About this role.
Chainguard is seeking a Technical Recruiting Manager to lead and develop a team of technical recruiters, partnering directly with engineering and product leadership to shape hiring strategy. The role involves standardizing interviewer training, managing a high-volume pipeline, and building recruiting infrastructure from scratch. The ideal candidate has 8+ years in technical recruiting, including 2+ years managing a team, and a proven ability to close top talent against competitive offers. This is a high-impact role critical to scaling Chainguard's engineering and product organizations.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
4/5Pace & Pressure
4/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Cover letter sample
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am thrilled to apply for the Technical Recruiting Manager role at Chainguard. With over a decade of experience in technical recruiting, including leading teams through periods of rapid growth, I have built scalable hiring processes and cultivated strong partnerships with engineering leadership. I am particularly drawn to Chainguard's mission of securing the open source software supply chain, and I believe my expertise in designing interviewer training programs and closing top talent against competitive offers will contribute to your continued success.
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to discussing how I can help elevate Chainguard's technical hiring.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Sample interview questions
I would assess current pain points through surveys and debrief observations, then design a modular training covering structured interviewing, bias mitigation, and calibration. I'd pilot with a small group, gather feedback, iterate, and then roll out company-wide with success metrics such as improved candidate experience and increased offer acceptance rates.
An engineering VP wanted to fill multiple junior roles quickly, but I argued that hiring one senior engineer would have a greater impact on a critical project. I presented data on team bandwidth and the senior role's ROI, and we agreed to prioritize the senior hire, which later drove significant progress.
I provide specific, actionable feedback on areas like sourcing strategy, candidate assessment, and stakeholder communication. I set clear improvement goals, offer resources like mentorship or shadowing top performers, and conduct regular check-ins to track progress. For example, a recruiter improved their debrief quality by 30% after targeted coaching.
At my previous company, I scaled the team from 5 to 15 recruiters in 18 months. I implemented leveling and career paths, introduced a balanced scorecard for performance, and built a training program for new hires. This improved team output by 50% while maintaining a high quality bar.
I use a multi-pronged approach: sourcing from diverse platforms and communities, crafting inclusive job descriptions, and training interviewers on bias. I also set diversity goals at each pipeline stage and track metrics to identify bottlenecks. For instance, by implementing a structured resume review process, we increased underrepresented candidate progression by 20%.
Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk.
Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.
Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.
The role, in a nutshell:
Chainguard is securing the open source software supply chain, the infrastructure every modern engineering team depends on. We’re growing fast, and how we hire technical talent will define the shape of our engineering and product organizations for years to come. We’re looking for a Technical Recruiting Manager who can raise the bar on technical hiring, build the infrastructure that doesn’t exist yet, and operate as a genuine thought partner to our CPO, Head of Engineering, and CISO. If you’ve watched an engineering org double in size and know exactly what breaks at that inflection point, this is your role.
What you’ll do
- Lead and develop a team of technical recruiters: coach for quality over throughput, hold a high bar on technical screening and debrief quality, and invest in each person’s growth, including those who are already strong.
- Partner directly with engineering and product leadership: build trusted working relationships with our CPO, Head of Engineering, and Head of Security; push back constructively when you disagree; bring data and honest assessments to every conversation.
- Standardize technical interviewer training: build a program that’s practical and low-lift for interviewers and tied to real calibration outcomes for the engineers who interview frequently at Chainguard.
- Own recruiting strategy across engineering, product, and security: set sourcing strategy, hiring timelines, and quality thresholds for your function; know when a req needs a different approach and have the credibility to drive that conversation.
- Manage a high-volume, high-complexity pipeline: keep your team focused, unblocked, and making good decisions in an environment where priorities shift, and the quality bar is high.
What we’re looking for
- 8+ years in technical recruiting, including at least 2 years managing a team, you’ve supported an engineering org through significant scale and know what had to be built at each stage.
- An independent, developed point of view on what strong engineering and PM talent looks like, you can coach your recruiters to hold that same bar and have a credible conversation with a skeptical engineering leader about what recruiting can actually improve.
- Infrastructure builder, not just a process runner, you’ve stood up at least one of the following from scratch: interview committees, interviewer training programs, or calibration frameworks.
- Stakeholder credibility, you push back when you’re right, bring data when you disagree, and build trust with leaders who have high standards.
- Strong team developer, you know how to coach high-performing ICs to get stronger and manage through performance issues without letting them drag the team.
- Closer and seller, you know how to position Chainguard against a late-stage pre-IPO, a FAANG team, and an early-stage startup, and you’ve closed candidates who had better-known options.
About Us
We live and breathe our company values:
- We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.
- We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.
- We don’t take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) — We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.
- We trust each other and assume good intentions — We’re transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.
A few of the benefits we offer:
- Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
- Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
- 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
- ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
- 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child’s first year.
If your experience is close but doesn’t fulfill all requirements, please apply. We’re building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring “Chainguardians” with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.
By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard’s Global Candidate Privacy Notice.
©2026 Chainguard. All Rights Reserved.
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