Senior People & Culture lead

You want to help protect western values? You want to protect people and critical infrastructure - ultimately saving the lives of thousands. You want to work at the frontier of high-performance autonomous systems. Join us at CDDS to build CDDS into an elite organization capable of solving some of the hardest technical and operational challenges. You will build further the systems, processes, and culture that allow extraordinary people to do their best work. We move at an extreme tempo and priorities are within EU and US. You should be comfortable operating in ambiguity, making decisions with imperfect information, and continuously evolving how we recruit, onboard, and develop talent as the company grows. Tasks Partnering directly with the CEO and leadership team on organizational design and hiring strategy Building and scaling world-class recruiting processes for engineering, robotics, autonomy, operations, and commercial functions Identifying and personally engaging exceptional candidates across US and Europe Designing interview systems that consistently raise the talent bar Creating onboarding experiences that enable new hires to become highly productive quickly Developing performance management, feedback, and career development frameworks Building leadership capabilities across the organisation Shaping and protecting company culture during periods of rapid growth Designing compensation, retention, and talent development strategies Supporting managers in hiring, team building, performance, and organisational challenges Establishing people operations that scale without creating unnecessary bureaucracy Helping the company navigate rapid growth while maintaining speed, accountability, and excellence Requirements Your Profile 5+ years of experience in talent acquisition, people leadership, organisational development, executive search, or related fields Proven track record of hiring exceptional talent in high-performance environments Strong ability to assess talent, potential, and cultural fit Experience partnering closely with founders, executives, or senior leadership teams Excellent communication and relationship-building skills High ownership and willingness to operate hands-on Strong judgment and ability to make decisions independently Comfortable working in a fast-moving startup environment where priorities evolve rapidly Requirements Nice to have Experience scaling technical organisations from early-stage to growth-stage Background in recruiting for software, robotics, AI, autonomy, aerospace, or defence sectors Experience building people systems and organisational processes from scratch Executive search or headhunting experience Knowledge of compensation design and performance management Experience hiring internationally Understanding of startup scaling challenges and organisational design Benefits Why CDDS Direct impact on a mission-critical technology shaping US and Europe's security landscape Opportunity to work directly with the CEO and leadership team High ownership and influence on the future of the company Build and shape an organisation in hyper growth phase Work with highly ambitious, technical, and mission-driven people Fast-moving environment with significant personal growth opportunities Attractive compensation Details Location: Hardbrucke (Zürich), on-site Start date: ASAP Environment: High-impact deep-tech startup working on real deployments