Lead Technical Recruiter

About the role

You will own the end to end lifecycle for complex technical hiring across the Americas region, partnering directly with senior engineering and product leaders to translate business objectives into executable talent strategies. You will shape how the technical recruiting team leverages AI and automation to increase throughput, improve candidate quality, and reduce time to fill across multiple specialized disciplines. You will define and iterate on sourcing strategies, employer branding narratives, and interview processes to ensure they reflect current market realities and Zapier's unique culture. You will act as a strategic advisor to hiring managers, helping them balance speed, quality, and fit when making critical hiring decisions. You will mentor and elevate the capabilities of other recruiters by setting standards, sharing playbooks, and providing hands on coaching in technical evaluation and inclusive hiring practices. You will own key process metrics, diagnose bottlenecks, and design experiments to continuously improve the end to end hiring experience for both candidates and internal stakeholders. You will serve as the primary point of contact for executive stakeholders on talent matters, ensuring alignment, transparency, and proactive communication throughout the hiring lifecycle.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Advise executive stakeholders on talent strategy, workforce planning, and the business impact of critical technical hiring decisions.
• Drive the development and maintenance of department wide talent maps, market intelligence, and competitive positioning for key engineering roles including Applied AI, Software Engineering, Infrastructure, and Security.
• Design and implement repeatable, scalable recruiting workflows that leverage AI tools to automate sourcing, screening, and communication while preserving a high touch candidate experience.
• Partner with senior engineering leaders to define interview frameworks, technical evaluation criteria, and scorecards that reduce bias and improve hiring confidence.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with cross functional partners, influencing without authority to align on hiring priorities and talent branding.
• Mentor and coach a global technical recruiting team, sharing best practices, playbooks, and feedback to elevate overall performance and consistency.
• Analyze end to end hiring metrics, identify systemic inefficiencies, and run experiments to improve quality of hire, speed to fill, and candidate satisfaction.
• Proactively identify risks in the hiring pipeline, such as skill gaps, process delays, or compliance concerns, and develop mitigation plans in coordination with stakeholders.
• Champion diversity, equity, and inclusive hiring practices by building diverse talent pipelines, standardizing inclusive interview guides, and advocating for equitable outcomes.
• Stay current on advances in AI, recruiting technology, and technical hiring trends, and translate those insights into updated processes and tools for the team.
• Own the candidate experience for complex technical roles, ensuring clear communication, timely feedback, and a respectful, transparent process.
• Collaborate with People Operations and Compensation teams to analyze pay trends, market positioning, and offer strategies to support competitive hiring outcomes.
• Define and track key performance indicators for technical recruiting, providing regular insights and recommendations to leadership based on data and observed trends.
• Lead cross functional initiatives to improve tools, systems, and documentation that support the technical recruiting function at scale.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on technical hiring practices, representing Zapier in external forums, communities, and talent networks when appropriate.

Requirements

• Demonstrate significant, senior-level full cycle technical recruiting experience with ownership of hiring strategy beyond your own reqs or for complex pipelines.
• Bring experience hiring across multiple technical disciplines including Applied AI, Software Engineering, Infrastructure, and Security at scale.
• Show a strong operational instinct that connects recruiting activities to business outcomes, with a systems mindset to create efficient, future looking talent plans.
• Have a proven track record of building trust and influencing senior leaders and TA peers in complex hiring scenarios.
• Exhibit high AI fluency and comfort using AI as a core part of how you work, with a learning mindset and excitement about its responsible application.
• Drive results regardless of formal authority, mentoring and coaching peers while holding stakeholders accountable for shared outcomes.
• Hold strong opinions based on data, experience, and desired outcomes, while knowing when and how to flex when presented with new information or context.
• Navigate ambiguity comfortably, creating plans that are good enough to move forward and pivoting quickly while staying tied to clear outcomes.
• Demonstrate a deep commitment to diversity hiring and inclusive interview practices, with the ability to advocate and set standards at the team or department level.

Practical notes

Job posted: 8/5/2026 (we will be accepting applications through 8/14/2026)

Location: Americas