive recruiting processes with urgency, maintaining strong candidate engagement and minimizing unnecessary delays between interview stages and hiring decisions.
- Deliver an exceptional candidate experience through thoughtful communication, preparation, transparency, and consistent follow-through.
- Leverage recruiting data and market intelligence to identify pipeline gaps, evaluate sourcing effectiveness, and continuously improve hiring strategies.
- Hold hiring teams accountable to recruiting timelines, feedback, and interview commitments.
- Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of Castelion's recruiting processes, tools, and operating standards.
Basic Qualifications- 5+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, preferably within aerospace, defense, hardware, advanced manufacturing, robotics, or high-growth technology environments.
- Demonstrated success recruiting highly specialized engineering and technical talent in competitive markets.
- Proven ability to independently manage multiple complex requisitions while maintaining strong candidate pipelines and consistent hiring outcomes.
- Strong sourcing capabilities with experience identifying and engaging passive candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter and other research tools.
- Experience partnering directly with senior engineering leaders and technical hiring managers.
- Excellent communication, relationship-building, negotiation, and closing skills.
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment.
- Demonstrated ownership, urgency, resourcefulness, and a bias toward action.
Preferred Skills and Experience- Experience recruiting within the defense, aerospace, hypersonics, space, missile systems, or advanced hardware industries.
- Experience hiring across multiple engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, RF, radar, software, firmware, GNC, propulsion, and systems engineering.
- Prior experience scaling a technical organization within a venture-backed startup or rapidly growing company.
- Familiarity with engineering talent markets across Southern California, Texas, and other major aerospace and defense hubs.
- Experience developing talent maps, competitive intelligence, and proactive sourcing strategies for difficult-to-fill positions.
- Experience working in Greenhouse or another modern applicant tracking system.
Castelion offers a generous benefits package. Please refer to the bottom of our Careers page for more details.
Other Duties Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
Additional Eligibility Requirements This position may require access to classified information or restricted U.S. Government sites, systems, or information, as determined by the Company and/or applicable U.S. Government requirements. If the position is so designated, your employment in the role may be contingent upon your ability to obtain and maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance or other government authorization, and to satisfy any citizenship or other eligibility requirements imposed by applicable law, regulation, executive order, or government contract requirements. You will be notified if and when such requirements apply.
