Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.
The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.
The Role
Great technology loses to good technology that reaches the customer first. You'll hire the people who make sure ours gets there, and the people who keep the company running while it scales.
This seat owns hiring for Mission and defense business development, business operations, finance and accounting, real estate, and marketing. The searches are fewer, but every one of them matters. Many are the first hire in a function: the finance leader who takes us into our next stage, the real estate lead who helps stand up a new facility, the capture and program people who put our aircraft and software in front of the warfighter. We treat them like the high-stakes searches they are.
The Work
Own full-cycle hiring across Mission, business operations, finance and accounting, real estate, and marketing
Recruit defense BD, capture, program, and mission roles with real credibility, and know where those people come from: primes, defense tech startups, the Pentagon, and the operational force
Run senior and first-of-kind searches like an executive search partner: map the market, calibrate early, and close hard
Be the advisor first-time hiring managers didn't know they needed. Challenge the role when it's wrong and help define what great looks like
Build relationships with future leaders before we need them, so the next search starts warm
Convince exceptional people who never pictured themselves in defense that this is the most important work they'll ever do
You
Have [5+] years of full-cycle recruiting experience, including senior or executive-level searches
Have recruited in or around defense, government, or national security, and know the difference between BD, capture, and program management
Have closed candidates who had other options, including at the leadership level
Earn hiring managers' trust by telling them the truth about the market, even when it's not what they want to hear
Love range. A controller, a head of marketing, and a defense BD lead in the same week sounds like a good week to you
Bonus Points
Executive search or agency background paired with in-house startup experience
A network in the defense BD, capture, or military community
Experience hiring finance, real estate, or marketing leaders at a scaling company
Military service or experience recruiting veterans and transitioning service members
Why This Seat
You'll build the teams that take our technology to the fight, and the teams that keep us standing while we grow.
How We Recruit
We're a small recruiting team building a defense company that has to win. Here's how we operate, and we hire recruiters who already work this way.
The Standard. We know the work deeply. We are not generalists hiding behind job descriptions; we study the engineering, the domain, and the landscape until we can hold a real conversation with a practitioner. Every candidate who talks to us should call it the best recruiting experience of their career, and we each bring our own personality to get there. High touch, never scripted.
How We Think. One foot old school, one foot forward: we're obsessive about the fundamentals of recruiting and restless about finding better ways to do it. We play the long game and hire for what someone will do in two and five years, not just next quarter. And we'd rather define the industry standard than follow it.
How We Operate. Mission first, always. Speed is a competitive weapon, and we use it. Quality over comfort: we'll have the harder conversation with a hiring manager before we'll make the easy hire.
If that reads like a description of how you already work, we want to talk.
ITAR requirement
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.
What We Offer
Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
PTO and paid sick leave
Monthly wellness stipend
Daily catered lunch (office)
Paid parental leave
Direct impact on a critical national security mission
A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems