Recruiting Operations Lead

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

Varda is pioneering a commercial space-based manufacturing and reentry logistics platform. We need a Recruiting Operations Lead who has built, or rebuilt, a recruiting engine before and can do it again at our pace. You will own the systems, processes, data, and integrations that let our recruiters hire at scale. This is a builder’s role: you’ll diagnose what’s broken, prioritize ruthlessly, ship solutions, and keep iterating until the machine hums.

Responsibilities

You are the person who makes the whole hiring engine work (better).

• Builder. You’ve stood up recruiting infrastructure from scratch or rebuilt it mid-flight. You see a messy process and know how to design something that holds up at twice the volume.
• Fixer. You walk into a complex situation, break it into workable pieces, and figure out what matters first. You’re a creative problem solver who doesn’t wait for perfect information or a perfect plan.
• Know Greenhouse inside and out. You administer it with confidence: workflows, permissions, scorecards, approvals, reporting, and everything in between. You keep it clean, and you keep it trusted.
• Integrator. You connect the tools our team uses every day, so each system, process and data feed is optimized. You know how to scope an integration, work with APIs and vendors, and make data flow without manual work.
• Collaborator. You partner with Marketing and HR teams to support the creation of cross-functional efforts such as interviewer training, candidate communications, recruiting events.
• Data-focused. You build the dashboards and forecasts that show where the pipeline is healthy and where it’s stuck. You turn numbers into decisions and help our team leaders plan headcount with eyes open.
• Ownership. You take a problem from first idea to finished execution. You keep stakeholders in the loop, bring Recruiting, People, IT, Finance, and Legal along, and aren’t afraid to push back when a shortcut would create tomorrow’s mess.
• Protect the candidate experience. You know a job search can be nerve-racking. You make sure every touchpoint, from application to offer letter to background check, is smooth, fast, and rooted in humanity.
• Build for compliance without red tape. You design processes that handle proper controls, audits, EEO reporting, and data hygiene.
• Raise the bar. You document what works, train the team, and mentor others.

What Success Looks Like

• Recruiters spend their time recruiting, not wrestling with tools or admin
• Our recruiting stack is integrated, reliable, ready for volume hiring
• Hiring managers and leaders trust our data and rely on its insights
• Time-to-hire drops, candidate experience improves, and nothing falls through the cracks

Basic Qualifications

• 7+ years in recruiting, talent operations, HR operations or a closely related field, including at least one end-to-end build or rebuild of a recruiting function at a growing company
• Expert-level Greenhouse ATS experience, including system administration, workflow design, reporting, and integrations
• Hands-on experience connecting recruiting tools through native integrations, APIs, or middleware
• Strong analytical skills, with experience building recruiting dashboards and forecasts
• Proven ability to prioritize competing demands, manage multiple workstreams, and deliver on time
• Clear, proactive communicator who works effectively with executives, hiring managers, recruiters, and technical teams

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience integrating Greenhouse with Paylocity or a similar HRIS
• Experience with Codility, DocuSign, Gem, Juicebox AI, Checkr, and LinkedIn Recruiter
• In-house experience at a hardware, aerospace, or deep tech company scaling quickly
• Exposure to ITAR/export-controlled hiring environments
• Experience managing recruiting vendors, agencies, and budgets
• Experience leading or building a recruiting operations team
• Familiarity with diversity sourcing strategies and inclusive hiring practices

Compensation & Location

• Base Salary: $125,000 - $170,000/per year
• This range reflects the potential levels at which we may hire for this role. Final compensation will depend on experience, skills, education, as well as internal equity
• Eligible for incentives in the form of stock options and/or long-term cash awards
• Location: El Segundo, CA (onsite)

ITAR Requirements

Varda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license.

“US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum).

E-Verify Statement

Varda Space Industries, Inc. participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the E-Verify program.

E-Verify Notice Right To Work Notice

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Varda Space Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Candidates and employees are always evaluated based on merit, qualifications, and performance. We will never discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, martial status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.