Talent Director

Axiom Space is a human space exploration company, building era-defining space infrastructure and delivering technology-driven solutions that will empower civilization to transcend Earth. Beginning with Axiom Station, successor to the International Space Station, the company is pioneering a next-generation orbital settlement that will foster groundbreaking innovation and research in microgravity and drive the global space economy of tomorrow. Today, guided by the vision of leading humanity's expansion off planet, Axiom Space is the principal provider of commercial human spaceflight services and developer of advanced spacesuits for the Moon and beyond. For more information about Axiom Space, visit www.axiomspace.com.

Axiom Space fosters a work environment inclusive of all perspectives. We are the pioneers of commercial space, leading the transformation of low-Earth orbit into a global space marketplace. Our mission-driven team is seeking a bold and agile Talent Director who is fueled by high ownership, execution horsepower, growth mindset, and driven to understand our world, science/technology, and life itself, for the benefit of all on Earth and beyond.

POSITION SUMMARY

We are looking for a Director of Talent to own the full lifecycle of how Axiom finds, grows, and retains the people we need that aligns with the long-term business objectives. This role reports to the Chief People Officer (CPO) and spans four interconnected domains: talent acquisition, workforce planning & reporting, learning & development, and talent management. This role oversees initiatives to build a high-performing workforce. You will design the systems, set the standards, develop the partnerships, and be directly accountable to the outcomes that measure whether those systems are working. Collaboration occurs daily with leadership, engineering and program leads, and the People Business Partners. You will be measured on outcomes and metrics.

This role is right for someone who has built a talent function before, not just one piece of it, knows what good looks like at a high-growth, aero-tech company, and is comfortable coaching senior leaders. Understanding the Axiom Space employee profile will shape every decision, every action, and every design.

At Axiom Space, we are doing something that has never been done before. The engineering problems we are solving are genuinely hard, the stakes are real, and the people doing this work know it. We are also in a period of organizational growth that is not without friction. We are fixing complex things. Management accountability, hiring velocity, retention of top performers are problems we are actively working on. The person we are hiring for this role will be a part of the solution to those problems. If you want to build something, work on hard problems, and be held accountable to outcomes that matter, this is the right place.

KEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

You will own:

Talent acquisition

• Design and enforce the offer target from posting to signed offer across all active requisitions by owning the SLA framework for every stage: position description approval, posting live, first screen, panel interviews, references, and offer.
• Identify and remove every bottleneck in the current process.
• Hold hiring managers accountable to their side of the process; escalate to the CPO when timelines slip without cause.
• Implement the redesigned interview framework specifically to align with an engineering organization focusing on accountability, skills, and grit.
• Train hiring managers on behavioral interviewing, decisiveness, and how to evaluate rigor objectively — including technical depth.
• Build calibration processes so interview panels give consistent, defensible assessments.
• Manage the internal recruiting team: hire, develop, and set performance expectations for recruiters and recruiting coordinators.
• Build a recruiting ops function that tracks every req in real time and surfaces aging searches before they become crises.
• Execute Axiom’s employer brand strategy.
• Build university and alumni pipelines for engineering talent, particularly in aerospace, technology, systems, and engineering disciplines.
• Represent Axiom credibly in the aerospace and defense talent community.

Workforce planning and reporting

• Partner with HRBPs and program leads to translate business milestones into headcount needs.
• Maintain a real-time view of all open requisitions and report weekly to the CPO on hiring velocity, aging requisitions, offer acceptance rates, and 90-day new hire retention.
• Build or optimize the ATS, sourcing stack, and recruiter workflows to support Axiom’s hiring volume and velocity targets.
• Build the data and reporting infrastructure to track talent health across the organization: flight risk indicators, high-performer retention, internal mobility rates, and manager effectiveness scores.
• Provide market intelligence on compensation, candidate availability, and competitor hiring activity.
• Continually reassess KPIs based on business needs.

