Attivio (acquired by ServiceNow)As the sole recruiter at Attivio, I was tasked with scaling headcount from roughly 50 to 135+ employees within 18 months, a mandate directly tied to the company's strategic shift into AI-powered search. The steepest challenge was hiring for hard-to-fill NLP/ML engineering roles that had remained open for 6+ months, at a time before modern automation and advanced ATS technology existed to ease the burden.
To meet this challenge, I built a direct sourcing pipeline specifically targeting PhD candidates from NLP research labs, recognizing that traditional job postings wouldn't reach this specialized talent pool. I partnered closely with hiring managers to redesign the technical interview loops for ML roles, ensuring the process could accurately assess candidates while remaining efficient. I also launched a targeted employee referral incentive program focused exclusively on ML roles to tap into existing networks. Without the benefit of today's recruiting technology, success hinged on deliberate network and community building, strong hiring manager enablement, and persistence through a long, iterative process.
The results were transformative: I grew headcount from 50 to 135+ employees in 18 months and filled more than 20 previously stalled NLP/ML positions. This talent build-out was a critical enabler of Attivio's shift into cognitive search products, directly supporting the strategic direction that ultimately positioned the company for its acquisition by ServiceNow.
