Shield AI

Staff Technical Sourcer

Shield AI$110K — $130K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of technical sourcing experience, preferably in aerospace, defense, or aviation sectors.
  • Expert in market mapping and competitive intelligence for specialized aircraft roles.
  • Proficient in advanced Boolean search and tools like LinkedIn Recruiter, HireEZ, and GitHub.
  • Skilled in collaborative consultative partnerships with hiring managers and senior leaders.
  • Hands-on experience with AI-powered sourcing workflows and automation tools.
  • Ability to build long-term relationships with passive and specialized engineering talent.
  • Strong communication skills to engage and influence technical candidates.

Responsibilities

  • Own the top of the sourcing funnel in collaboration with recruiters and hiring leaders.
  • Develop comprehensive talent landscapes to inform recruiting strategies.
  • Utilize advanced sourcing techniques across various platforms to attract talent.
  • Cultivate relationships with passive candidates for strategic hiring needs.
  • Leverage AI for improved sourcing workflows and candidate discovery.
  • Create structured talent intelligence reports and scalable recruiting processes.
  • Act as the subject matter expert in aircraft technical sourcing, mentoring others.
  • Collaborate with departments to enhance recruiting strategies and candidate experiences.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work in a dynamic aerospace engineering environment.
  • Access to cutting-edge AI and sourcing technology tools.
  • Be part of a team that drives innovation in talent acquisition practices.
  • Collaborative atmosphere with cross-functional teams and leaders.
  • Focus on continuous improvement and professional growth.
Full Job Description
We're looking for a Staff Technical Sourcer who lives and breathes talent discovery - someone who can take a complex, highly specialized aircraft engineering need and translate it into a precision sourcing strategy. You'll be the go-to expert for talent intelligence, market mapping, proactive candidate generation, and pipeline cultivation across our aircraft and advanced aerospace engineering organizations. This isn't just a "find resumes" role - it's about building intelligence, relationships, and repeatable systems that fuel our aircraft engineering hiring engine. As a Staff Talent Sourcer, you'll serve as a strategic partner to recruiters and hiring leaders while leveraging modern AI tools, market intelligence, and scalable sourcing practices to help us identify and hire world-class aircraft engineering talent. WHAT YOU'LL DO: • Own the top of funnel: Partner closely with recruiters and hiring leaders to define target profiles and build deep, data-informed sourcing strategies across Aerodynamics, Aerostructures, Propulsion, Flight Sciences, Avionics, Electrical, Mechanical, Systems, Manufacturing, Test, and other aircraft engineering disciplines. • Map the market: Develop comprehensive talent landscapes by company, skillset, geography, and organizational structure; identify hidden talent pools, competitor insights, and emerging talent trends to inform recruiting strategy and workforce planning. • Generate and engage: Use advanced Boolean search techniques, sourcing platforms, and creative sourcing channels (LinkedIn Recruiter, SeekOut, HireEZ, ClearanceJobs, GitHub, engineering communities, niche aerospace and aviation networks, conferences, referrals, and more) to identify, engage, and attract exceptional aircraft engineering talent. • Build pipelines proactively: Cultivate long-term relationships with passive, cleared, and highly specialized aircraft engineering talent to enable just-in-time hiring across strategic programs. • Leverage AI to scale sourcing: Design, build, and continuously improve AI-powered sourcing workflows, research agents, and practical automations that increase recruiter productivity, accelerate candidate discovery, enhance market intelligence, and improve operational efficiency. • Build repeatable sourcing systems: Use AI tools and workflow automation to create structured market maps, talent intelligence reports, outreach content, sourcing documentation, and scalable recruiting processes that can be leveraged across the Talent Acquisition organization. • Be the sourcing SME: Serve as the subject matter expert on aircraft technical sourcing by coaching recruiters and hiring managers on market insights, sourcing strategy, talent availability, competitive intelligence, candidate engagement best practices, and emerging recruiting technologies. • Partner for impact: Collaborate cross-functionally with Talent Acquisition Operations, Employer Brand, University Recruiting, and Aircraft Engineering leaders to optimize recruiting strategies, outbound messaging, candidate experience, and operational excellence. • Track and iterate: Use recruiting analytics, experimentation, and storytelling to measure sourcing effectiveness, optimize outreach strategies, improve conversion rates, and continuously evolve sourcing practices. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: • 8+ years of technical sourcing experience, ideally in aerospace, defense, aviation, advanced aircraft, or other complex hardware/software industries. • Proven track record in market mapping, competitive intelligence, and candidate generation for highly specialized aircraft or aerospace technical roles. • Deep expertise in advanced Boolean search, LinkedIn Recruiter, HireEZ, SeekOut, ClearanceJobs, GitHub, and other modern sourcing platforms. • Demonstrated ability to operate as a consultative partner to recruiters, hiring managers, and senior aircraft engineering leaders, influencing hiring strategy through market insights and talent intelligence. • Hands-on experience building or leveraging AI-powered sourcing workflows, agentic AI tools, workflow automations, or practical AI solutions that improve recruiting or business processes. • Direct experience using AI development environments or coding assistants (such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar tools) to create repeatable sourcing workflows, structured research outputs, market intelligence, process automation, or operational documentation. • Experience building and maintaining long-term relationships with passive, cleared, or niche aircraft engineering talent. • Excellent communication and storytelling skills with the ability to engage highly technical candidates and influence stakeholders. • Strong judgment, curiosity, and a continuous improvement mindset with the ability to evaluate and adopt emerging AI technologies to improve recruiting outcomes. • Highly organized, data-driven, and able to operate autonomously in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: • Prior experience supporting aircraft, aerospace, aviation, advanced vehicle, or defense engineering organizations. • Experience navigating export control, ITAR, EAR, or security-cleared recruiting environments. • Familiarity with Ashby and recruiting analytics, CRM, or talent intelligence platforms. • Experience supporting high-growth, venture-backed technology organizations. • Demonstrated passion for staying ahead of emerging recruiting technologies, sourcing methodologies, and AI advancements.

About Shield AI

Shield AI is a defense technology company that develops artificially intelligent systems for military applications. The company was founded in 2015 by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter, and is headquartered in San Diego, California. Shield AI's products include autonomous drones and software that can be used for reconnaissance, surveillance, and other military operations. The company's mission is to reduce the number of military casualties by providing soldiers with better intelligence and situational awareness. Shield AI has received funding from a number of investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund.
Learn more about Shield AI
Size
200 employees
Industry
Founded
2015

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