In contention for the TA 20

“Leading the charge before AI was even cool yet she experimented and tested leading to placement rate increases!”

“Mike puts people ahead of process. He uses AI to free recruiters from busywork so they can focus on what matters most — the human side of the decision. Mike built NinjaOne's Talent Acquisition function from the ground up, scaling the team to support hyper-growth from 300 to 2,700+ employees in four years, without losing the culture that made that growth possible. He's now leading a company-wide shift toward AI-enhanced recruiting systems and automation, freeing recruiters to operate as strategic partners — and creating a candidate journey that reflects NinjaOne's commitment to a people-centric”

“Hope leads by example in every sense of the word, setting a standard of excellence that elevates the entire team while creating an environment where people are trusted to grow and supported to succeed. Her forward-thinking approach to AI — from her own daily practice to the tools and strategies she introduces across the team — ensures that Talent Acquisition continues to operate at the forefront of modern recruiting.”

“Madeleine has a rare ability to guide candidates seamlessly through the hiring process, empowering them to advocate for themselves while ensuring hiring managers get exactly what they need. What sets her apart is how intentionally she incorporates AI into her work — from candidate touchpoints to strategic planning — always with the goal of delivering clear, accurate, and thoughtful communication at every stage.”

“Josh is a highly experienced Global Talent Leader building our global recruitment function from the ground up, combining strategic workforce planning, strong partnerships, and AI-enabled insights to build high-performing, enduring teams—not simply filling roles. As a trusted partner, he champions quality of hire, long-term fit, and culture while strengthening talent outcomes, retention, and organizational performance.”

“Christi is a leader in the industry, dedicated to bringing the highest level of service to both clients and partners alike.”

“Talent Acquisition leader scaling TA teams in hyper-growth, complex environments. Leveraging AI to maximize recruiter productivity, speed and quality of hire while ensuring the human-moments are at the forefront of the hiring experience.”

“Sagar Nair, VP of Delivery & India Operations, has led Akraya’s India delivery organization for more than eight years. He joined in 2018 as Country Head and Director of Recruiting and helped build the team that supports Akraya’s US business development and account management organizations. Under his leadership, Akraya expanded from a primarily direct staffing model into MSP work and went on to win Supplier of the Year multiple times with two major MSP partners.”

“Jason is building an AI-enabled global TA infrastructure for a 50,000 person organization across 70 countries.”

“At Figma, we love to use our own product as much as possible in the process. Cate has built out recruiting experience workflows like job briefs and congratulations cards in Figma's AI product, Make - ensuring that leadership candidates have the opportunity to experience Figma's capabilities first hand as a user.”

“Leveraging AI to better inform our TA partners and leaders about market intelligence and insights. The goal is more time in the highest-leverage part of the job: building relationships with the specialized quantum, photonics, and hardware talent IonQ needs to win.”

“My approach to talent acquisition starts with people, partnership, and a relentless focus on the needs of the business. AI helps us work smarter and move faster, but its greatest value is creating more space for the human connections that ultimately drive great hiring.”

“Steve is building a modern talent acquisition function by staying ahead of emerging trends and technology, using AI to amplify recruiter capability rather than replace it and creating more capacity for the conversations, judgment, and relationships that ultimately lead to better hires.”

“Establishing new processes and systems across the funnel”

“Builds novel processes and automations across Horizontal workflows. She's incredible!”

“Building new hiring workflows throughout Supercell's processes”

“Austen came from a technical computer science background at MIT then pivoted into technical recruiting so she could help other engineers find their dream jobs.”

“Katherine is making the case across the industry that accessibility and AI go together: support shouldn't be something you ask for, it should be infrastructure everyone gets, so the person quietly struggling never has to raise their hand. That's the shift she's built into our hiring process.”

“Nominating Ruby Carrillo at Partners Personnel. She built the remote-recruiting playbook the company uses to prove out a brand-new market before ever opening a branch there, then used it to staff a major retail client's entire call center ramp from scratch, bringing in 400+ new associates for peak season. So many wonderful things I could say about her. A true leader in the space.”