Learning & development

• Design and execute Axiom’s L&D strategy by building the capabilities the organization needs to deliver on its programs.
• Design and implement a talent development framework that identifies high-potential employees and builds clear paths for their growth.
• Own the 360-degree feedback design and cadence: ensure outputs are structured, acted upon, and visibly influence decisions about career progression and leadership.
• Develop a manager effectiveness curriculum so managers at Axiom Space are equipped with the skills to engage, retain, and develop their teams.
• Build technical learning pathways in partnership with engineering leadership focused on the skills most critical to program execution.
• Establish a structured onboarding program that gets new hires to full productivity in 45 days and connects them to the mission, the culture, and their team from day one.
• Measure L&D impact: not completion rates, but behavior change and business outcomes.
• Evaluate and manage the L&D vendor ecosystem with clear performance expectations and cost discipline.

Talent management

• Own the performance management cycle end-to-end: design, calendar, calibration, and manager training on how to have honest performance conversations.
• Build a consistent talent review process that the CPO and CEO can trust to surface the real picture: who is performing, who is at risk, who is ready for more, and who needs to move on
• Build succession plans for critical engineering and program leadership roles; maintain a bench of internal candidates so key departures do not create operational crises.
• Define and enforce the standard for how Axiom assesses and develops managers against the culture.
• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each key duty and responsibility satisfactorily. Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: 

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Education & Experience

Required

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, organizational development, industrial-organizational psychology, or possesses an approved combined equivalent of education and experience.
• 10+ years of experience across talent acquisition, talent management, or learning & development, with 3+ years in a leadership role owning more than one of these disciplines.
• Experience designing and running performance management, talent review, and succession planning processes, not just administering them.
• Has designed an L&D or manager development program and can speak to, not only the rollout, but its business impact.
• Demonstrated track record of reducing time-to-fill at a growing organization.
• Has built and managed a multi-discipline talent team, recruiters, L&D, and talent management.
• Knows how to run an agency search relationship effectively: write the brief, evaluate the shortlist, hold the firm accountable.
• Comfortable delivering direct assessments to senior leaders — on their hiring process, their team’s development gaps, or their own management effectiveness.
• Operates with urgency by default; treats a stalled search or an untrained new manager as problems that need to be solved immediately.
• Able to build structure without bureaucracy and designs processes that move faster because that’s who you are.

Preferred

• Experience recruiting for aerospace, defense, or another safety-critical technical domain strongly preferred
• Has built or significantly redesigned at least one talent function at a technology or engineering-driven company and can describe measurables.
• Experience with ITAR-controlled hiring, security clearance processes, or government contractor workforce requirements a plus

Functional Competencies

• Strategic thinker with operational execution capability with precision and pace.
• Forges strong partnerships and influences change.
• Strong project management discipline, highly organized, and takes ownership.
• Successfully differentiates high performers in high-growth Aerotech company.
• Measures improvements in attraction and retention outcomes.
• Track record of making things happen in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• Uses good judgement to problem-solve proactively, positively impacting hard challenges
• Demonstrated organization skills to meet tight deadlines with high quality results
• Strong agility and adaptability to integrate quickly into a small team.
• Maintains a high level of discretion with confidential matters.

Core Skills

• Passion for space and the mission.
• Entrepreneurial, growth mindset.
• High EQ and ability to collaborate within teams and cross-functionally.
• Tech-solutioning in using systems and tools to move smarter and faster.

Core Competencies:

Embody our core values of Leadership, Innovation, and Teamwork. In addition, to perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Accountability
• Technical Rigor
• Execution Discipline
• Pride of Delivery

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Generally, an office environment. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Requirements 

• Must be able to complete a U.S. government background investigation.
• Management has the discretion to select at any level for which the position is advertised.
• Proof of U.S. Citizenship or US Permanent Residency is a requirement for this position.
• Must be willing to work evenings and weekends as needed to meet critical milestones.

Axiom Space is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  Axiom Space does not discriminate on the basis of race, regional color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.