Contract Technical Recruiter | Redwood City, CA (Hybrid, 3 days onsite)

Company Description

Employer.com is partnering with a well-funded frontier AI company who is building the next generation of multimodal intelligence, with applications spanning video generation, simulation, design, and robotics. Their technology is used by studios, enterprise brands, and developers worldwide, and they are backed by top-tier investors. They are moving fast and the team reflects that.

Job Description

We are looking for a contract recruiter or sourcer with hands-on experience hiring Forward Deployed Engineers across the US (Bay Area) and Europe.

What you'll be doing

You'll own sourcing and recruiting for a specialized FDE build-out. FDEs sit at the intersection of engineering, solutions architecture, and customer-facing implementation, and finding people who can operate in that mode takes a recruiter who understands the profile. You'll work directly with hiring leadership, move quickly, and operate with minimal hand-holding.

Specifically: pipeline FDE candidates across the Bay Area and/or Europe, screen for the right mix of technical depth and customer-facing orientation, manage candidate experience, and partner with the hiring team on calibration and process.

Who to target

The FDE profile is distinct. Unlike a standard software engineer, FDEs are deployed into customer environments, so the recruiter needs to understand that blend of technical credibility and commercial orientation. You're looking for recruiters or sourcers who have recruited at companies where FDE is a named track, not just people who've hired generic software engineers.

Primary target companies for recruiter background:

Palantir is the obvious one Andy named. Recruiters who have placed Palantir FDEs know the profile intimately. Also target: Anduril (Mission Software Engineers with deployment context), Scale AI (professional services engineering), Hex, Glean, Retool, Dataiku, and Weights and Biases. Any company that sells an enterprise AI or data product and uses FDEs or deployment engineers as part of their GTM motion is fair game.

Secondary angle: recruiters who have hired Solutions Architects or Implementation Engineers at infrastructure or AI companies will have partial overlap with the profile, even if FDE wasn't the literal job title.

Where to source

LinkedIn is primary. Search terms: "forward deployed engineer" recruiter, "technical recruiter Palantir," "FDE recruiting," "solutions engineer recruiter AI." Narrow to Bay Area. Secondary search for European recruiting experience without requiring European location, since the client wants to cover both markets, likely from a Bay-based seat.

Boolean example: ("forward deployed" OR "FDE" OR "Palantir") AND ("recruiter" OR "sourcer") AND ("technical" OR "engineering")

Also worth checking: Contra, Toptal, and Loxo for contract recruiter profiles. Levels.fyi forums and Blind occasionally surface recruiters by name when candidates mention who reached out to them.

What to ask on screen

The qualifying question for every candidate is simple: name the FDE or equivalent hires you've closed. What companies were they placed at? What was the technical bar? How did you assess for customer-facing aptitude on top of engineering chops? Candidates who can answer that specifically are worth advancing. Vague answers about "technical recruiting" without FDE-specific examples are a pass.

Europe angle

For the European sourcing component, probe whether the recruiter has any experience recruiting across UK, Germany, France, or the Nordics. Even partial exposure helps. The client will want EMEA-facing FDEs who can be physically present with European enterprise customers, so a recruiter who has sourced or placed technical talent in those markets is a meaningful differentiator.

Positioning to candidates

This is a $4B frontier AI company actively building world models and physical AI infrastructure. The FDE team being built here isn't a support function; it's part of the commercial motion for a major technical bet on simulation and robotics. Lead with the greenfield nature of the build, the direct access to hiring leadership, and the conversion potential. A strong contractor here builds something visible and owns the outcome.

Qualifications

What we're looking for

• Demonstrated history of hiring Forward Deployed Engineers or closely analogous profiles (Solutions Engineers, Implementation Engineers, Customer Engineers at companies like Palantir, Anduril, Scale AI, or similar)
• In-house tech recruiting experience; agency background alone is not a fit
• Recruiting focus in US (Bay Area) and/or European markets; multi-market experience a plus but not required
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment with lean process and high ownership
• Bay Area based, available to work from the Redwood City office 3 days per week
• Available to start within 1-2 weeks

Engagement

Contract, W-2 through Employer.com | Flawless Talent. Duration Estimated to be 6 months based on hiring velocity; strong performers may be considered for conversion.

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.