Head of Talent

Head of Talent (hands-on, first talent hire)

Build the hiring playbook behind every Fabri foundry

Billerica, MA | Hybrid | Full-time

Fabri plans to open one new foundry a year until American casting capacity is back where it should be. Every one of them needs a team. We are hiring our first Head of Talent to build the hiring playbook that staffs Foundry 01 and every foundry after it.

You will report directly to our CEO, sit on the leadership team, and choose the tools, process, and partners from day one. There is no recruiting function to inherit. You will set the strategy, work the most critical searches yourself, and build a network of external recruiters to move fast. We plan ca. 50 hires over the next two years, mostly engineers and production technicians, growing from about 25 to 75 people, and want to make as many of them as possible in your first year. For the first year or two you will be our only in-house recruiter, building and managing the external recruiters and search firms that help us hire at that pace, and building the talent team when the pace calls for it.

About Fabri

American aviation, national security, and the power grid all run on cast parts, and the domestic foundry supply chain is falling apart. Fabri is fixing that. We are an MIT spinout building a fully integrated digital foundry that combines our exclusive high-throughput additive manufacturing process with AI-driven design software to deliver precision metal castings in days instead of years.

We are backed by Lavrock Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, RTX Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, and other top-tier investors, and we are already shipping parts to major aerospace and defense customers. We are raising our Series A, and this role will build the hiring engine behind that next stage of growth.

Fabri is located in Billerica, MA. This is a hybrid role with ca. three days a week on site, more in weeks with on-site interviews, because this is where much of the work happens: you will walk the floor with the technicians you hire and hold the parts they make.

What you'll do

• Set the talent strategy. Partner with the CEO and leadership to turn our growth plan into a hiring roadmap: priorities, sequencing, headcount, and which searches to run internally versus through partners.

• Own Fabri's highest-impact hires. Take over our open searches from day one and lead searches across the foundry floor, engineering, operations, commercial, and leadership, moving quickly without lowering the bar.

• Build the hiring engine. Choose our ATS and sourcing tools, with budget to match. Turn today's hiring into a fast, robust, and repeatable process, with interview loops, scorecards, and offer processes we can repeat at every new foundry.

• Source ahead of demand. Attract strong inbound applicants and build pipelines through outbound sourcing, referrals, trade schools, community colleges, and manufacturing networks before roles open.

• Build and manage a recruiter network. Find, engage, and manage external recruiters and search firms for specialized and senior roles, and wherever in-house alone would be too slow, so we can hire at the pace our growth needs.

• Own offers and compensation. Set pay bands and equity guidelines with leadership, and close candidates.

• Coach hiring managers. Help them define clear requirements, interview well, and make faster, better decisions.

• Shape the employer brand. Make every candidate interaction a strong first impression of Fabri and give great people clear reasons to join.

• Measure and manage. Track time to fill, offer acceptance, and retention. Manage agencies and search firms to deliver results and keep costs in check.

What you bring

Many strong candidates don't fit a standard blueprint. If you bring relevant experience and are excited about what we're building, we encourage you to apply even if you don't check every box.

• 5+ years of full-cycle recruiting, including in-house time at a venture-backed startup or fast-growing company

• Gets up to speed fast: productive on live searches within your first weeks, and quick to learn a new industry and its roles

• A track record of carrying many open requisitions at once across very different role types, from hourly technicians to senior engineers, and prioritizing ruthlessly when everything feels urgent

• Built recruiting from zero as a first or early talent hire: selected and launched an ATS, wrote the interview playbook, and set up scorecards, offer approvals, and reporting

• Hands-on experience hiring for manufacturing, industrial, hardware, or aerospace companies, including production technicians and engineering roles

• Fills hard-to-find technical roles through a smart mix of inbound attraction, outbound sourcing, referrals, and personal networks, bringing in agencies where they speed things up

• Built and managed a network of external recruiters or search firms to speed up hiring

• Closes candidates against competing offers: explains why joining a startup at our stage is attractive, walks first-time startup employees through equity, and recognizes when someone is not a fit for a startup environment

• Runs recruiting on data, using time to fill, pass-through rates, and offer acceptance to spot bottlenecks and report to leadership

• A team player with the judgment and presence to push back on founders and executives with data, set realistic timelines, and win their trust

• Credible with production technicians, senior engineers, and founders alike

• Comfort with ambiguity, a bias toward action, and ownership over results

Nice to have

• Helped scale an early-stage company past 100 employees, owning the hiring plan and headcount forecast along the way

• Personally closed 30+ hires in a 12-month period while keeping offer acceptance and early retention strong

• Built and managed a recruiting team of recruiters, sourcers, or coordinators

• Ran or partnered on executive searches for VP and C-level roles

• Built compensation bands, leveling frameworks, and equity guidelines using market data

• Hired hourly and skilled-trades workers at volume through trade schools, community colleges, apprenticeships, or workforce development programs

• Recruited for ITAR-regulated or defense programs and understands export control and US person requirements

• Background in foundry, metal casting, additive manufacturing, machining, or other heavy industrial environments

• An established network in the Boston and New England manufacturing and engineering talent markets

• Hands-on experience with modern recruiting tools such as Dover, Ashby, Greenhouse, Rippling, Gem, or LinkedIn Recruiter

What success looks like

• First 90 days: You've built a hiring roadmap with leadership, stood up our ATS and core processes, set up a network of external recruiters working on our open roles, and closed the first hires.

• First year: We've hit our hiring plan, with a repeatable process, hiring managers who trust it, and a clear plan for the talent team you will lead.

What we offer

• Base salary of $150,000 to $200,000, plus early-employee stock options

• Hybrid work, ca. three days per week on site in Billerica, MA, more in weeks with on-site interviews or meetings with hiring managers

• A seat on the leadership team, professional development, and a clear path to build and lead the talent function as Fabri scales

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance, HSA, and 401(k)

• Unlimited PTO, standard sick time, and 11 holidays per year

How to apply

Please apply through this page. Include a few sentences about why you're excited about Fabri and how this role fits your experience. This doesn't need to be a formal cover letter; we just want to understand what motivates you.

To comply with ITAR regulations, candidates must be US citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Fabri is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We foster an environment where safety and commitment to quality are central in everything we do.