Recruiting Director

The Role

STR is seeking a Recruiting Director to lead and evolve enterprise recruiting strategy in support of mission-critical defense and national security programs. This leader will oversee technical and non-technical recruiting operations while serving as a strategic advisor to executive leadership on workforce planning, talent market dynamics, organizational growth, and hiring scalability.

This role combines executive-level partnership, operational leadership, and selective hands-on engagement in critical hiring initiatives. The Director will lead a high-performing recruiting organization focused on attracting exceptional talent across advanced technology domains including cyber, software, systems engineering, RF, radar, sensors, analytics, AI/ML, and national security operations.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience scaling recruiting functions in highly competitive and regulated environments while balancing speed, quality, compliance, and candidate experience. Hybrid preferred in Woburn, MA or Arlington, VA. We are also open to remote candidates who are a strong fit for the role, with occasional travel to company locations.

What You’ll Do

Lead Enterprise Talent Acquisition Strategy

Develop and execute recruiting strategies aligned to STR’s long-term business objectives, growth priorities, and technical workforce needs. Partner closely with executive leadership to forecast talent demand and hiring capacity across divisions.

Build & Lead a High-Performing Recruiting Organization

Lead, develop, and scale a team of recruiters, recruiting managers, coordinators, and sourcing resources. Establish clear performance expectations, operational rigor, and a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Actively coach and mentor recruiters on advanced sourcing techniques, candidate engagement strategies, and closing high-value technical talent. Focus on upskilling the team to increase quality-of-hire and conversion rates.

Serve as a Strategic Business Partner

Act as a trusted advisor to division leadership and senior executives on labor market conditions, hiring strategy, organizational design implications, compensation competitiveness, and workforce planning risks.

Drive Technical Recruiting Excellence

• Oversee recruiting execution for highly specialized technical and cleared talent across the organization. Provide leadership on complex, mission-critical, or high-volume hiring initiatives while ensuring recruiting teams deliver strong candidate experience and hiring outcomes.
• Maintain a ‘Player/Coach’ mentality: while your primary focus is leadership and strategy, you will directly lead recruiting efforts for executive-level roles, mission-critical gaps, or during periods of rapid hiring surges.

Enhance Employer Brand & Talent Positioning

Strengthen STR’s visibility and reputation within highly competitive defense and technology talent markets. Partner with leadership, HR, and communications teams to develop differentiated talent attraction strategies and messaging.

Optimize Recruiting Operations & Analytics

Establish scalable recruiting processes, metrics, and reporting capabilities. Utilize data-driven insights to improve hiring velocity, pipeline health, diversity outreach, offer acceptance, and recruiting ROI. Lead the evolution of talent acquisition capabilities through the thoughtful integration of AI-enabled tools, automation, and data-driven recruiting practices. Evaluate and implement technologies that improve recruiter efficiency, sourcing effectiveness, candidate engagement, reporting insights, and operational scalability while maintaining compliance, data integrity, and a high-quality candidate experience.

Lead Recruiting Technology & Process Innovation

Drive continuous improvement across recruiting systems, workflows, and operational processes. Evaluate and implement enhancements to ATS functionality, sourcing tools, reporting capabilities, and candidate engagement strategies.

Ensure Compliance & Risk Management

Maintain recruiting compliance with OFCCP requirements, federal contractor obligations, employment regulations, and internal governance standards while supporting efficient and scalable hiring practices.

Support Executive & Strategic Hiring

Partner directly with executive leadership on senior-level and strategically critical hiring initiatives. Help shape competitive offer strategies and talent acquisition approaches for high-impact positions.

What You Bring

Education & Required Experience

• 15+ years of recruiting and talent acquisition experience, including significant leadership responsibility
• Demonstrated experience leading recruiting organizations in defense, aerospace, government contracting, national security, or advanced technology environments, including the nuances of cleared hiring and competitive counteroffers.
• Proven success recruiting highly specialized technical talent including cyber, RF, radar, software, systems engineering, AI/ML, analytics, and cleared personnel
• Experience leading recruiting teams through organizational growth, transformation, or scaling initiatives
• Demonstrated success operating in a player/coach leadership model, balancing strategic talent acquisition leadership with hands-on recruiting support during periods of organizational growth, hiring surges, or critical talent acquisition needs
• Strong executive presence with demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive strategic talent discussions
• Experience evaluating, implementing, or optimizing AI-enabled recruiting technologies, workflow automation tools, or advanced talent analytics solutions
• Demonstrated ability to leverage technology, automation, and process innovation to improve recruiting effectiveness, scalability, and recruiter productivity
• Understanding of governance, compliance, and ethical considerations associated with AI use in talent acquisition and HR environments
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship

Pay Information
Full-Time Salary Range: $180,000-220,000

The salary range listed is based on external market data. Offers are based on factors, such as but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, training, key skills/critical skills, security clearances, and prevailing market and business conditions.