Paul Werner

Let's talk: Salary negotiations 💰   Salary negotiations as a technical recruiter in the defense sector come with unique nuances compared to commercial tech mostly due to Labor Category Constraints. Many defense roles are tied to government-set labor categories and pay bands.   As a technical recruiter when negotiating with candidates:   ✔️ Be transparent about salary ceilings early. 💯 ✔️ Sell total compensation: defense contractors often underbid salary but will add strong benefits (retirement matching, PTO, stability, mission impact).   Pro Tip: Know when you can ask for more and learn how flexible your PM/PCA can be - sometimes there’s unallocated budget, but it will require justification.

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2025 Texas Robotics & Automation Salary Guide — Now Live! We’ve just released our most detailed compensation analysis yet covering salary benchmarks, hiring trends, and in-demand skills across Texas’ top tech hubs: Austin, Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Whether you're a hiring manager planning for 2026 or an engineer exploring market value, this guide is for you. Want the full PDF? DM me (send a connection irst please) and I’ll send it your way. Key highlights: * Controls Engineers remain hardest to hire statewide * Austin leads in ROS2 and AI roles up to $180K+ base * Hybrid + Embedded roles are spiking in demand Authored by: Paul Barling, Technex Talent Ltd #robotics #automation #texasjobs #embedded #salaryguide #hiring

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Cleared Engineering Talent Market Update --- DoD Space & Defense (Heading into Q2 2026) As we move into Q2, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from program and engineering leaders about what the cleared technical labor market actually looks like right now across Space and Defense programs. After talking with teams across the ecosystem and looking at the broader funding signals, a few things are pretty clear. First - demand is still there. The FY26 DoD budget request includes ~$66B for IT and cyber capabilities, with more than $14B specifically for cyber investments. On the space side, the Space Force budget request sits around $26B, with potential growth depending on reconciliation funding. In other words, the work behind space systems, mission networks, and cyber defense is still being funded. The real constraint is still the clearance pipeline. Even though investigation backlogs have improved, the average end-to-end clearance investigation still takes many months. For programs that need engineers quickly, that means one thing: 👉 Candidates who already hold active clearances remain the most competitive profiles in the market. Across the three disciplines I work closest with, here’s what I’m seeing: 🔧 Systems Engineering • Still one of the hardest cleared roles to backfill • High demand for engineers supporting mission integration, space ground systems, and operational architecture • Senior systems engineers often evaluating multiple opportunities simultaneously 🌐 Network Engineering • Demand tied heavily to classified infrastructure modernization and secure network architecture • Many roles require fully on-site support, which narrows the candidate pool significantly • Programs are competing for engineers with secure environment and network sustainment experience 🛡 Cyber Security Engineering • Remains the tightest discipline overall • Demand driven by defensive cyber operations, mission assurance, and zero-trust initiatives • Clearance + certification requirements continue to limit available supply One other trend that hasn’t changed: compensation. Cleared compensation has continued rising over the past year, particularly for mid- and senior-level engineering roles. The premium for higher clearances remains significant, especially in cyber and mission systems environments. Bottom line: • The cleared engineering labor market supporting Space and Defense programs isn’t loosening going into Q2 2026. • Demand remains strong, the clearance pipeline still limits supply, and experienced engineers with active clearances continue to have multiple options. Curious what others are seeing across their programs as we head deeper into the year. #DoD #SpaceForce #DefenseIndustry #ClearedTalent #SystemsEngineering #NetworkEngineering #CyberSecurity #GovCon #DefenseWorkforce #EngineeringLeadership

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73% of senior software engineers in Defense & Space say they would trade compensation for flexibility. How many programs are structured with that reality in mind? Over the past year, Luneus held direct conversations with senior software and hardware engineers working inside active U.S. Defense & Space programs. Not surveys. Not job applications. Real discussions with mostly passive engineers evaluating risk, stability, and leadership. We’ve compiled the patterns in our new report: 2026 U.S. Defense & Space Report: Senior Engineers’ Salary, Work Models & What Moves Them If you lead engineering, operations, or talent in a defense or space program, the insights will be relevant. Download the full report: https://lnkd.in/emifcW5c #defenseindustry #defenseengineering #defensetalent

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A more human, more strategic TA function? 74% of talent professionals are optimistic about AI’s impact on recruitment, according to LinkedIn data. Exceptional TA professionals aren't replaced by AI; they're supercharged by it. In this blog, we share insights on: - AI literacy as a strategic skill - The AI Maturity Curve - Emerging skills for AI-enabled TA professionals - Actions talent leader should be taking - Procurement with purpose - Responsible AI: From Ethics to Governance Don’t miss these expert insights: https://lnkd.in/dKqz-gXM #Hiring #Recruitment #TalentAcquisition #Leadership #ArtificiaIIntelligence #Technology

