Talent Acquisition Lead

The company:We are a profitable, fast-scaling defence-tech startup - operating on the extreme edge of innovation in the evolving domain of unmanned systems / drones.Our world-class team of Engineers are delivering solutions deemed impossible by many, for some of the most complex and challenging problems in the Drones / UAS space.With strong revenue growth, a loyal customer base, and an ambitious scaling plan, we are entering an exciting new phase of growth — and this is a rare opportunity to join at the moment it matters most.The role:We have established ourselves as a genuine battlefield leader in the British Drones/UAS sector. We are building on that early success and entering scale-up mode to take the business to new heights. A dedicated, full-time Talent Lead is required to build and take our recruitment engine into a new phase of maturity that sets the business up for scaling success. In this role you’ll partner closely with the Founder group, Senior Leadership Team and hiring managers across the business to: Define hiring priorities, build exceptional talent pipelines for a broad spectrum of roles and be responsible for the end to end candidate journey. This is not a role where you will inherit a mature Talent function that is already delivering at scale. You will take the existing foundations of our hiring SOPs and build from there. Alongside recruitment delivery, you can expect to lead on the tooling, systems and processes that uphold a world-class recruitment operating model. If you are someone that wants a comfortable role in an established Talent team with defined roles, where direction and priorities are clear and lacking ambiguity - this role is not for you. We need somebody that has the agility to operate in a young, scaling and dynamic start-up. What you will do:Own the end to end recruitment lifecycle for roles across all teams in the business: Defining priorities, conduct thorough role briefings, candidate sourcing, screening and making offers/closing. Establish and foster collaborative relationships with stakeholders up to Founder level. You will work closely with hiring managers who will need to trust that you understand their needs - whilst having the credibility to coach them, challenge and push back where necessary.Conduct thorough briefings with hiring managers for live priorities. You will use your experience to ask the right questions to get to the bottom of what the ideal profile looks like, and advise hiring managers on trade-offs when considering role criteria. Apply effective sourcing strategies to build healthy talent pipelines so that hiring managers have a selection of candidates to assess for their roles. Expect to be headhunting the best of the best in various Engineering disciplines (Mechanical, Electronics, RF, Software etc), Production/Assembly, Finance, Operations, Commercial, Pilots/Instructors etcScreen candidates to a high standard. You’ll assess quality and relevance of experience, personal motivations, cultural/values alignment and logistics. Hiring managers should only meet with candidates that have screened to your high bar. Constantly seek to improve and evolve our hiring SOPs, which act as a set of standards for how our Talent operation functions. You’ll use your years of experience to know what world-class looks like and how we move closer to that. Promptly and efficiently schedule interviews and manage the candidate journey through the process. You will drive the company-wide adherence to a high bar for candidate experience. Deliver offers to candidates and use your sales skills and emotional intelligence to ensure a strong offer -> acceptance ratio. Work in close partnership with our People Ops Manager, Operations Manager and Founders to ensure the onboarding process is as seamless as possible - ensuring both a high quality experience for new starters but also a scalable process for internal stakeholders.Evaluate, improve and implement new tooling and processes that can help improve our recruitment operating model and make it scalable. Partner and build close relationships with 3rd party agencies that will be used to augment high-priority and high-volume hiring areas. Essential skills/experience:10+ years of experience working in demanding and fast-paced recruiting environments. Your experience must combine a mixture of both agency recruitment as well as in-house Talent Partnering. Start-up/Scale-up experience: You must be experienced, competent and totally comfortable working in the ambiguous and rapid tempo of a high-growth startup. A proven track record of partnering and building strong relationships with stakeholders up to Founder level. You must be capable of establishing trust, credibility and a healthy collaboration with hiring managers. High standards: Whilst we are scaling fast, you’ll be the person that holds the company accountable to our hiring SOPs. You must not compromise on a high set of standards that allow Alto to scale with quality, not just quantity. Ability to challenge and push back: You are an extension of the team, not a service function. Your expertise in the hiring domain will be trusted and utilised so you need to have the conviction to use it. A well-rounded recruitment capability: We appreciate specialisms, but you must be versatile enough to spend the morning screening Aerospace Design Engineers, and the afternoon sourcing for candidates for roles in our Commercial team. An unrelenting drive and work-ethic: Hiring success is paramount to the business hitting critical objectives - failure is not an option. “Nice to have” skills/experience:Experience recruiting into Aerospace/Defence companies, specifically in the UAS/Drones sector. Specific start-up stage: taking a start-up from 10’s to 100’s of employeesExperience recruiting in countries outside the UK. Ukraine + Norway is strongly preferred. Compensation: Competitive annual salaryPerformance bonusEmployee stock optionsLife and health insurance35 days annual leave including public holidays