CJ Wooden

Senior Technical Recruiter and Team Lead

Google

Jan 2019 - Jan 2026 • 7 yrs

Developed and executed hiring strategies to build engineering, security, and infrastructure teams for multiple moonshot projects. Partnered with executives and hiring managers to define role requirements, calibrate interviews, and align sourcing with business goals. Led full-cycle recruiting, including targeted outreach, candidate assessment, offer strategy, and close. Designed scalable intake frameworks, dashboards, and KPI reviews to reduce time-to-fill, improve pipeline quality, and strengthen diversity outcomes. ✓ Hired 11 founding engineers and PMs in 72 days, enabling a successful, on-time launch and helping to secure $30M in additional R&D funding. ✓ Achieved 50% diversity hiring for the first time by leading DEI-focused sourcing campaigns and partnering with HBCUs and nonprofit talent networks. ✓ Reduced role clarification time by 70% through a standardized intake template and calibration process, increasing the submission-to-onsite ratio from 1:8 to 1:3. ✓ Improved time-to-fill by 22% and expanded the engineering pipeline by 35% via Key Performance Indicator dashboards and recurring performance retrospectives. ✓ Closed a critical security role within 60 days after six months of failed searches, landing a top-tier hire who advanced to team lead within six months.

Senior Engineering Recruiter and Team Lead

BlackRock

Jan 2017 - Dec 2018 • 1 yr 11 mos

Led full-cycle recruiting for software engineers, site reliability engineers, network engineers, and product managers across global regions. Promoted to team lead within the first year, managing sourcing and recruiting activities spanning multiple time zones. Partnered with offshore sourcing teams to increase coverage, streamlined interview logistics across regions, and optimized the hiring funnel to reduce time-to-hire. Introduced standardized processes, specialized recruiting tracks, and mentoring programs to scale team effectiveness and elevate performance. ✓ Reduced time-to-hire from 75 to 44 days while maintaining an 80% offer acceptance, a model later adopted globally. ✓ By centralizing coordination and implementing automation tools, global interview scheduling lead time was reduced by 60%, and reschedules were reduced by 35%. ✓ Increased passive candidate outreach response rate from 11% to 27% through targeted campaigns, converting 12 passive candidates into hires, including seven senior-level roles. ✓ Improved offer acceptance from 65% to 80% by instituting structured expectation-setting and closing strategies, converting several declined offers into acceptances. ✓ Designed and implemented a recruiter mentorship and onboarding program that cut ramp time by 50% and supported a record 30 engineering hires in one quarter.

Senior Engineering Recruiter, Product Engineering

Facebook • Período integral

Jan 2016 - Jan 2017 • 1 yr

Pivotal in attracting top talent, including senior engineers, production engineers, and site reliability engineers (SREs) within Facebook’s Product Engineering division. Partnered with engineering leadership and DEI teams to expand sourcing channels, revamp interview processes, and improve candidate equity and experience. Designed outreach campaigns targeting passive and underrepresented talent pools, developed partnerships with universities and bootcamps, and introduced more inclusive assessment options.