Shawn Cook

Technical & Executive Recruiting Leader | Engineering, Security & Fintech Hiring | Startup & High-Growth Environments

Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area

About

Senior recruiting leader with deep experience building and scaling executive, engineering, and cross-functional teams at high-growth and market-defining companies. I’ve led talent acquisition and total compensation strategy for organizations ranging from early-stage startups to global platforms, partnering directly with founders, C-suite executives, and senior leadership to hire critical talent and build durable hiring infrastructure. My background includes leading and scaling recruiting functions, hiring senior engineering and leadership talent, and designing leveling and compensation frameworks that support long-term growth. Previously at Nova Labs, Square (pre-IPO), Lyft (pre-IPO), Postmates (Uber), Fast, and Facebook (pre-IPO).

Experience

  • Embedded Recruiting Consultant - DriveWealth at Self-employed
    Mar 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 4 mos

    Partner with growth-stage technology companies on technical and executive hiring strategy, recruiting operations, and scalable talent infrastrucutre. Current engagement embedded within DriveWealth's Engineering organization, supporting executive and technical hiring across security, data engineering, analytics, and regulated fintech infrastructure. Responsibilities include executive search strategy, stakeholder alignment, sourcing operations, interview process design, offer negotiation, and recruiting workflow optimization in high-growth, high-pressure hiring environments.

  • Head of Recruiting at Nova Labs
    Apr 2022 - Mar 2024 · 2 yrs

    Built and led Nova Labs' talent acquisition and compensation infrastructure during a critical growth phase, partnering closely with executive leadership to establish scalable hiring operations from the ground up. Led full-cycle recruiting across Engineering, Executive, GTM, Legal, and Corporate functions, helping scale the organization with a focus on high-signal hiring, organizational design, and long-term talent quality. Implemented leveling architecture and compensation frameworks to support equitable hiring, career progression, and compensation consistency across the company.

  • Lead Technical Recruiter at Fast
    May 2021 - Apr 2022 · 1 yr

    Led technical recruiting efforts across the US and Australia for Fast, a high-growth fintech startup backed by Stripe and other major investors during a period of rapid organizational scaling. Focused on backend engineering and technical leadership hiring , partnering closely with engineering leadership on search strategy, candidate calibration, and executive stakeholder alignment across distributed teams. Supported hiring initiatives spanning senior software engineering, infrastructure, and engineering management within a fast-paced hyper-growth environment.

  • Senior Technical Recruiter at Postmates by Uber
    Jul 2019 - Feb 2021 · 1 yr 8 mos

    Led technical leadership and executive recruiting initiatives for Postmates during a period of rapid scaling leading into the Uber acquisition. Partnered closely with engineering executives and senior leadership on organizational hiring strategy across backend, frontend, mobile, and platform engineering organizations. Focused heavily on engineering leadership hiring, executive stakeholder management, search strategy, and high-impact technical recruitment across the Merchant organization.

  • Senior Technical Recruiter (IC6) at Lyft
    Sep 2017 - Jun 2019 · 1 yr 10 mos

    Partnered closely with Engineering leadership across San Francisco, Seattle, and New York offices to support high-priority backend and engineering leadership hiring initiatives. Focused on backend distributed systems hiring for Lyft's Passenger Experience organization, supporting organizational scaling during a period of rapid company growth. Led searches spanning senior software engineering and engineering leadership while partnering with executives and hiring managers on candidate calibration and hiring strategy.