Build right. Hire right. Rebel forever.

I'm a fractional Head of Talent for Series A-C startups and defense contractors. I build recruiting infrastructure companies own forever, ATS workflows, sourcing frameworks, scorecards, pipelines; then close critical hires in under 30 days.

My path wasn't traditional: TGI Fridays → booking bands → managing tours → 14 years in recruiting. It taught me to spot talent fast, sell with conviction, and treat every search like representation. I operate like an agent, take care of both sides, protect the brand, close the deal.

Currently: Fractional Head of Talent at EarthDaily Federal (geospatial intelligence, defense). Board member at Underground Admins.

Author: Head and Heart: Winning the AI Recruiting War

richie@rebeltalentsystems.com | rebeltalentsystems.com

Richie Lampani

I got recognized at Costco yesterday.


Guy walks up, points at me, and goes "You're that recruiter."

I said "Depends. Are you hiring or mad at me for ghosting you or something?"

He said "Neither. I just see you everywhere and wanted to make sure you were real."

Then he bought a 48-pack of paper towels and left.

No follow. No handshake. No "love your content." Just a man confirming my corporeal existence between the rotisserie chickens and the tire center.

I've never felt more seen and more invisible at the same time.

This is what 50,000 LinkedIn connections gets you.

A stranger in bulk goods aisle 7 performing a wellness check.

Anyway I'm still taking clients.

Also, who would tune in for the below podcast? I'm trying to talk Shaun Hervey into starting it back up. 

Richie

Fractional Head of Talent | Series A-C Startups & Defense | Author & Talent Strategist | Former TGI Fridays Flair Champ

When the hiring manager says ‘we need someone hungry’ and the team looks like they’ve been surviving on vibes and stale granola since 2023.

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I get why people hate recruiting agencies. I’m Richie. I’ll go first.
I apologize for my part in it and for once being one of the idiot recruiters you all deal with. Candidates AND Decision Makers. 

Because the real problem with recruiting isn’t mysterious. It isn’t candidates. It isn’t even “bad actors.”

The real problem with recruiting is that there is zero barrier to entry.

Anyone can open a “firm” tomorrow.

No credentials. No licensing. No skill checks. Nothing.

Even if you get hired into an agency, the interview process isn’t about expertise for recruiters with 2 or less years experience. It’s about personality and enthusiasm.

Can you smile through rejection, handle being micromanaged, and agree to do more for less? Congratulations, you’re a recruiter now.

No wonder the industry looks the way it does.

What new recruiters actually get taught
It’s not recruiting. It’s volume mechanics.
Here’s the training plan at most shops:
-Here’s the template job description. Don’t think. Just post it.
-Here's the basics of the ATS. Not even how to search the database that exists within it.
-Here’s how to search for keywords. Don’t understand them. Just match them.
-Here’s the call quota. Hit it.
-Here’s the email quota. Hit it.
-Here’s the “submit” quota. Hit it.
AND INVARIABLY and INEVITABLY at EVERY shop I've worked at, there is a minimum of 1 meeting a month about candidate ownership that 100% will devolve into a battle of how to decide who talked to Joe that has a very basic skillset but always answers every outreach.

If I’m finding .NET developers but I don’t know what .NET is, that’s not recruiting.

That’s scavenger hunting.
Volume is the skill.
Quality is the accident.


When you hand anyone a LinkedIn seat and tell them “go find talent,” this is what happens:
-Bad outreach floods good candidates
-Bad screening wastes hiring managers’ time
-Bad job descriptions repel the people you actually want
-Bad incentives encourage speed over accuracy

Candidates think we’re clowns(and a LARGE % of the time, they're right)

Hiring managers think we’re a tax.

And agencies keep doubling down on “more activity” instead of “more skill.”

If this industry took its job seriously, recruiter would mean something:
-Understanding the tech you’re sourcing for, not just the keywords
-Writing job descriptions that attract, not repel
-Market mapping, calibration, and diagnostics with hiring teams
-Measuring retention and quality of hire, not CV volume
-Training rooted in assessment, psychology, and labor market knowledge

It’s not complicated.
It’s just not how the industry is built.

If you run a recruiting team or an agency, ask yourself:
Are you training recruiters to understand the work or just search for words?
Would you trust your own career with the people your shop places?

If the answer makes you uncomfortable, that’s the point.

