Director, Recruiting and Candidate Experience

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 the tech or gaming industries. You understand the unique challenges of hiring for specialized roles (like software engineering and product management) within highly competitive markets.
• Expert in how to audit, implement, and optimize a full recruitment tech stack (ATS, sourcing tools, and data platforms) to create seamless workflows for your team.
• Comfortable and effective communicator with diverse stakeholders, including executive leadership. You can translate complex recruiting data into clear business cases and influence decision-making at the highest levels.
• Highly analytical and comfortable navigating the ambiguity of a fast-paced, global environment. You use metrics to identify trends and gaps and are quick to pivot strategies as the needs of the business evolve.
• Experience designing equitable hiring practices that measurably improve candidate quality, reach, and fairness across the funnel.
• Genuine interest in the gaming world and Chess.com’s mission. You understand the nuances of game development and can speak the language of the people we are looking to hire.

Preferred Skills

• Degrees in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related fields may be a plus, but are not required.
• An existing network within the gaming or tech communities (e.g., connections at game studios, tech hubs, or specialized engineering communities).
• Experience in Global Scaling: Experience managing recruitment across multiple time zones or for a company that has undergone significant transformation. 
• Hands-on experience with data visualization tools (like Tableau, Looker, or advanced Excel) to build custom recruiting dashboards and reporting suites.
• Employer Brand Portfolio: A track record of building employer brand through content, storytelling, or community engagement.
• Knowledge of unconventional sourcing methods beyond LinkedIn, such as GitHub, Discord, or niche gaming forums.

About the Opportunity

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