Senior Technical Recruiter

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

Varda is building the world's first space-based manufacturing platform, and we need an exceptional Senior Technical Recruiter to scale our engineering teams. Reporting to a Recruiting Manager, you will own end-to-end recruiting across key hardware and engineering disciplines: autonomous systems, propulsion, thermal, mechanical engineering, and structures. This is a strategic operator role — you'll build hiring strategies, execute full-cycle search processes, close senior-level talent, and serve as a trusted advisor to engineering leadership as we scale from startup to production.

What You'll Own

Strategic Leadership

Design and execute recruiting strategies for engineering hiring across autonomous systems, propulsion, thermal, mechanical engineering, and structures

Partner with engineering leadership 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 engineering talent markets, compensation trends, and competitive intelligence

Full-Cycle Execution

Source, screen, and close engineering talent through multiple channels: active search, referrals, passive outreach, and technical communities

Manage 4-8 active searches simultaneously while maintaining exceptional candidate and hiring manager experience

Conduct technical recruiter screens to assess engineering fundamentals, systems thinking, and hardware integration experience

Lead offer strategy and close negotiations

Own candidate experience from first touch through onboarding

Process Systems

Maintain recruiting infrastructure in Greenhouse (ATS)

Partner with the Recruiting Operations Partner to continuously improve hiring processes and candidate assessment frameworks

What Success Looks Like

Consistently deliver high-quality engineering hires on aggressive timelines

Build strong partnerships with engineering hiring managers who trust your judgment and rely on your strategic counsel

Create repeatable processes that scale as the team grows

Maintain a strong technical bar while moving quickly in a competitive talent market

Requirements

Must-Haves

5+ years of full-cycle technical recruiting experience, with significant focus on hardware or engineering roles

Proven experience recruiting engineers for hardware-centric companies (aerospace, robotics, automotive, medical devices, or similar deep tech)

Track record sourcing and closing senior and staff-level engineering talent in competitive markets

Demonstrated ability to operate both strategically (building hiring plans, advising leadership) and tactically (sourcing, screening, closing)

Strong technical fluency — you can speak credibly with engineers about their work

Startup equity fluency — comfortable explaining equity structures, vesting schedules, and how to think about total compensation

Experience managing full recruiting cycles in fast-paced, high-growth startup environments

Strongly Preferred

In-house recruiting experience at a hardware or deep tech startup (Series A through growth stage)

Experience hiring across multiple engineering disciplines including autonomous systems, propulsion, thermal, mechanical, or structures

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 r…