Head of Talent
Position Details
Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA
Employment Type: Full-time
Department: People / Talent
Travel: Occasional
About Starpath
Starpath develops and manufactures the technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. Today, we are building robotic systems that locally produce the essential commodities a lunar civilization will require at extreme scale: water, power, and oxygen. Our ultimate goal is to build and operate a self-sustaining city on Mars.
The Role
Starpath is scaling fast. We're growing the engineering team across three programs — Starlight Solar (space photovoltaics), Lunar Surface Infrastructure (Moon/Mars robotics and avionics), and the Starlight megafactory — with dozens of open roles across mechanical, chemistry, avionics, software, and manufacturing disciplines. The Head of Talent will own how we find, evaluate, and close the engineers who will build this.
You'll set our recruiting strategy from the ground up. That means owning the ATS, defining our interviewing process, building sourcing pipelines for hard-to-find specialties, training hiring managers, calibrating comp philosophy, and eventually building and leading a talent team. In the near term you'll also be closing candidates yourself — this is a build-from-scratch role, not a manage-a-team role. Yet.
Responsibilities
Own end-to-end recruiting for Starpath — sourcing, screening, hiring manager partnership, offer construction, close
Build sourcing pipelines for specialized aerospace and hardware roles across engineering, chemistry, avionics, software, and factory operations
Partner with engineering leadership to set intake requirements, calibrate interview loops, and drive hiring manager accountability
Set and evolve Starpath's comp philosophy in partnership with leadership — benchmark against space industry peers, calibrate bands, and negotiate offers
Own the ATS (Ashby) as system of record — job postings, application forms, pipeline hygiene, reporting, and integrations
Build and refine the candidate experience — from first outreach through onboarding — to reflect Starpath's technical bar and mission
Establish recruiting metrics (time-to-fill, pipeline health, offer acceptance, quality of hire) and use them to drive continuous improvement
Design and eventually lead the growth of the talent team as headcount scales
Partner with legal, finance, and operations on hiring compliance — EAR/ITAR, California pay transparency (SB 1162), equal opportunity, offer letters
Required Qualifications
Technical recruiting experience with meaningful time spent recruiting engineers in aerospace, hardware, robotics, or comparable deep-tech environments
Track record of owning senior IC and leadership searches end-to-end at competitive companies
Demonstrated ability to close hard candidates against competitive offers
Strong partnership skills with technical hiring managers, and comfort pushing back on scoping when it matters
Experience owning an ATS as system of record (Ashby, Greenhouse, or comparable) including job postings, workflow, and reporting
Preferred Qualifications
Prior experience at a hardware startup or aerospace company
Experience building or scaling a talent function — process, tools, and pipelines — not just filling reqs
Experience recruiting for space, defense, or ITAR/EAR-controlled environments
Prior people-management experience or clear readiness to hire and lead a small talent team as Starpath scales
Familiarity with California pay transparency law (SB 1162) and current comp benchmarking practices in LA aerospace
Experience sourcing niche technical specialties via targeted outreach rather than inbound
Ability to represent Starpath externally at industry events, universities, or targeted talent-attraction efforts
Compensation & Benefits
Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA
Competitive salary plus equity package; compensation scales with candidate experience
PTO & health/dental/vision coverage included
EAR REQUIREMENTS:
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Equal Opportunity
Starpath is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Skills Required
- Technical recruiting experience recruiting engineers in aerospace, hardware, robotics, or comparable deep-tech environments
- Track record of owning senior individual contributor and leadership searches end-to-end at competitive companies
- Demonstrated ability to close candidates against competitive offers
- Strong partnership skills with technical hiring managers and ability to push back on scoping
- Experience owning an ATS as system of record (Ashby, Greenhouse, or comparable) including job postings, workflow, and reporting
- Applicant must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, Refugee, Asylee, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State (EAR requirements)
- Prior experience at a hardware startup or aerospace company
- Experience building or scaling a talent function (process, tools, pipelines)
- Experience recruiting for space, defense, or ITAR/EAR-controlled environments
- Prior people-management experience or readiness to hire and lead a small talent team
- Familiarity with California pay transparency law (SB 1162) and comp benchmarking practices in LA aerospace
- Experience sourcing niche technical specialties via targeted outreach
- Ability to represent the company externally at industry events, universities, and targeted talent-attraction efforts
What We Do
Starpath designs and manufactures robotic propellant production factories for the Moon and Mars, reducing the cost of deep space transport, and enabling humans to be a multi planet species
