Senior Executive Recruiter - Hivemind (R6523)

We are seeking an intellectually curious, learning-agile, and strategic Senior Executive Recruiter to identify and attract exceptional leaders who will help shape Shield AI's future. As a fast-growing defense technology company, our hiring priorities evolve quickly, requiring adaptability, sound judgment, and the ability to navigate ambiguity while delivering results.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage complex executive and senior leadership searches from intake and position scoping through market mapping, assessment, offer negotiation, and acceptance.
• Partner with senior leaders to define role requirements, success profiles, assessment criteria, search strategies, and hiring milestones.
• Identify, engage, and cultivate relationships with high-caliber passive executive talent across aerospace and defense, AI, autonomy, robotics, software, and adjacent enterprise technology markets.
• Build targeted executive talent pipelines supporting immediate and anticipated leadership hiring needs.
• Execute searches across highly specialized software engineering disciplines, including Autonomy, Robotics, Perception, Planning, Controls, Embedded Software, Distributed Systems, Simulation, Machine Learning, Infrastructure, and related technical domains.
• Anticipate search challenges, adjust strategies, and maintain accountability for hiring outcomes.

Executive Stakeholder Partnership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior business leaders, hiring managers, and PX Business Partners across assigned functions.
• Provide consultative guidance on talent availability, market dynamics, compensation expectations, and competitive positioning.
• Establish consistent communication and reporting cadences to maintain stakeholder alignment, transparency, and accountability.
• Influence hiring decisions through market intelligence, candidate insights, and evidence-based recommendations.
• Proactively manage expectations, resolve obstacles, and navigate competing priorities constructively.

Executive Assessment & Candidate Experience

• Conduct comprehensive executive assessments evaluating technical expertise, leadership capabilities, business impact, and alignment with Shield AI's mission and values.
• Apply structured interviews, competency frameworks, and assessment tools to support informed hiring decisions.
• Deliver clear, balanced candidate evaluations highlighting strengths, development areas, and potential risks.
• Partner with interview teams to drive consistent candidate calibration and effective selection decisions.
• Deliver an exceptional candidate experience while building long-term relationships with executive talent.

Market Intelligence & Talent Mapping

• Develop deep knowledge of executive talent markets across autonomy, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, embedded software, and related software engineering disciplines.
• Partner with Global Talent Sourcing to execute targeted market mapping, competitive research, and candidate identification strategies.
• Provide actionable insights on talent availability, organizational structures, compensation trends, and competitive hiring practices.
• Leverage recruiting technology, research tools, and analytics to improve sourcing effectiveness, candidate engagement, and search outcomes.

Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Execute searches using established executive recruiting processes, assessment methodologies, tools, and templates.
• Maintain accurate, timely candidate and pipeline information in applicant tracking and recruiting systems.
• Track and communicate search metrics, including pipeline health, candidate conversion, search velocity, and hiring outcomes.
• Identify opportunities to improve recruiting efficiency, assessment quality, and stakeholder and candidate experience.
• Contribute executive search expertise and best practices to strengthen team processes and execution.
• Collaborate with Talent Sourcing, Recruiting Operations, Total Rewards, PX, and business stakeholders to achieve shared hiring objectives.

Leverage AI to Raise the Bar

• Integrate AI and automation into recruiting workflows to improve speed, quality, and effectiveness throughout the executive search lifecycle.
• Apply AI to talent research, market mapping, sourcing strategy, intake preparation, candidate engagement, interview preparation, and recruiting analytics.
• Identify repetitive or low-value activities that can be automated, creating more capacity for strategic partnership, candidate relationships, and assessment.
• Experiment with emerging AI tools, evaluate their impact, and share successful practices across Talent Acquisition.
• Exercise sound judgment regarding where human expertise, discretion, relationship-building, and decision-making remain essential.

Teamwork & Collaboration

• Build trusted, collaborative relationships across Talent Acquisition, People Experience, Total Rewards, and business leadership.
• Share market intelligence, candidate insights, and executive search best practices to strengthen team effectiveness.
• Demonstrate humility, openness to feedback, and respect for diverse perspectives.
• Contribute to broader recruiting priorities while maintaining ownership and accountability for assigned searches.