Zero barrier to entry is not changing.
The bar you set inside your own shop can.

We have several finalists on this. Holding for now. 

Remote - 10-99 - IT Admin role - part time! 
Pay is DOE but targeting 50-75/hour
Role: Part-Time IT Administrator
Engagement: 1099 Contractor
Time Commitment: Part-time, flexible

Location: Remote, EST Time zone preferred, must be US Citizen living in the US. 

Overview
EarthDaily Federal is looking for a part-time IT Administrator to support our internal systems and act as the primary liaison between our internal team and our external IT and security partner.

This role sits at the center of everything technical inside the company. You will own the day-to-day IT administration work while coordinating with ISI on security, compliance, and higher-level infrastructure items.

This is a startup-style environment. Many basic IT processes are either incomplete, undocumented, or need to be cleaned up. The right person is comfortable walking into a messy system and methodically making it better.
Some people love that. Some people hate it. We want the ones who love it.

Core Responsibilities
-Serve as the primary IT point of contact for EarthDaily Federal
-Act as the liaison between internal teams and ISI
-Coordinate requests, troubleshooting, and follow-ups with our external security provider.
-Manage internal user access, permissions, onboarding, and offboarding
-Administer Microsoft 365 environment including SharePoint and Teams
-Support employee endpoint setup and basic troubleshooting
-Maintain and improve internal IT documentation and processes
-Partner with engineering leadership to support basic IT needs as required

Environment and Tools
-Microsoft 365
-SharePoint
-Teams
-Internal SaaS tooling supporting engineering and operations

Preferred Background
-Experience working in small or early-stage environments
-Comfortable operating with limited documentation and evolving processes
-Prior exposure to secure or compliance-driven environments is a plus
-Awareness of CMMC concepts is a bonus but not required
-Strong communication skills and comfort acting as a bridge between vendors and internal teams

What Success Looks Like
-Internal IT issues are triaged quickly and resolved cleanly
-ISI communication is organized, tracked, and effective
-Users know exactly where to go for IT help
-Systems become cleaner, more documented, and easier to manage
-Leadership gains visibility and confidence in the IT function

Interview
Talk to me
Talk to COO
Talk to CTO

Rock and Roll. Looking to get someone in ASAP

Notes
This is not a maintenance-only role.
This role exists to stabilize, clean up, and bring order to foundational systems that grew faster than the structure supporting them.
If you enjoy building order from chaos, this will be a great fit.
If you need everything perfectly defined on day one, it will not be.

3 fully remote roles for Underground Admins clients. 2 Engineering and 1 sales. Please share.

🚂 Production Engineers (x2)
Stop. Don't send me your DevOps resume.
Two Production Engineer roles. Fully remote. $150K-$250K base.

But here's the filter:
If your day is CI/CD pipelines and Jira tickets, this isn't it. If you've never owned a production service end-to-end, this isn't it. If your incident response is "check the runbook," this isn't it.

This is for software engineers who moved into production because they gave a damn about how their code behaved in the wild.

The work:
60-70% hands-on C# on modern .NET, building and owning services
30-40% reliability, observability, SLOs, systems design
Zero L1 support. No on-call circus. No finger-pointing at infra.
Python for tooling. PostgreSQL on AWS. Legacy migrations that don't burn the house down.

Requirements:
3-7+ years owning production systems as a software engineer
Strong C# and Python
U.S. citizen, living in the U.S.

Interview process: Two technical rounds. One alignment conversation. Done.
DM me with the nastiest incident you've ever fixed and what you changed so it never happened again.

🪖 Head of Defense Sales
$200K base. Uncapped commission. And you're building this from zero.
One of my clients needs a Head of Defense Sales to own the entire DoD go-to-market. Not manage existing accounts. Build the function.

This is a closer role, not a farmer role.

What you're walking into:
Full ownership of defense sales strategy
Pipeline you build yourself
Direct line to executive leadership
Future team-build potential when you prove it works

The work:
Identify, qualify, close new DoD logos
Build relationships with primes, integrators, and program stakeholders
Translate complex tech into mission outcomes
Shape capture plans, proposals, pricing
Carry quota. Deliver.

Non-negotiables:
Proven track record selling software into DoD
Experience closing new logos, not just renewing contracts
You understand defense procurement, budgeting, acquisition cycles
Can build pipeline independently in a fast-moving environment

Preferred:
Active or recently lapsed clearance
Background in data, analytics, cyber, AI, or privacy tech
Startup or growth-stage experience
Network in Army, SOCOM, Space Force, Navy, Air Force, or COCOMs

Location: US based. East Coast or DMV preferred. Huntsville, Denver, Colorado Springs, Tampa, San Diego also work.

If you've opened doors and closed complex software deals in defense, DM me.

Underground Admins clients - NOT EDF. If you're interested hit up myself or Amy and we'll set you up with a screen.

Share this with all of the gritty, grindy, grimy hunters: You've sold into DoD. You know what it takes.

You don't live in SAM(dot)gov waiting for RFPs. You go find the opportunities before they exist. You build relationships that turn into requirements. You're in the room shaping the conversation, not responding to it.

The long cycles. The relationship game. The "no" that turns into "not yet" that turns into a $2M contract 18 months later.

You've carried a bag. Built pipeline from nothing. Sat through capability briefs that went nowhere and turned cold calls into warm intros into real money.

EarthDaily Federal is building something. Geospatial intelligence. AI-powered analytics. Real mission impact for Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force.

We've got the tech. We've got the past performance. Now we need hunters who want to eat.

Remote. Competitive comp. No bureaucracy. Small team, big upside.
If you're tired of selling software to people who don't care, come sell something that matters to people who do.

I don't have a range on this yet but honestly, there's a solid base and you probably are more interested in the commission checks anyway. Bene's and remote.

DM me. Let's eat.

This is Chuck. Chuck charges 25% to send you ‘top-tier talent your internal team can’t find.’ 

Because apparently his LinkedIn recruiter seat works differently than yours 

Or his job posts are better because he changed your company name out for “our client” so candidates wouldn’t just apply direct. 


Stop renting Chucks. Hit me up about a better way.

Once you see it as a demonstration and not an audition, everything changes.

You’re not begging for approval.  

You’re showing how you actually work.

Candidates: You’re not “on stage.” You’re giving a preview. And finding alignment. 

Companies: You’re not “judging talent.”  Or “selling an opportunity”. You’re showing what it feels like to be on the inside. And finding fit.

The "trust your gut?" poll results are all in here. How people treat red flags in interviews.

When you've taken a job you already had doubts about, when did the gut feeling hit that it wasn't going to work out? I ran a poll. 442 people answered

Open article: The gut knew. You overruled it. by Richie Lampani • 3 min read

REMOTE - Production Engineer/SWE/SRE opening through Underground Administration Staffing and Recruiting! Share this please

6 month contract to hire - 160-200k+ DOE plus bene's and extras

Global SaaS platform. Zero bureaucracy. Actual engineering work, not ticket triage.

I am looking for someone who can write real backend code and also own reliability end to end.

 If you are a script-only SRE, this is not the role.

 If you are a heads-down SWE who avoids production, also not the role.
I need the rare breed who lives in the middle.

The Work:
 • Write production-grade backend code in Python, Go, or Java(plus C# chops)
 • Support modernization and migration of legacy .NET services into AWS
 • Build internal tools, APIs, and automation
 • Tune Postgres and improve service performance
 • Deploy, monitor, troubleshoot, improve
 • Own services independently with minimal supervision

Bonus Points:
 • Kubernetes experience
 • Rust exposure or willingness to learn
 • Strong observability stack experience with Datadog, Dynatrace, or New Relic

Requirements:
 • Must be a US Citizen
 • Must be physically located in the US
 • No visas or sponsorship
 • Contract to hire
 • Fully remote

Interview Process (fast and simple):
Engineering Manager
Peer interview
Engineering Manager again for final talk and offer

No marathon interview loops. No whiteboard theater. No pointless homework.

If you can build, ship, deploy, break, fix, and improve a service, you will get through this quickly.

If this sounds like you, or you know the complete STUD who can do both SWE and SRE at a high level, let's talk. 

Also have some fun stuff coming up at EDF and Rebel. 

Feels like motion. Let's get people hired.

I add accelerant to aspiring project managers' career pivots ⛽

Unorthodox Project Manager who likes to help others break into project management in new and unique ways!

I do this by helping aspiring project managers ID pain points for why they aren't getting PM opportunities.
These typically present as one of three deficiencies:
> Lack of identified relevant experience
> Improper resume presentation
> Poor/underutilized tactics for networking

Once identified, we work through ways they can improve those pain points and leverage them appropriately for a new opportunity

Background about me and project management experience: 

I spent 7.5 years in laboratory bench science while gaining project management experience.  Obtained my PMP certification in 2018, was officially promoted to Research Project Manager in 2020, and now am a Senior Project Manager with our Enterprise Project Management Office, overseeing highly-visible strategic projects across our healthcare org's Midwest footprint.

Other PM experience:
- Project oversight of multiple preclinical gene therapies
- Project management of small molecule and repurposed drug screening projects
- Establishment of a standalone screening facility to collaborate with other research institutions, pharmaceutical, and therapeutics companies

Logan Langin, PMP

Urgency has become a substitute for strategy

Everything feels urgent now.

Slack messages.
Multiple meetings.
Emails marked high priority.

Urgency creates motion.

But motion isn't the same as direction.

When everything is urgent:
👉 Priorities blur
👉 Quality drops
👉 People react instead of think

Strategy doesn't eliminate urgency.

It gives context.

It answers "what can wait and what can't?" "What matters even if it's quiet?"

Calm isn't the absence of pressure.

It's the presence of perspective.

The most effective teams don't move the fastest.

They move intentionally.

🤙

Enterprise Program Manager | Add Xcelerant to Your Dream Project Management Job

Busy is often a symptom

Not a badge of honor.

When work feels chaotic, people get busy.

They respond faster.
They attend more meetings.
They say "yes" more often.

Busyness feels productive.

It feels responsible.

But it's often a coping mechanism for uncertainty.

When priorities are clear, people don't need to prove their value with motion.

They can slow down.
They can focus.
They can choose.

If your days feel full but unsatisfying, don't ask HOW to do more.

Ask what's creating the need to stay busy in the first place.

🤙

We don't have a productivity problem

We have a decision problem.

Most teams aren't slow because they lack tools or talent.

They're slow because decisions are:
→ Deferred
→ Diffused
→ Revisited/revised
→ Softened until they mean nothing

So work starts without alignment and then restarts without warning.

Productivity doesn't break down when people stop working.

It breaks down when no one knows who can say "yes" or "no."

Clear decisions:
✅ Reduce meetings
✅ Prevent rework
✅ Lower anxiety
✅ Speed everything up

If progress feels harder than it should, look upstream.

There's a good chance the work isn't blocked by effort.

It's blocked by indecision.

🤙

Clarity is a leadership decision

Not a communication skill.

Most teams don't lack communication.  They lack decisions.

So they talk more.
Document more.
Meet more.

But clarity doesn't come from explaining things better.

It comes from deciding things sooner.

Decisions create:
✅ Boundaries
✅ Momentum
✅ Focus

Without them, communication just fills the gap.

If people keep asking the same questions, it's not because they weren't listening.

It's because something was never decided.

🤙

Meetings aren't the problem

Misaligned intentions are.

Meetings get blamed for a lot.

Too many.
Too long.
Too draining or misaligned.

Meetings aren't broken, but they are carrying too many hidden agendas.

People show up for many different reasons.

✅ To get decisions made
✅ To share needs, concerns, wins, etc.
✅ To be informed
✅ To be heard

With all of these reasons, it's hard to know which is which and how to handle each.

So conversations wander.
Decisions stall.
Follow-ups multiply.

Effective meetings aren't about better facilitation.

They're about clear intent.

Why are we here?
What should be different when we leave?

When intention is aligned, meetings become shorter, more targeted.

Or unnecessary.

🤙

Being busy isn't leadership

Direction is.

Some of the most overwhelmed people at work are also the most reliable.

They're always booked.
They're always responding.
They're always "on top of things."

And still, progress feels slower than it should.

Effective leadership isn't just about keeping things moving.

It's about deciding what movement MATTERS.

Calendars create motion.  Leadership creates directions.

And direction sounds like:
✅ "This is the priority, everything else can wait."
✅ "The decision matters more than perfect execution."
✅ "We're not ready to move yet, and that's intentional."

The people who create momentum aren't the busiest.

They're the clearest.

If you can get a whole team operating on clarity, the sky is the limit for what you can do.

👉

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Logan Langin, PMP

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The Battle

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Posts

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