Senior Recruiter, University and Alternative Channels
Shield AI · Seattle · $120,000–$180,000 (stated in the posting)
Shield AI’s future engineering bench is built on campus. We’re looking for a Senior Recruiter to own university recruiting end to end—from campus strategy and full-cycle hiring for interns, co-ops, and new graduates to intern-to-full-time conversion, in close partnership with our internship program team.
You will lead the full university recruiting lifecycle—Plan, Attract, Engage, Assess & Hire, Convert, Retain, and Optimize—across Software Engineering (C++ and autonomy), Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Integration & Test, Mechanical Engineering, and select business functions. You will have real autonomy to shape strategy and clear accountability for outcomes: meeting hiring demand on time, securing offer acceptances in a fiercely competitive market, and converting interns into full-time engineers.
You are equal parts strategist, closer, and program partner. You are as comfortable presenting a school portfolio and ROI analysis to a VP in the morning as you are leading a technical calibration with hiring managers at midday or closing a rising senior with three competing offers that evening.
What You'll Do:
- Own Shield AI's university recruiting strategy end to end, including the target school portfolio, annual plan, calendar, and budget for your business
- Lead demand collection with business leaders for interns, co-ops, and intern-to-FTE conversions, driving iHIRE approvals and req postings on schedule for your business
- Build Shield AI's campus brand through technical storytelling, faculty and career center relationships, and engagement with robotics, AI, and diversity student organizations
- Represent Shield AI at career fairs, tech talks, and info sessions, and build early pipelines of high-potential candidates ahead of req approval
- Run full-cycle recruiting for all intern, co-op, and new grad roles for Aircraft
- Maintain a structured, bias-reduced evaluation process and run intern interview training and calibration to keep the bar consistent across teams and sites
- Extend timely offers within the standard framework by role, location, and level, and partner with Compensation on salary and housing stipend benchmarking
- Own the accepted-offer-to-Day-1 experience to reduce reneges and strengthen onboarding readiness
- Partner with the intern program team on mentorship matching, project scoping, reviews, and intern events
- Own the intern conversion cycle, from identifying full-time-eligible interns through extending return-intern and full-time offers
- Report on demand fulfillment, offer and accept rates, conversion, diversity, and school ROI, and use those metrics to reshape each season's strategy
Required Qualifications:
- 5+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with at least 3 years focused on university, early-career, or campus recruiting
- Demonstrated ownership of a campus strategy end to end — school selection, event planning, budget, and season execution — not just requisition execution
- Track record of high-volume technical hiring for engineering roles, and of closing candidates in a competitive market
- Experience partnering directly with senior business and engineering leaders on workforce planning and demand
- Strong data instincts: you build and use funnel metrics, conversion rates, and ROI analysis to make decisions and to influence leaders
- Proficiency with an ATS and sourcing tools; comfort building process, templates, and reporting from scratch
- Excellent written and verbal communication; you represent the company credibly to students, faculty, and executives
- Willingness to travel during peak campus season
- A demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience recruiting in AI, robotics, aerospace, or defense technology
- Experience running or supporting an internship or co-op program, including intern-to-full-time conversion processes
- Familiarity with U.S. defense-industry hiring considerations, including export control (ITAR/EAR) and work authorization requirements for early-career candidates
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