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TA/Recruiter job openings in the U.S. continue to climb (surprisingly!) For the first time in nearly three years, postings are holding steady above the 45,000 mark. The sharpest demand we’re seeing is from clients in Data Centers, AI, Aerospace Engineering, and VC-backed and pre-IPO tech. What’s especially interesting: this strength in TA roles is happening at the same time overall U.S. job openings are trending down (per the latest JOLTs report). August’s jobs report showed just 22K new jobs created nationwide, yet demand for recruiters is starting to surge. Why? My hunch: - Lowering interest rates are fueling capital expenditures in tech - IPO activity is picking up - VC funding is flowing again - Companies are positioning for broad hiring in tech Recruiting is often the “canary in the coal mine” for hiring cycles. If this momentum holds, it could signal a broader acceleration in tech hiring heading into 2026. 👉 Do you think this trend continues?

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If you’re hiring in defense/space, it’s not enough to say “we need a strategic finance leader.” Yesterday, I shared the hard-tech finance profile that LA & OC defense companies are quietly fighting over based on a very real person I’m speaking with in this market. Today is the practical side: how I actually spot that profile on a resume or LinkedIn in under 30 seconds. When I’m scanning a profile in this niche, I don't start with the title. I’m looking for a few specific signals: Real ownership, not “support” Language like: “Owned FP&A for $500M+ P&L” or “Accountable for full planning cycle on X program” If everything is “supported” and “assisted,” it’s not necessarily a red flag, but may not be a change agent. Scale and change in the same story, evidence they’ve lived through motion, not just maintenance: "Turnaround or restructuring" or "New programs/products layered on fast." Ten quiet years in a steady-state role is the old paradigm of aerospace and less relevant to today. Built systems and teams, didn’t just use them: I look for: built, implemented, stood up, restructured, not just “maintained reports.” Lives between engineering and the boardroom “Cross-functional” actually shows up in the work: Program reviews, technical roadmaps, hardware + software complexity, plus board decks, investor materials, long-range planning. And ideally some exposure to M&A or major contracts that changed the company. Logos and titles can lie. These patterns don’t. That’s the gap I keep seeing between “good finance” and the hard-tech strategic finance leaders who can keep LA & OC defense companies growing fast without flying blind.

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Is X-Force a staffing agency? Short answer: No. Staffing is one of our mechanisms—but it’s not our only model. X-Force operates as a capability partner focused on mission resilience. We work with defense and government-adjacent teams that can’t afford execution gaps—programs where delays, clearance loss, or turnover create real mission risk. Our role is to reduce that risk by ensuring critical capability is always online. We do this by building, maintaining, and deploying cleared teams that operate inside your constraints—security, compliance, timelines, and funding. We focus on continuity and readiness. That means identifying where a program becomes fragile—single points of failure, clearance exposure, slow ramp time—and designing a talent infrastructure that prevents those failures before they happen. We’ve supported programs where clearance attrition threatened timelines and others where hard-to-replace skill sets created bottlenecks. In those cases, our value wasn’t speed alone—it was predictability. When talent availability stops being the variable, programs stay on track. #MissionResilience #DefenseIndustry #ClearedTalent #NationalSecurity #GovernmentContracting #WorkforceStrategy #OperationalReadiness #XForce

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TA teams are getting hammered right now. Fake resumes, bots, and “Easy Apply” spam are flooding inboxes, and even the best teams are feeling it. We spoke last night with one of the top SaaS platforms in the U.S. Their brand is strong, their TA team is elite, and their hiring process is tight. They posted one role. 978 applications. Zero matches. Not bad candidates, just not the right ones. That’s when they called us. They needed proactive outreach, not another pile of resumes. No ads, no noise, just trusted candidates from our network who actually fit. As end-of-year hiring ramps up, this is where specialist recruiters earn their keep, cutting through the noise and finding the people who actually move the needle. 🚀

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⏳ Less than 85 days left in 2025—but with holidays, PTO, and year-end cooling off, the real window to hire is closer to 70 days. If hiring before year-end is on your radar, the time to act is now. Each week that slips by shortens the runway for sourcing, interviews, and offers. And once Thanksgiving rolls around, hiring decisions slow dramatically. If adding talent before 2026 is a key goal, don’t wait. Starting the process now could be the difference between onboarding on schedule—or waiting until mid-January to relaunch your search. Interested in discussing your hiring plans? Let’s connect this week! #hiring #talentstrategy #recruitment #yearendplanning

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