You don't need more candidates. You need the right one.
Engage DTC
Defense Talent, Matched to the Mission
Executive and technical search for America's defense technology companies.
Executive and technical search for America's defense technology companies.
Model
Contingent & Retained
Focus
Defense, National Security & Dual-Use
Coverage
United States
We recruit for defense technology companies: the engineers who build the product, the operators who bring it to government customers, and the leaders who lead both functions. We find the people who understand how technology and mission fit together.
Most shortlists split between people who've never built a product and people who've never worked with government. The useful candidates have done both. There are fewer of them.
The strongest people in this sector already have jobs and aren't looking. Many hold active clearances. Reaching them takes an established network and a reason worth their attention.
When you're hiring faster than you can manage, we run the hiring function — the searches, and the process your team keeps when we're done.
Military service builds judgment under pressure and the ability to contribute early. Neither shows up on a resume. An underused pool, and one we work.
Some clients are hiring against a delivery date, some against a funding round, some just want the right person.
Both founders have spent their careers making calls about people. We run a short slate, and we say what we think of each name on it.
Leaders for AI/ML programs, autonomy stacks, and data infrastructure in high-stakes environments.
Engineers and leaders for cloud adoption, DevSecOps, and accredited environments on mission-critical programs.
Engineering and operations leadership for companies moving from prototype to rate production.
Engineering and program leadership for flight systems, uncrewed platforms, and autonomous vehicles.
Product, engineering, and go-to-market leadership for companies building software for defense and intelligence customers.
Every search starts with understanding the role well enough to know who could do it. That usually means going past the job description: what the person will own, who they'll answer to, and which parts of the spec are real requirements rather than preferences. From there we approach people directly rather than posting and waiting. The quality of a shortlist is decided long before anyone is contacted.
We start with what the role has to deliver, not the job description. What the person will own, who they'll answer to, the operating environment, and the clearance and eligibility requirements — defined before we contact anyone.
We approach people directly rather than posting and waiting. They come from networks we've built inside this sector over years — people already doing the job well, approached with something specific about the role and honest about the company.
We assess for the work, not the résumé. Whether they've operated at your stage of company, whether they can carry the role without a support structure behind them, and where they genuinely stand on clearance and eligibility — established before you see them.
A short slate, with our reasoning attached. We stay in the process through offer, counteroffer, and notice period, which is where good searches are most often lost.
We stay in touch after the start date, with the company and the person. A hire that doesn't last isn't a placement, and the problems that cause one usually show up early.
Our founders come from special operations, the intelligence community, and defense technology. Inside this sector, not adjacent to it.
We hire against the mission, not the job description. That standard comes from service where the cost of the wrong person was immediate.
