---
title: 'Senior Recruiter, University and Alternative Channels at Shield AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-university-and-alternative-channels-shield-ai-seattle-18hwy8k6s838'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-31'
---

# Senior Recruiter, University and Alternative Channels at Shield AI

- **Company:** Shield AI
- **Location:** Seattle, WA
- **Compensation:** $120k–$180k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-31
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/cf0cbef4-052e-4e3a-8d8f-8000231cb3a6

## Job description

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

## About Shield AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Shield AI builds AI pilots and autonomous systems for military aircraft to protect service members and civilians.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series G, venture-backed)
- **Headquarters**: San Diego, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, Andrew Reiter

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Defense technology, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, aerospace
- Target customers: U.S. Department of Defense, allied nations’ military forces (B2G / Government)
- Mission or purpose statement: “Protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.”

## Products & Services
- **Hivemind**: A combat‑tested, modular autonomy stack for aircraft – self‑driving technology for drones, jets, and helicopters. Includes path‑planning, mapping, state‑estimation, computer vision, and reinforcement learning. Type: Software (AI/autonomy).
- **V‑BAT**: A vertical take‑off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed for persistent ISR and strike missions. Type: Hardware (drone).
- **X‑BAT**: An advanced unmanned aircraft system with extended endurance and payload capacity, built for multi‑domain operations. Type: Hardware (drone).
- **Hivemind Vision Systems**: Computer‑vision and sensor‑fusion capabilities integrated into Hivemind for GPS‑denied environments. Type: Software + sensors.
- **Hivemind Enterprise**: A deployable version of Hivemind for third‑party platforms and commercial applications. Type: Software.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company). Total funding raised: $3.6B (as of Series G in March 2026).
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue ~$21.7M (estimated, private) | Total Funding $3.6B (including $2B Series G led by JP Morgan Chase and Advent International, March 2026).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: JP Morgan Chase, Advent International, Blackstone, Riot Ventures, SnowPoint Ventures, Disruptive (55+ investors total). Strategic partners include U.S. DoD and allied defense forces.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 68.3% YoY to 1,283 employees; 338 active job postings (+57.2% YoY); operates in 5 countries (U.S., Australia, UAE, Norway, Ukraine); recent acquisitions of Sentient Vision Systems (2024), Heron Systems, MARTIN UAV.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Combat‑proven autonomy**: Hivemind has been tested in live military operations, providing a first‑mover advantage in contested, GPS‑denied environments.
- **Full‑stack integration**: Combines software (AI pilot), hardware (V‑BAT, X‑BAT), and sensor systems, creating a tightly integrated product ecosystem.
- **Cross‑functional engineering culture**: Engineers work across AI, robotics, aerospace, and defense – not siloed – enabling rapid iteration and field deployment.
- **Top talent pipeline**: Employees drawn from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Amazon, Anduril, and other leading defense/tech firms.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale AI pilots across all domains**: Extend Hivemind from aircraft to ships, satellites, and ground vehicles (“every military asset”).
- **International expansion**: Growing presence in Australia, Europe, and Middle East via mission autonomy centers and partnerships.
- **Deepen autonomy stack**: Continued investment in reinforcement learning, simulation, and computer vision to maintain leadership in contested‑environment autonomy.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission‑driven work**: Directly contribute to protecting service members and civilians with cutting‑edge AI and robotics.
- **Cross‑functional teams**: Engineers collaborate across disciplines (AI, hardware, software, systems) on real‑world defense challenges.
- **Benefits**: Excellent medical coverage, mental health EAP, paid parental leave, pet insurance, flexible work hours, gym discounts (SD) / on‑site gym (DC), free parking, competitive compensation, 401k with match, stock benefits.
- **Work policy**: Flexible work hours; some offices (e.g., San Diego HQ, Arlington, DC) have on‑site facilities. Remote/hybrid options available depending on role.
- **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly scaling (68% headcount growth) with hundreds of open roles across engineering, operations, and program management.

## Sources
1. [shield.ai/about](https://shield.ai/about/)
2. [shield.ai/careers](https://shield.ai/careers/)
3. [LinkedIn – Shield AI](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai)
4. [CBInsights – Shield AI](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/shield-ai)
5. [Lever – Shield AI Jobs](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai)

## Other roles at Shield AI

- [People Experience Ops Partner (R6507)](https://feeny.ai/job/people-experience-ops-partner-r6507-shield-ai-melbourne-wt6yv7671953) — Melbourne, Australia
- [Senior Military Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-military-recruiter-shield-ai-seattle-re74pjjj5wg0) — Seattle, WA
- [Senior Applications Engineer, Maritime Autonomy (R6378)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-applications-engineer-maritime-autonomy-r6378-shield-ai-united-states-115dat2sacmr) — United States
- [Team Lead, Software Test & Quality Assurance](https://feeny.ai/job/team-lead-software-test-quality-assurance-shield-ai-melbourne-2zd0nnr6m49e) — Melbourne, Australia
- [HMS Simulation Framework Lead (R6397)](https://feeny.ai/job/hms-simulation-framework-lead-r6397-shield-ai-washington-99dd7z3pwyj8) — Washington, DC
- [Summer 2027 - Product Support Engineering Intern 6470 - 6442](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-2027-product-support-engineering-intern-6470-6442-shield-ai-dallas-4trfjdw8wt6c) — Dallas, TX
- [Senior Software Engineer, Frontend Platform (R5790)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-frontend-platform-r5790-shield-ai-san-diego-8jt7za84gxq7) — San Diego, CA
- [Senior Field Services Engineer (R6380)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-field-services-engineer-r6380-shield-ai-san-diego-55yqyfdywwf1) — San Diego, CA
- [Senior Director, Partner Programs (R6239)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-partner-programs-r6239-shield-ai-washington-38d20d3qwfvz) — Washington, DC
- [Global Mobility Specialist (R6192)](https://feeny.ai/job/global-mobility-specialist-r6192-shield-ai-seattle-kdftadyxdwsa) — Seattle, WA