Senior Technical Recruiter & Portfolio Owner

Agile Defense

$100K — $120K *
US-AnywhereRemote in Mclean, VA
Staffing
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Proven ability to manage full-cycle recruiting for technical cleared roles up to TS/SCI with polygraph.
  • Experience in coaching and developing junior recruiting staff.
  • Strong capability to interact with multiple senior stakeholders and influence hiring outcomes.
  • Demonstrated success in process improvement for recruiting workflows.
  • Confidence in leveraging AI in recruiting while understanding its proper use.
  • Commitment to diversity in hiring practices with proven results.

Responsibilities

  • Own a portfolio of technical, cleared requisitions and manage stakeholder relationships.
  • Mentor Recruiter I and II team members to enhance their skills and independence.
  • Identify and recommend at least one process improvement annually.
  • Deliver results on complex and sensitive requisitions with minimal oversight.
  • Maintain AI-augmented recruiting methods and share insights with junior recruiters.
  • Collaborate with hiring teams to develop diverse finalist slates while maintaining technical qualifications.

Benefits

  • 100% remote work opportunity within the U.S.
  • Minimal travel requirements to client sites or regional offices.
  • Access to coaching and mentorship opportunities within the team.
  • Influence over recruitment strategies and processes in a key operational role.
Full Job Description
Why This Role Exists

Senior Technical Recruiter is where portfolio ownership becomes the job. Agile Defense needs experienced recruiters who can own a full portfolio of technical, cleared requisitions and the senior stakeholders behind them - Program Managers, Directors, Capture leads - end-to-end, while coaching and raising the floor for the Recruiter I's and II's around them.

This is the senior individual-contributor delivery seat on the team: the recruiter other people's hardest searches get routed to, and the proving ground for anyone interested in the operational or people-leadership track that follows - Recruiting Lead or Recruiting Manager.
Performance Objectives - What Success Requires

These are the outcomes that define success in this seat over your first year. They are not a list of duties - they are the results you'll be measured against.
  • Own a full portfolio of senior stakeholders. Within 90 days, take full ownership of a portfolio of technical, cleared requisitions spanning multiple senior stakeholders (Program Managers, Directors, Capture leads), and become a trusted authority on hiring cleared technical talent up through TS/SCI with polygraph.
  • Mentor and coach junior recruiters. On an ongoing basis, mentor Recruiter I and II team members, with at least one showing a measurable improvement in independent req ownership, compliance accuracy, or candidate-experience feedback within two quarters of your coaching.
  • Recommend and contribute to process improvement. Identify at least one process or workflow gap per year and bring a concrete, well-reasoned recommendation to your Recruiting Lead or Manager - with the credibility and data to make the case.
  • Deliver consistently on the hardest searches. Be a recruiter your Recruiting Lead routes complex or sensitive requisitions to, and deliver strong outcomes on them without needing close oversight.
  • Model AI-enabled, human-led recruiting. Maintain and refine your own AI-assisted practices, and actively share them with Recruiter I and II teammates - always in service of a better human experience, not a replacement for it.
  • Champion diverse, qualified slates. Each quarter, partner with at least one senior hiring team to build and present a deliberate strategy for a more diverse, representative finalist slate - without lowering the bar for cleared, technical qualification.
What Success Looks Like

First 90 Days
  • You've absorbed your portfolio, built credibility with senior stakeholders, and are operating independently across the full complexity range, including TS/SCI and polygraph searches.

First 6 Months
  • At least one recruiter you're coaching is noticeably more capable than when you started, and you've brought at least one credible process recommendation forward.

First 12 Months
  • You're a recruiter your Recruiting Lead or Manager routes the hardest, most senior, or most sensitive reqs to - and you're ready to consider whether your next step is deeper portfolio ownership, a Recruiting Lead track leading a program or workstream beyond delivery, or people management.
Your Scope & Environment

You'll report to the VP of Talent Acquisition and own a full portfolio - typically 15-20+ concurrent requisitions - for mid-to-senior technical and programmatic roles, working alongside the Recruiter I/II teammates you help develop and partnering closely with HR, Security/Facility Security Officers (FSO), compensation, and contracts staff.

Expect real ownership of the relationships that matter most to a program's success, and real influence over how the team works - without yet carrying the org-wide program-building, prioritization, or escalation responsibilities that define a Recruiting Lead.
What You Bring

We're not screening for years of experience or a specific past title. We're looking for evidence that you can deliver the objectives above. That typically looks like:
  • A demonstrated track record independently owning full-cycle recruiting for technical, cleared positions up through TS/SCI with polygraph.
  • A track record of informally or formally coaching other recruiters and genuinely wanting to see them grow.
  • Confidence managing multiple senior stakeholders at once, including the ability to push back, advise, and influence a hiring decision when the data says you should.
  • Experience building or meaningfully improving a process, tool, or workflow, and partnering with hiring managers to make it stick.
  • A genuine, demonstrable personal interest in applying AI to recruiting work, paired with a firm point of view on where automation belongs and where it doesn't.
  • A real, lived belief that diverse slates and diverse interview panels produce better hiring outcomes, evidenced by specific outcomes you've driven.
  • Working knowledge of how federal contract cycles - recompetes, awards, labor categories, staffing plans - shape hiring urgency and timing.
Clearance, Location & Travel
  • Location: 100% Remote (U.S.) | Travel: Minimal / occasional (client sites in the US or Reston, VA / McLean, VA & the DMV region)
  • Other ideal locations would include Greater Tampa, FL region or Ft. Huachuca, AZ
  • Clearance: Must be clearable for a U.S. Secret security clearance (minimum)

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Agile Defense

More Staffing Jobs

Find similar Senior Technical Recruiter & Portfolio Owner jobs: