Recruiting Manager

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview:

We are hiring three Recruiting Managers to lead the next stage of growth for our recruiting team. Each Recruiting Manager will lead a team of 4-6 recruiters and sourcers, reporting to the Head of Recruiting. This is the first layer of management on our team, and you will help shape how it works!

You will partner directly with engineering, product, manufacturing, operations, and G&A leaders to turn business priorities into hiring plans, and you will coach your recruiters to act as trusted advisors to their hiring managers, not order-takers. You will be accountable for the speed, quality, and candidate experience of every search on your team, while building the playbooks, metrics, and habits that let us scale without lowering the bar.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will be close to the work, step in on critical searches and closes, and be a strong voice in how the broader recruiting organization evolves. Experience recruiting for engineering roles in defense, aerospace, or other highly regulated technical industries is a major plus.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 4-6 recruiters and sourcers, setting clear expectations for ownership, urgency, and execution, and giving regular, direct feedback

• Partner with senior hiring managers and functional leaders to translate business priorities and headcount plans into recruiting strategies, timelines, and pipeline goals

• Own recruiter alignment to hiring managers and teams, balancing workload and skill set across your team and adjusting as priorities shift

• Monitor pipeline health, time to fill, offer acceptance, and recruiter productivity, using data to spot problems early and recommend changes

• Serve as the escalation point for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates, resolving issues directly and keeping searches moving

• Coach recruiters on role scoping, intake, sourcing strategy, candidate assessment, and closing, with a focus on identifying exceptional people for hard-to-fill technical roles

• Strengthen interview quality and consistency by championing structured, inclusive interviewing, calibration, and hiring manager training

• Manage external recruiting agencies and contract recruiting partners used for niche or surge hiring, holding them to the same quality and candidate experience standards as the in-house team

• Contribute to the recruiting leadership team by building scalable playbooks, templates, and process improvements, and by sharing hiring trends and market insights

• Use AI and automation to improve efficiency in areas such as outreach, talent mapping, and reporting, while applying strong judgment and verifying outputs for accuracy and bias

• Protect candidate and company information, including the handling of sensitive and export-controlled hiring needs

• Deliver and model an outstanding, proactive candidate experience from first outreach through offer

• Work 4-5 days onsite out of our office in Los Angeles (Hawthorne), California

Minimum Requirements:

• 8+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience focused on technical and/or engineering roles, with a track record of closing complex or hard-to-fill positions

• 3+ years of experience managing recruiters, including coaching, performance feedback, and developing people at different experience levels

• Experience building recruiting strategies and managing execution against timelines and business goals

• Proven ability to build trusted partnerships with senior business leaders, using market data and business context to influence hiring decisions

• Strong understanding of engineering roles and technical skill sets such as software, hardware, systems, or manufacturing

• Data-driven mindset, with experience tracking recruiting metrics and translating them into clear recommendations for stakeholders

• Experience managing multiple searches, recruiters, and priorities at once in a fast-paced, changing environment

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to deliver direct feedback and handle escalations with empathy and confidence

• Working knowledge of ATS systems (Greenhouse preferred), sourcing tools, and structured interview practices

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience recruiting in the defense industry or similarly regulated technical environments such as aerospace, government, or advanced manufacturing

• Experience supporting or building recruiting teams at an early-stage or high-growth company

• Experience managing a mixed team of full-time recruiters, contractors, and agency or RPO partners

• Familiarity with the following tools: Greenhouse, LinkedIn Recruiter, Pave, Asana, Headcount365

• Experience using AI-enabled recruiting tools to improve speed and quality of work

• Experience building enablement programs, playbooks, or interview training adopted across a recruiting organization

• Ability to operate independently while collaborating closely with cross-functional partners

• A builder’s mindset, with a willingness to improve processes and contribute beyond defined responsibilities

Why CHAOS?

• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company

• Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more

• Our Perks: Free daily lunch while you're working onsite, fully-stocked kitchen, unlimited PTO, casual dress code

• Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses

• Team Growth: 500+ employees and counting across 5 global offices

Salary Range: $150,000 - $185,000

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.

Recruiting Agencies: CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach. Unsolicited submissions will not be reviewed or compensated.

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