Research report, 2025
2025 State of Defense Hiring.
How defense tech companies hire, and where hiring gets stuck.
Hiring is strong.
Companies are hiring across functions.
LinkedIn and job boards lead.
Most companies hire through LinkedIn and job boards. About 25% also use retained or contingent recruiters.
Product and engineering come first.
These are the largest hiring focus. Communications and policy roles are less pressing.
Most offers get accepted.
About 75% of companies see offer acceptance rates of 75% or higher. Some of the best-known companies sit in the 51 to 75% range.
Cleared talent is the bottleneck.
Finding cleared people is the hardest challenge for most companies, and big tech salaries make the competition fierce.
Questions we get asked
Is the defense tech industry hiring?
Yes. Our 2025 State of Defense Hiring report found strong hiring across functions, with product and engineering roles the largest focus.
What is the hardest role to hire in defense tech?
Cleared talent. Most companies said finding people with security clearances was their hardest challenge, and competing with big tech salaries makes it harder.
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