Senior Technical Recruiter

Salient Motion

$145K — $165K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • U.S. Citizen or PERM required for ITAR Compliance
  • 5+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience in hardware and related fields
  • Proven track record of sourcing and closing passive candidates for specialized roles
  • Experience supporting remote management within a multi-site recruiting function
  • Strong presence and judgment for engaging with engineering leadership
  • Ability to thrive in a startup environment with a focus on autonomy
  • Excellent communication skills for managing multiple searches under pressure
  • Familiarity with ATS platforms and modern sourcing tools

Responsibilities

  • Own full-cycle recruiting for critical engineering requisitions across various specializations
  • Take on a substantial share of the team's recruiting load to support rapid scaling
  • Serve as the primary on-site recruiter, managing daily operations independently
  • Collaborate with engineering leaders to define roles and develop sourcing strategies
  • Proactively source passive candidates in niche technical fields
  • Oversee candidate experience from screening to offer negotiation and closing
  • Improve hiring processes and metrics tracking to support rapid headcount growth

Benefits

  • Direct impact on shaping future technology in aerospace and defense
  • Work closely with founders and senior engineering leadership
  • Comprehensive healthcare benefits with 100% medical coverage
  • Flexible PTO policy to promote work-life balance
  • 401K contribution options
  • Potential for equity offerings in a well-funded startup environment
Full Job Description
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!

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Salient Motion

  • Senior Technical Recruiter
    $145K — $165K *
    Torrance, CA 90503 (Los Angeles County)
    Aerospace & Defense
    In-Person
  • Mechanical Engineer
    $130K — $150K *
    Torrance, CA 90503 (Los Angeles County)
    Manufacturing & Automotive
    In-Person
  • Firmware Engineer
    $120K — $140K *
    Torrance, CA 90503 (Los Angeles County)
    Aerospace & Defense
    In-Person
  • Electrical Engineer
    $120K — $140K *
    Torrance, CA 90503 (Los Angeles County)
    Aerospace & Defense
    In-Person
  • Electrical Test Engineer
    $110K — $130K *
    Torrance, CA 90503 (Los Angeles County)
    Aerospace & Defense
    In-Person

More Aerospace & Defense Jobs

Find similar Senior Technical Recruiter jobs: