Palantir wants its old employees back: 'The shire is calling'

• Ted Mabrey, Palantir's global head of commercial, asked ex-employees to return to the company.
• He said re-onboarded staff would "be on a plane day one" to "incredibly meaningful" deployments.
• The pitch comes as AI companies are facing renewed scrutiny over their government contracts.

Palantir is making a direct appeal to its alum — complete with more "Lord of the Rings" references.

On Tuesday morning, Ted Mabrey, the company's global head of commercial, called on "former hobbits" to return to "the Shire" in matching posts on X and LinkedIn.

"If you have ever considered returning to Palantir, this is the week to do it," he wrote. "The world is demanding every last unit of creative energy we can muster."

The recruiting message arrives amid renewed scrutiny over how AI tools are used in military and surveillance settings, as the US continues its war with Iran.

Last week, Anthropic sparred with the federal government over the terms of its AI contracts after it drew a red line at the use of its models for mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. As a result, OpenAI entered into agreements with the Department of Defense.

Palantir, which employs more than 4,000 people, builds software platforms used by corporations and government agencies to analyze large volumes of data, including for military and intelligence agencies.

In recent years, the company has expanded its government cooperation.

In 2025, Palantir was awarded a US Army contract worth up to $10 billion to consolidate and modernize existing systems. Last month, it secured a $1 billion software agreement with the Department of Homeland Security.

Palantir did not respond to Business Insider's questions about Mabrey's post, including whether the company is increasing staffing for defense-related deployments or whether the appeal reflects a broader hiring push.

Mabrey's message leaned into the company's long-running affinity for J.R.R. Tolkien. Palantir takes its name from the palantíri — the mystical "seeing stones" in "The Lord of the Rings."

Notably, Mabrey skipped the usual recruiting language around compensation, in-office lunch perks, or flexibility.

Instead, he promised intensity.

Returning employees, he wrote, would "be on a plane day one" and "committing code that matters within hours of getting your laptop," working "from the foxhole to the factory floor" on "incredibly meaningful" deployments.

"I promise you nothing other than the sense of satisfaction that comes from the purpose and intensity of the most intense deployments you ever worked on," Mabrey wrote. "If you have been chasing that spark, come find it again."

"The Shire is calling," he added.