Emily Paik

Recruiting and People Ops at Kit - Helping SaaS companies hire with intention and scale thoughtfully

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

About

I never set out to be a recruiter. In college, I changed my mind constantly about what I wanted to do professionally. One day I wanted to be a nurse, the next I was preparing for a career in investment banking or dreaming about working in the NHL (go bruins!). But through a series of internships and part-time jobs (and a lot of career soul-searching), I fell into recruiting. And it stuck. What drew me in was how much I enjoyed working with fantastic recruiters during my own job searches. Some experiences left a lasting impression; others reminded me how broken the process can be. I’ve been ghosted. I’ve been through messy, disorganized interviews. And I’ve always thought, “There has to be a better way.” That’s what drives me today. I’m a recruiting professional based in Boston, focused on technical and GTM roles in the SaaS industry, from ICs to senior leaders. I care deeply about delivering a high-quality, human experience for every candidate, backed by structured, data-driven processes and a strong commitment to DEI. Hiring is hard, but I believe it can be better. For companies and candidates. That’s the work I love. For speaking opportunities, podcast appearances, and brand partnerships, please email [email protected]

Experience

  • Kit (Remote)
    • People Operations Manager and Senior Recruiter
      Apr 2026 - Present · 3 mos

      At Kit, I lead Recruiting, Recruiting Operations, Program Management, Employer Brand, and Onboarding, and have expanded my scope across key areas of People Ops, including Performance Management, Manager Coaching, Engagement, AI Adoption, and Offboarding. By leveraging AI and automation to streamline and scale recruiting, I’ve been able to operate more efficiently while improving outcomes, which created the opportunity for me to step into a broader People Ops Manager role.

    • Senior Recruiter
      Apr 2024 - Apr 2026 · 2 yrs 1 mo

      At Kit, I own full-cycle recruiting across technical, GTM, operations, and leadership roles as the sole recruiter, supporting hires from ICs through senior management. I partner closely with hiring managers and executives to build high-performing, mission-aligned teams that support our growth as a SaaS platform for creators. I also own recruiting operations, program management, talent attraction, employer brand, and the systems and processes that power hiring at scale. As a member of the operations team, I support HR and people operations initiatives and lead company-wide AI efforts to improve efficiency, decision-making, and adoption. Key focus areas include: • Driving inclusive and structured hiring processes that prioritize candidate experience • Owned the end-to-end ATS migration to Ashby, including vendor evaluation, decision-making, implementation, change management, and team enablement • Building top-of-funnel pipelines through sourcing, referrals, and outbound campaigns • Coaching interview teams and refining evaluation methods to ensure fairness and clarity • Creating documentation and systems that improve hiring velocity and quality across the org • Supporting executive and leadership hiring, onboarding, and strategic headcount planning • Leading hiring retros and continuous improvements for every open role • Partnering cross-functionally with People Ops, Finance, Brand, and Marketing to scale recruiting thoughtfully • Leading AI initiatives to help drive AI adoption and fluency company wide Results: • Achieved a 100% offer acceptance rate across all hires • Reduced time to hire to an average of 29 days • Reduced time to fill to an average of 45 days • Increased candidate satisfaction from 50% to 80% • Voted a Top Performer in the 2025 performance review cycle

  • Member at HIGHER Community
    Mar 2026 - Present · 4 mos

  • Member at TroopHR
    Feb 2026 - Present · 5 mos

  • Chapter Lead at Ashby
    Feb 2026 - Present · 5 mos

  • Recruiter at Zapier
    Mar 2022 - Jul 2023 · 1 yr 5 mos

    I joined Zapier to lead hiring for highly technical and hard-to-fill roles, with a focus on Site Reliability Engineering. Over time, my scope expanded to include hiring across Engineering Management, Security, Product Design, Data Science, Data Engineering, and Data Warehouse Engineering. I also played a key role in building out Zapier’s New Products team—including Tables, Interfaces, and AI—working closely with the executive team to fill these critical roles and scale emerging product lines. Zapier gives people internet superpowers by letting them easily connect and automate the apps they use. We’re on a mission to make automation work for everyone. As the leader in easy automation, Zapier empowers businesses to automate workflows and move data across 6,000+ apps. We work with what you work with, across your apps and tech stack, so you can make magic happen.