Hypersonica has built significant momentum in Europe, taking a hypersonic vehicle from clean sheet to successful flight beyond Mach 6 in under 12 months.
We’re now taking the next step.
We’ve recently established Hypersonica in Canada and are building the team that will turn that presence into a genuinely high performing defence technology business. We’re entering the market from a position of real momentum, strong backing and growing customer demand, with the ambition to build in Canada what we have already proved can work in Europe.
We’re looking for a Senior Technical Recruiter to help us do exactly that.
You’ll work closely with our Canadian Managing Director, Head of Talent, founders and engineering leadership to build the Canadian organisation from the ground up. This is not a role where you inherit a mature hiring machine or spend your time processing requisitions.
You’ll help decide who we need, where to find them, what exceptional looks like and how we build a small, intensely capable team around some of the hardest engineering problems in defence.
Every early hire will materially shape what Hypersonica becomes in Canada.
What you'll do
- Partner directly with the Canadian MD and Head of Talent to build the hiring strategy for Hypersonica Canada
- Turn business, customer and programme priorities into a clear capability-based hiring plan
- Own Canadian hiring end to end, from shaping the role and mapping the market through sourcing, assessment, closing and signed offers
- Build the first talent maps across Canadian defence, aerospace, space, propulsion, weapons, autonomy, advanced manufacturing and deep-tech engineering
- Identify and engage exceptional people who are unlikely to be actively applying for jobs
- Work closely with technical leadership in Canada and Europe to define what genuinely great looks like for each hire
- Build interview loops and scorecards that create high signal without unnecessary process
- Develop a deep understanding of the Canadian defence and engineering talent market, including where capability sits, compensation, security constraints and competing employers
- Create an exceptional candidate experience that reflects the pace, ambition and quality of the company
- Protect talent density. We would rather leave a role open than hire someone who does not raise the bar
- Build the recruiting playbooks, networks, referral channels and sourcing infrastructure that allow the Canadian organisation to scale
- Help shape the culture of the Canadian business through the people we choose to bring into it
Who you are
- An experienced technical recruiter with a track record of finding and closing genuinely difficult technical talent
- Ideally experienced within defence, aerospace or space.
- Comfortable recruiting senior engineers, technical leaders and highly specialised individual contributors
- A proactive headhunter. You know how to map markets, approach exceptional passive candidates and create interest where none existed before
- Commercial enough to understand why the business is hiring, not simply what is written in the job description
- Comfortable challenging hiring managers, sharpening briefs and saying when the market is telling us something different
- Able to operate with ambiguity. The Canadian organisation is being built now, so requirements will move and new priorities will emerge quickly
- Someone who enjoys building systems rather than inheriting them
- Direct, curious and extremely accountable
- Comfortable operating around sensitive defence programmes, security requirements and confidential information
- Obsessed with quality. Ten exceptional hires matter more to you than one hundred average ones
What great looks like
Within your first year, we want you to have helped create the foundations of Hypersonica Canada.
The strongest technical people in the Canadian market know who we are. Hiring managers trust you as a partner, not an order taker. We have repeatable talent maps and sourcing channels across our critical disciplines. Candidate processes are fast and high signal. Most importantly, the people you hire materially increase what the Canadian business is capable of delivering.
You should be able to look around the organisation and know that you helped build it.
What we offer
- The opportunity to help build a new defence technology business in Canada from the beginning
- Direct access to our Canadian MD, founders, Head of Talent and senior engineering leadership
- A business with proven technical momentum in Europe and significant ambition for Canada
- High ownership and autonomy. No time tracking and no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability
- The freedom to build the Canadian recruiting model rather than inherit somebody else’s process
- Daily exposure to exceptional engineers, operators and defence leaders
- A fast-moving environment where good ideas can become reality extremely quickly
- Competitive compensation and meaningful share options aligned to impact rather than tenure
Skills Required
- Experienced technical recruiter with a track record of finding and closing difficult technical talent
- Experience recruiting senior engineers, technical leaders, and specialized individual contributors
- Proactive headhunting, market mapping, and passive candidate sourcing skills
- Commercial understanding of business hiring needs
- Ability to challenge hiring managers and refine hiring briefs
- Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and rapidly changing environments
- Experience building recruiting systems, playbooks, networks, and sourcing infrastructure
- Ability to handle sensitive defense programs, security requirements, and confidential information
- Prior experience in defense, aerospace, or space recruiting
What We Do
Hypersonica is a mission-driven European defense and aerospace company that develops next-generation hypersonic systems for military and civilian applications. Founded in 2023, the company aims to equip European allies with sovereign, cost-effective hypersonic strike capabilities. By utilizing a modular architecture and rapid iteration, they significantly reduce development costs and timelines, focusing on enhancing Europe's defense autonomy and technological independence in a complex global security environment.
