Principal Technical Recruiter

Varda Space Industries • El Segundo, CA

5h • $150,000 - $190,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Varda is building the world's first space-based manufacturing platform, and we need an exceptional technical recruiter to scale our software engineering teams. Reporting to the Director of People, you will own end-to-end recruiting for all software disciplines: embedded systems, flight software, simulation, and mission software. This is a strategic operator role - you'll build hiring strategies, execute full-cycle search processes, and serve as a trusted advisor to engineering leadership as we scale from startup to production.

Requirements

• 5-7+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, with significant focus on software engineering roles
• Proven experience recruiting software engineers for hardware-centric companies (aerospace, robotics, automotive, medical devices, or similar deep tech)
• Track record sourcing and closing senior and staff-level software engineering talent in competitive markets
• Experience with embedded systems, real-time software, or safety-critical software recruiting
• Demonstrated ability to operate both strategically (building hiring plans, advising leadership) and tactically (sourcing, screening, closing)
• Strong technical fluency - you can speak credibly with software engineers about their work
• Experience managing full recruiting cycles in fast-paced, high-growth startup environments

Nice To Haves

• In-house recruiting experience at a hardware or deep tech startup (Series A through growth stage)
• Experience hiring across multiple software disciplines: embedded, flight software, firmware, controls, simulation
• Familiarity with aerospace, defense, or other regulated industries with ITAR/security requirements
• Background building talent pipelines and long-term sourcing strategies for hard-to-fill technical roles
• Experience developing recruiting metrics, dashboards, and data-driven hiring insights

Responsibilities

• Design and execute recruiting strategies for software engineering hiring across embedded, flight, simulation, and mission software teams
• Partner with VP of Autonomous Systems and the Head of Software to forecast hiring needs, set technical bars, and build world-class teams
• Build and optimize end-to-end hiring processes that balance speed, quality, and candidate experience
• Serve as the internal expert on software engineering talent markets, compensation trends, and competitive intelligence
• Source, screen, and close senior software engineering talent through multiple channels: active search, referrals, passive outreach, and technical communities
• Manage 10+ active searches simultaneously while maintaining exceptional candidate and hiring manager experience
• Conduct technical screens to assess software engineering fundamentals, systems thinking, and hardware/software integration experience
• Lead offer strategy and close negotiations for senior and leadership-level software hires
• Own candidate experience from first touch through onboarding
• Maintain recruiting infrastructure in Greenhouse (ATS)
• Partner with the Director of People to continuously improve hiring processes and candidate assessment frameworks

Benefits

• Exciting team of professionals at the top of their field working by your side
• Equity in a fully funded space startup with potential for significant growth (interns excluded)
• 401(k) matching (interns excluded)
• Unlimited PTO (interns excluded)
• Health insurance, including Vision and Dental
• Lunch and snacks provided on site every day. Dinners provided twice a week.
• Maternity / Paternity leave (interns excluded)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed