---
title: 'Recruiter at Quartermaster'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/recruiter-quartermaster-arlington-3sdcz2zcyhe3'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Recruiter at Quartermaster

- **Company:** Quartermaster
- **Location:** Arlington, VA
- **Compensation:** $120k–$160k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/quartermaster/7b22b60b-4104-4ebe-a625-50a8be84c777

## Job description

## ABOUT QUARTERMASTER

Quartermaster is building the world's most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform. Our SmartMast™ system transforms commercial and civilian vessels into a persistent, distributed sensing network—combining HD video, AI, radar, RF sensing, and AIS to deliver real-time maritime domain awareness at global scale. With 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and more than 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS, we are setting a new standard for what ocean surveillance and safety can look like.

We are a mission-driven, high-velocity team building dual-use technology for defense agencies, coast guards, and commercial maritime operators. If you want your code to run on vessels crossing every ocean on earth, this is the place.

Job Description

To scale our team alongside our mission, we are expanding our Talent Acquisition engine. We need a Recruiter who can help us build the foundational talent pipeline to directly drive our strategic growth. This is a hyper-specific, mission-critical role. Beyond standard sourcing, you will implement best talent acquisition practices to scale both our technical and operational footprints. You will build the recruiting infrastructure and candidate pipeline tools required to support our global fleet expansion and technical deployments. Furthermore, you will serve as a full-lifecycle "Swiss Army Knife" recruiter who can be pulled in any direction by different department heads—whether headhunting embedded engineering talent or partnering with executive leadership to hire across finance, legal, HR, and operations. We want the kind of talent partner who has operated in high-growth startup environments: someone with the rigor, versatility, and systems thinking of the best talent teams in the world.

## Key Responsibilities

- Lead full-lifecycle recruitment across both high-bar technical domains (embedded systems, software, hardware, edge) and core business verticals (finance, legal, compliance, HR, operations).
- Architect the technical sourcing strategy across specialized platforms (LinkedIn Recruiter, Gem) to systematically identify, engage, and close top-tier passive talent in competitive markets.
- Design and own the end-to-end candidate pipeline infrastructure within Ashby, ensuring seamless coordination, candidate tracking, and real-time process visibility across all open requisitions.
- Define and enforce structured hiring standards, establishing objective evaluation frameworks, standardized interview rubrics, and consistent candidate scorecards across all departments.
- Partner directly with executive leadership and department heads to translate evolving business and engineering roadmaps into clear role specifications, search strategies, and interview loops.
- Drive candidate offer architectures and closing strategies, navigating complex equity compensation, salary negotiations, and offer delivery in high-stakes hiring scenarios.
- Establish and enforce strict operational standards across the hiring stack, optimizing interview workflows and maintaining calendar efficiency using Google Workspace.
- Diagnose and ruthlessly eliminate bottlenecks in the hiring pipeline, ensuring rapid candidate turnaround, minimal time-to-hire, and an exceptional candidate experience.
- Drive the technical roadmap for our talent acquisition stack, evaluating modern recruiting tools and continuously maturing our sourcing and assessment methodologies as the company scales.
- Serve as an adaptable partner across the entire organization, seamlessly shifting context between engineering deep-dives and G&A/operational requisitions based on shifting company priorities.

## Qualifications

- 3+ years of full-lifecycle recruiting experience operating in fast-paced startup, venture-backed, or deep-tech environments.
- Proven track record of operating as a "Swiss Army Knife" recruiter with demonstrated success closing both engineering and non-engineering roles.
- Deep hands-on experience using LinkedIn Recruiter for complex outbound sourcing and candidate pipeline generation.
- Expert-level fluency with modern ATS/CRM platforms—specifically Ashby—as well as Google Workspace for operational execution.
- Strong technical literacy with the ability to articulate complex engineering concepts, vet candidate signals accurately, and represent Quartermaster's technical mission.
- Demonstrated ability to build, implement, and run structured interview loops, evaluation matrices, and debrief frameworks.
- Uncompromising operational standards: a history of driving high-touch candidate experiences, maintaining impeccable ATS hygiene, and operating with extreme autonomy.

Bonus Points

- Prior experience recruiting within defense tech, maritime, hardware, or edge-computing sectors.
- Background managing executive search processes or specialized compliance, legal, and government-facing requisitions.
- Exposure to early-stage startups scaling through Series A/B growth milestones.

Work Environment

- Distributed team environment working asynchronously.
- Start-up atmosphere with autonomy given to team members.
- In-office and flexible hours.

## About Quartermaster

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Quartermaster builds a real-time, distributed maritime awareness network by equipping vessels with AI-powered sensor packages (SmartMast) and an analytics platform.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Arlington, Virginia, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Neil Sobin (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Maritime intelligence, defense technology, AI/robotics, ocean sensing
- **Target customers**: Governments (navies, coast guards), commercial shipping operators, insurers, and maritime researchers (B2G, B2B)
- **Mission**: “Connect every vessel on the water to create a comprehensive, real-time picture of our oceans, unlocking critical data insights that underpin a prosperous global maritime ecosystem.” [quartermaster.us](https://www.quartermaster.us/about)

## Products & Services
- **SmartMast**: A weather-hardened hardware package (cameras, radios, sensors) mounted on a ship’s mast that continuously collects and relays maritime data. Combined with an AI analytics platform, it provides real-time vessel identification, anomaly detection, and environmental monitoring. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
- **Quartermaster Analytics Platform**: Cloud-based software that ingests SmartMast data and applies computer vision and machine learning to generate actionable intelligence for fleet operators, insurers, and government agencies.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: $43 million in Series A funding (announced May 20, 2026) [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Co-led by First Round Capital and Quiet Capital, with participation from TMV, Steel Atlas, BoxGroup, Operator Partners, Shorewind Capital, and David (surname not specified). Key hires from Anduril (Steve Ribaudo as CGO) and Scale AI (Matt Beck as COO). [quartermaster.us](https://www.quartermaster.us/about) | [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quartermasterai)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount grew 625% year-over-year to 40 employees (as of mid-2026). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quartermasterai)
  - Over 600 ships equipped with SmartMast, covering 10 million square miles of ocean. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
  - Assisted in “over 20 rescues of mariners at sea.” [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
  - Operates in 7 countries (Panama, Colombia, South Korea, UAE, Brazil, Taiwan, United States). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quartermasterai)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary hardware edge**: SmartMast is far more advanced than the standard AIS (Automatic Identification System), which is opt-in and easily spoofed. Quartermaster’s sensors provide persistent, verified, real-time data that is less susceptible to fraud. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
- **Pro-mariner incentive model**: Rather than selling sensors to fleet operators (a tough sell in a low-margin industry), Quartermaster creates value for mariners (e.g., rescue support, safety data) to encourage voluntary adoption, locking in network effects. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
- **First-mover in distributed ocean sensing**: No other company has deployed a real-time, AI-powered sensor constellation at this scale, giving Quartermaster a data moat and early relationships with governments and commercial fleets.

## Strategic Focus
- **Engineering hiring**: A large portion of the $43M Series A is earmarked for hiring engineers (RF, software, AI, systems) to accelerate product development. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
- **Fleet expansion**: Continue equipping more vessels with SmartMast, especially in key maritime corridors, to densify the network.
- **New applications**: Developing uses for government intelligence, marine autonomy training data, environmental monitoring, and insurance risk assessment.
- **Global presence**: Scaling operations in Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (already in 7 countries). [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quartermasterai)

## Why Work Here
- **High-impact mission**: Directly contribute to ocean safety, security, and sustainability – work that has tangible real-world results (e.g., rescues at sea).
- **Fast-growing startup**: 625% YoY headcount growth; employees have significant ownership and influence over product direction.
- **Engineering culture**: “A single engineer can make a significant impact in relatively short periods of time” because the ocean space is largely untapped. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
- **Remote-friendly**: Some roles (e.g., “Opportunity Hire”) are listed as remote, though the HQ in Arlington, VA likely expects hybrid for core engineering teams. [quartermaster.us](https://www.quartermaster.us/jobs/opportunity-hire)
- **Diverse, inclusive environment**: Equal opportunity employer that encourages individuals of all backgrounds to apply. [quartermaster.us](https://www.quartermaster.us/jobs/opportunity-hire)
- **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but the company emphasizes pro-mariner values and a collaborative, mission-driven culture.

## Sources
1. [quartermaster.us/about](https://www.quartermaster.us/about)
2. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/this-startup-raised-43m-to-build-a-hive-mind-for-ships/)
3. [linkedin.com/company/quartermasterai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quartermasterai)
4. [quartermaster.us/jobs/opportunity-hire](https://www.quartermaster.us/jobs/opportunity-hire)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/quartermaster](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/quartermaster)

## Other roles at Quartermaster

- [Senior Embedded Engineer – Robotics & Sensor Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-embedded-engineer-robotics-sensor-systems-quartermaster-arlington-g9ykt3vms2s7) — Arlington, VA
- [Hardware Test & Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-test-integration-engineer-quartermaster-arlington-3h259071tfrk) — Arlington, VA
- [Senior Software Test Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-test-engineer-quartermaster-arlington-6nbzdydrbnja) — Arlington, VA
- [IT Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/it-engineer-quartermaster-arlington-dg98g3jag2ds) — Arlington, VA
- [Head of Launch (Africa)](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-launch-africa-quartermaster-united-states-tvqm6j5d7zc3) — United States
- [Head of Launch (Europe)](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-launch-europe-quartermaster-london-p4r55emm9sfw) — London, United Kingdom
- [Head of Launch (Middle East)](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-launch-middle-east-quartermaster-arabian-gulf-smed3h4gvyr0) — Arabian Gulf
- [Field Operations Lead - Arabian Gulf](https://feeny.ai/job/field-operations-lead-arabian-gulf-quartermaster-arabian-gulf-m7rvynds7114) — Arabian Gulf
- [Strategic Projects Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-projects-manager-quartermaster-arlington-4n11y1ksbf2n) — Arlington, VA
- [VP of Supply-Fleet Recruitment](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-supply-fleet-recruitment-quartermaster-new-york-jx7vs2ppd95y) — New York, NY