Senior Technical Recruiter

ABOUT US

Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. Basically, we're building robots that build robots. Our mission is to rebuild the American manufacturing industry as an AI-first, assembly-focused, dual-use contract manufacturer. As a founding member of our team, you will have a direct and significant impact on our product, culture, and ultimate success. This role is 100% in-person at our office in Emeryville, CA.

THE ROLE

This role owns the engineering that turns a research result into a machine we can build repeatedly: mechanical design, manufacturing and process engineering, and quality. It also owns the commercial relationship that keeps the floor staffed — the staffing agency supplying our hourly contract technicians.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

- Own end-to-end hiring for mechanical, manufacturing, process, test, and quality engineering.

- Refuse to open a req without a competency map. Decompose each role into assessable skills with the hiring manager.

- Build and run interviewer training and calibration for manufacturing and mechanical loops — including floor leads who have never interviewed before and believe they are already good at reading people.

- Own talent competitor analysis across contract manufacturers, hardware startups, aerospace, and automotive.

- Own the staffing agency relationship for hourly contract technicians: selection, rate negotiation, SLAs, scorecards, and quality standards (with support of VP People)

- Hold the agency to our bar, not theirs. Define the screen, audit who they send, track conversion and 90-day retention of the contractors placed, and replace the agency if the quality is not there.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Founder mentality: We love people who build like it’s their own company. You move fast, take ownership, and find a way through when the path isn’t obvious. You have the drive to make big things happen and the judgment to take smart risks along the way. If you prefer a clearly defined lane, a predictable pace, and all the answers before you start, there’s nothing wrong with that—but Foundry might not be the right fit.

- 5+ years of technical recruiting, including real time hiring mechanical, manufacturing, or quality engineers in a hardware environment.

- You can hold a real conversation about tolerance stack-ups, DFM, GD&T, or the difference between an EVT and a PVT build — and you know when to stop pretending and go ask.

- You have managed a staffing agency relationship and improved it, including the conversation where you tell them the quality is not good enough.

- Comfortable on a shop floor in steel toes and safety glasses.

- You have built a competency map, not just filled one in, and you have trained non-recruiters to interview and made it stick.

- You are AI-efficient and use tooling to multiply your own sourcing output rather than grinding through lists by hand.

- You will tell a leader under deadline pressure that this is a no-hire, and hold it.

NICE TO HAVE (NOT REQUIRED)

- Contract manufacturing, production ramp, or high-mix low-volume environments.

- Hiring into ITAR-controlled programs, including contractor eligibility constraints.

- Second- and third-shift staffing experience.

Straight Talk About this Role

We practice ethical hiring

- Agency management is roughly a third of this job. If you only want to run engineering searches, this is not the seat.

- When the build slips, pressure to lower the bar arrives immediately, and it comes from people you like.

- You should be able to sell equity at a young company. Cash packages here are not "Big Tech" money, so you'll need to know exactly what makes Foundry different

How we hire

- How we hire, including how we will hire you: each interviewer digs into one skill and reports back on just that. The