Firestorm is seeking a highly experienced Staff Recruiter, Engineering to serve as a technical recruiting expert and lead some of the company's most complex, specialized, and business-critical engineering searches.

You are a technical recruiter with deep expertise identifying, engaging, and attracting highly specialized engineering talent, particularly across electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, avionics, hardware, and related technical engineering disciplines, including searches at the Senior, Staff, and other highly specialized levels.

You will operate as a trusted talent advisor to engineering leadership, bringing both recruiting expertise and a strong understanding of highly technical talent markets. You will partner directly with engineering executives, technical leaders, and hiring managers to understand complex technical requirements, translate those requirements into targeted talent strategies, and identify exceptional engineers within highly competitive and often narrow talent pools.

At the Staff level, you will operate with significant autonomy and influence. You will help define talent markets, refine hiring profiles, map competitors and adjacent industries, build long-term technical talent pipelines, and advise leadership on where and how Firestorm can find the engineering capabilities required to scale.

What You'll Do

• Own Firestorm's most complex, niche, and high-priority engineering searches, with particular emphasis on electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, avionics, hardware, and related technical disciplines.
• Recruit highly specialized engineering talent at the Senior, Staff, and other critical levels across multiple engineering functions.
• Develop a deep understanding of Firestorm's technology, products, engineering organization, and technical roadmap to effectively identify and engage specialized talent.
• Partner directly with engineering executives and technical leaders to translate complex technical requirements into targeted recruiting and sourcing strategies.
• Serve as a technical recruiting subject-matter expert, helping hiring leaders distinguish between required capabilities, transferable expertise, and skills that can be developed after hire.
• Conduct sophisticated talent mapping and market intelligence across aerospace, defense, autonomous systems, robotics, advanced manufacturing, electronics, and adjacent technology industries.
• Build targeted talent maps around competitors, research organizations, technical communities, universities, programs, products, and specialized engineering domains.
• Identify and engage highly qualified passive candidates who may not be accessible through traditional recruiting channels.
• Develop creative sourcing strategies using advanced Boolean search, technical communities, professional networks, research publications, patents, conferences, referrals, competitive intelligence, and direct outreach.
• Build and maintain strategic pipelines of engineering talent for current and anticipated workforce needs rather than recruiting exclusively against open requisitions.
• Develop credibility with technical candidates by understanding engineering terminology, technologies, career paths, and distinctions between specialized engineering disciplines.
• Advise leadership on talent availability, competitive landscapes, compensation considerations, geographic constraints, and other factors affecting specialized engineering hiring.
• Use recruiting data and market intelligence to identify pipeline risks, sourcing challenges, and opportunities and recommend adjustments to hiring strategy.
• Deliver a highly personalized and compelling candidate experience capable of attracting sought-after engineers with multiple competitive opportunities.
• Partner with People, Compensation, and leadership teams on leveling, compensation strategy, offer development, and closing strategies for critical hires.
• Help establish scalable technical recruiting practices, sourcing methodologies, interview frameworks, and talent intelligence capabilities as Firestorm continues to grow.
• Serve as a resource and mentor to other recruiters, sharing technical recruiting expertise, sourcing strategies, market knowledge, and best practices.
• Represent Firestorm within relevant engineering communities, industry events, conferences, universities, and professional networks.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology or equivalent. If lieu of degree 10 years of progressive recruitment experience.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to ITAR regulations, with the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance
• 7+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with substantial experience recruiting highly technical engineering talent.
• Experience recruiting electrical engineers and other specialized engineering disciplines in competitive talent markets.
• Deep experience sourcing and recruiting talent across electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, avionics, hardware, and closely related technical disciplines.
• Experience independently leading difficult, highly specialized searches where qualified talent pools are limited.
• Advanced expertise in technical sourcing, talent mapping, passive candidate identification, competitive intelligence, and market research.
• Ability to understand complex technical job requirements and translate conversations with engineers into effective sourcing and assessment strategies.
• Experience building talent pipelines beyond traditional job boards and inbound applicants.
• Understanding of engineering organizations, technical career paths, and distinctions between specialized engineering disciplines.
• Exceptional ability to engage and build credibility with highly sought-after technical candidates.
• Experience advising and influencing senior engineering leaders using talent-market data, recruiting expertise, and sound judgment.
• Negotiation and candidate-closing capabilities, particularly for highly competitive or difficult-to-hire talent.
• Experience using applicant tracking systems, sourcing platforms, talent intelligence tools, CRM technology, and recruiting analytics.
• Operate independently, prioritize competing critical searches, and deliver results in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Recruiting experience within aerospace, defense, autonomous systems, robotics, unmanned systems, advanced manufacturing, or another highly technical hardware environment.
• Significant experience recruiting electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, avionics, electronics, hardware, or related engineers.
• Experience recruiting engineering talent working on unmanned aircraft systems, aerospace platforms, communications systems, sensors, electronics, manufacturing systems, or related technologies.
• Experience recruiting within environments subject to ITAR, EAR, security-clearance, or other government contracting requirements.
• Established networks within engineering, aerospace, defense, or advanced-technology talent markets.
• Experience building technical talent pipelines and market maps ahead of anticipated organizational growth.
• Experience mentoring or elevating the technical recruiting capabilities of other recruiters.

Work Environment

This position may be hybrid and based out of Firestorm's San Diego headquarters. For the right candidate with demonstrated expertise recruiting highly specialized engineering talent, remote work may also be considered.

Regardless of location, this role requires close partnership with Firestorm's engineering and leadership teams and the ability to operate effectively in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment.

Compensation

• Base salary: $145,000 - $175,000 base, commensurate with experience
• Equity: Meaningful equity grant in a growth-stage defense technology company

The posted salary range reflects an estimate based on a variety of compensation factors, including but not limited to relevant experience, education, certifications, specialized skills, geographic location, and business needs. Actual compensation may vary, and this range is subject to change as our compensation structure or market conditions evolve.

Benefits & Perks

Our culture fosters collaboration, respect, and trust, empowering passionate people to do their best work. We offer a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth. In addition to an opportunity to take part in an innovative, collaborative and fast-growing business with a highly motivated and skilled team, we also take pride in taking care of our employees. Here are just a few ways that we show our appreciation:

• We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and visions plans
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan to invest in your long-term retirement goals
• Equity grants for new hires
• Unlimited PTO
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in July, & December.
• Generous Parental Leave
• Lifestyle Spending Account
• FSA
• DCFSA
• HSA
• Hospital Indemnity insurance
• Critical Illness insurance
• Accident insurance
• Basic Life/AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance, 100% covered by Firestorm. Plus, the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your family.
• Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available to you as well.