Alfredo Mercedes spent six years in the Marine Corps Reserve as a classically trained 0341 Infantry Mortar-man, later moving into the Fire Support Coordination Center, calling in air strikes and ground fire from artillery, mortar, and machine gun fire elements. He finished his degree in International Business from Xavier University while serving, then spent a final stretch as Chief of Staff to the Battalion Ops Chief before transitioning out at 4th Amphibious Assault Battalion.

He went straight into executive search for four years at Daversa Partners as one of the youngest hires, working directly for a founding partner, placing VP and C-suite talent at Tier 1 VC-backed companies in AI, Defense, and cybersecurity. From there he became the first Partnership & Growth hire at Defense Unicorns, integrating over 100 software vendors supporting classified DoD and Intel programs. In 2025 he co-founded VU Talent, the first incubated search firm inside VU Venture Partners, a global $100M VC fund, working directly with founders on talent architecture and teaching at Venture University investor accelerators.

Now he's Head of Talent at Aurelius Systems, engineering growth for America's most consequential missions in counter-UAS where he works alongside obsessed engineers and former special forces operators who understand what is at stake.