Director, Talent Acquisition

Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace Inc•Alexandria, VA

15d•Onsite

About The Position

KDA, Inc, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, has been operating in the United States for more than 20 years. We produce world-leading Remote Weapon Systems (RWS) for the US Army, Marine Corps, and allies at our Johnstown, Pennsylvania factory. We have delivered more than 20,000 PROTECTOR RWS to 28 countries. The National Advanced Surface-to-Air System (NASAMS) is a highly mobile and tailorable capability that protects the airspace of 13 countries and Washington, DC. In 2027, we will do final assembly, test, and sustainment of the Naval Strike Missile and Joint Strike Missile systems at a new factory in southern Virginia. Join us, and you’ll be part of a high performing team that develops advanced technology solutions to protect people and critical infrastructure in countries around the world. Explore your potential and discover what your future could be with Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace, Inc. We are seeking a Director, Talent Acquisition with deep experience supporting U.S. defense, national security, and government-contracting programs to lead full lifecycle recruiting efforts across cleared and uncleared roles. This position will personally execute complex searches while also managing and developing a Recruiter, ensuring disciplined sourcing, compliance, and hiring excellence. In addition to hands-on recruiting, this role serves as the central owner of the organization’s staffing plan. The Director, Talent Acquisition is accountable for maintaining a clear, current view of all approved and forecasted openings across the year, driving execution against that plan, and ensuring hiring activity stays aligned with business priorities, program timelines, and capacity needs. The ideal candidate brings a strong understanding of the defense labor market, clearance requirements, and the realities of recruiting in regulated, competitive environments, and thrives in a hands-on, high-accountability, execution-driven role. This role requires a bias for action — someone who moves quickly, creates momentum, actively sells opportunities to candidates, and owns the close in a competitive defense and manufacturing labor market.

Requirements

7+ years of recruiting experience, with significant time spent supporting U.S. defense, aerospace, intelligence, or government-contracting organizations.
Bachelor’s degree required; fields such as Human Resources, Business, Psychology, Communications, or related disciplines preferred.
Experience owning or managing an enterprise staffing plan, requisition portfolio, or workforce hiring roadmap across multiple functions or programs.
Demonstrated ability to close candidates in competitive markets, including navigating counteroffers, compensation constraints, clearance timelines, and relocation concerns.
Demonstrated success recruiting for cleared and clearance-eligible positions.
Deep, hands-on sourcing expertise — this role requires active sourcing.
Experience managing or mentoring other recruiters.
Strong working knowledge of defense hiring constraints, compliance, and labor market dynamics.
Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to push back thoughtfully and advise leaders using data and market insight.
High attention to detail, follow-through, and execution discipline.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in a FOCI-mitigated environment.
Experience supporting manufacturing, engineering, or classified programs.
Familiarity with ATS and CRM tools commonly used in defense environments.
Experience supporting rapid growth, program ramp-ups, or contract awards.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end recruiting for high-priority, hard-to-fill defense roles, including Business Development, Manufacturing, Program/Project Management, Supply Chain, Corporate, and cleared positions in a variety of locations across the US.
Partner closely with hiring managers and HR leadership to translate program, contract, and mission needs into effective hiring strategies.
Operate with a sense of urgency and ownership — driving requisitions forward, removing roadblocks, and refusing to let critical roles stall.
Conduct in-depth intake meetings that align talent needs with clearance requirements, export control constraints, labor market realities, and time-to-hire expectations.
Lead candidate screening, interview coordination, offer development, and candidate closing — proactively addressing objections, competing offers, and hesitation to secure acceptance in tight defense and manufacturing labor markets.
In conjunction with HR leadership, establish Recruiting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) with appropriate metrics and measurement.
Own the organization’s consolidated staffing plan, maintaining a single, authoritative view of all open, approved, and forecasted requisitions across the year.
Partner with HR leadership, Finance, and functional leaders to align hiring plans with budgets, program milestones, production schedules, and contract awards.
Actively manage requisition prioritization, sequencing, and tradeoffs — ensuring focus remains on the most critical business needs.
Monitor progress against staffing targets and hiring plans, proactively flagging risks, delays, or capacity gaps.
Drive accountability with hiring managers by setting clear expectations for readiness, decision-making, and timelines.
Continuously adjust hiring plans in response to business changes, program shifts, or labor market realities.
Actively market and sell roles to passive candidates by clearly articulating mission impact, program stability, manufacturing scale, and long-term growth opportunities.
Design and execute multi-channel sourcing strategies for cleared and uncleared talent, including:
Boolean and advanced LinkedIn Recruiter searches
Clearance-specific sourcing techniques
Targeted competitor mapping
Referral campaigns and passive-candidate engagement
Maintain deep familiarity with defense-industry talent pools, clearance pipelines, and regional labor dynamics.
Proactively build and maintain pipelines for recurring and forecasted roles.
Apply strong working knowledge of:
Security clearance levels and processes (e.g., Secret, Top Secret)
ITAR, export control, and citizenship requirements
Hiring considerations in FOCI-mitigated environments
Ensure recruiting practices align with all applicable labor laws, government-contracting requirements, and internal policies.
Directly manage and mentor a Recruiter, providing:
Clear expectations and recruiting standards
Coaching on sourcing strategy, candidate engagement, and execution discipline
Ongoing feedback and development support
Review requisition strategy, sourcing plans, and pipeline health to ensure quality, efficiency, and consistency.
Act as a working lead — modeling best-in-class recruiting behaviors through personal execution.
Track and report on key recruiting metrics (time-to-fill, quality of hire indicators, pipeline health, etc.).
Track and report progress against annual and quarterly staffing plans, including hiring velocity, plan attainment, and risk areas.
Identify opportunities to improve recruiting processes, tools, templates, and candidate experience.
Contribute to workforce planning discussions by providing insight into talent availability, risks, and market trends.