Director, Recruiting & Candidate Experience

About Us Chess.com is one of the largest gaming sites in the world and the #1 platform for playing, learning, and enjoying chess. We are a team of 600+ fully remote people in 60+ countries working hard to serve the global chess community. We are here to support 200M+ chess players worldwide with the best possible product, content, and tools to serve the community! We are a tech company. A gaming company. A content company. And we do it all with passion and commitment to the game. Above all we prize our mission-driven, flat, life-celebrating, no-corporate culture, and we look forward to meeting you and learning more about what you can bring to the team. About You As Director, Recruiting & Candidate Experience, you’ll own the “how” behind growing our team and showing up for people who want to work at Chess.com. You’ll set the strategy for our recruiting function and lead the full hiring lifecycle, ensuring our approach works at scale and that every candidate has a clear, respectful, and positive experience. At Chess.com, leaders are doers, and you’ll stay connected to the work by carrying a small set of roles yourself. You’ll partner closely with leaders across the company to ensure our hiring practices reflect our culture and help us bring in people who meaningfully strengthen our ability to serve the global chess community. A key part of the role is building a more data-informed recruiting function. You’ll use internal metrics and market insights to understand what’s working, where we can improve, and how we can scale thoughtfully without losing quality or humanity. We’re looking for a leader who can balance strategy and execution, and who cares deeply about the human side of the recruiting process. Responsibilities and Duties

Lead recruiting across a global, fully remote organization, navigating regional market differences and scaling responsibly.
Design and direct a multi-year talent acquisition strategy aligned to our mission and long-term business goals.
Own hiring outcomes across the company, balancing speed, quality, and long-term talent health.
Lead and scale a high-performing recruiting organization, developing strong mentors and leaders and a best-in-class internal function.
Architect and continuously refine our end-to-end recruitment infrastructure, from workforce planning to onboarding, in partnership with People Operations.
Lead high-impact or critical searches as needed, managing sensitive and complex roles while modelling best practices for the broader team.
Partner closely with department leaders, executives, and PBPs to provide expert insight on overall talent strategy, role design, and talent assessment.
Use recruiting analytics to generate clear, actionable insights that inform company-wide decisions.
Lead employer branding in collaboration with our Marketing and Communications teams, positioning Chess.com as a destination for top talent in tech and gaming.
Design equitable hiring frameworks that expand our reach and support fair, consistent candidate evaluation.
Raise the bar across the company by educating teams on effective interviewing, assessment, and modern hiring practices.
Stay ahead of global talent market trends and emerging recruiting technology to keep us competitive.

Qualifications

10+ years of experience in talent acquisition, with at least 4 years specifically spent leading teams and shaping recruiting strategy. You have a track record of not just managing recruiters but developing them into high performing strategic partners.
Experience leading recruitment for remote and globally distributed teams.
Strong experience in tech or gaming industries; understanding unique challenges of hiring specialized roles (software engineering/product management) within competitive markets.
Expert in auditing/optimizing recruitment tech stack (ATS/sourcing tools/data platforms) for seamless workflows.
Comfortable communicator with diverse stakeholders including executive leadership; able to translate complex data into clear business cases influencing top-level decisions.
Highly analytical; adept at navigating ambiguity in fast-paced global environment using metrics to identify trends/gaps; quick pivoting strategies as business needs evolve.
Experience designing equitable hiring practices improving candidate quality/reach/fairness across funnel.
Genuine interest in gaming world/Chess.com's mission; understands nuances of game development language relevant for hires.

Preferred Skills

Degrees in HR/Business Administration or related fields may be plus but not required.
Existing network within gaming/tech communities (game studios/tech hubs/specialized engineering communities).
Experience managing recruitment across multiple time zones or companies undergoing significant transformation.
Hands-on experience with data visualization tools (Tableau/Looker/advanced Excel) building custom dashboards/reporting suites.
Employer brand portfolio: track record building employer brand via content/storytelling/community engagement.
Knowledge unconventional sourcing methods beyond LinkedIn such as GitHub/Discord/niche gaming forums.

About the Opportunity

This is a full-time opportunity
We are 100% remote (work from anywhere!)