Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Personal Hobbies
References
Timeline
BusinessAnalyst

Andres Castaneda

Principal Recruiter
Covina,CA

Summary

A strategic and results-oriented Talent Acquisition Leader with deep experience leading engineering and leadership searches, as well as building and leading high-performing teams that consistently attract and hire top talent for high-growth tech companies. With a proactive approach and a client-focused mindset, I have consistently driven team success. I have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a growth mindset, and a readiness to take on new challenges that demand acquiring new knowledge, patience, and perseverance.

Overview

15
15
years of professional experience

Work History

Founder/Principal Recruiter

TalentMiners, Inc.
12.2023 - Current
  • Company Overview: TalentMiners is a solutions-driven recruiting firm that gives companies an alternative to traditional agency recruiting models
  • Our dynamic recruiting-on-demand approach enables seamless scaling of hiring capacity to meet evolving business needs
  • Search Management: Plan and execute searches in engineering, IT, and commercial roles in tech-driven organizations—ad tech, green tech, and AI
  • Team Leadership: Built a recruiter network that can expand and contract to meet our client recruitment needs through on-demand recruiting capacity
  • Business Development: Develop a business development pipeline of value-driven prospective clients with a roadmap to sustainability, equity, and inclusion.
  • TalentMiners is a solutions-driven recruiting firm that gives clients an alternative to traditional agency recruiting models.
  • Our dynamic, recruiting-on-demand approach enables seamless scaling of hiring capacity to meet evolving business needs.

Director, Talent Acquisition

OpenX, Inc.
Pasadena , CA
10.2018 - 10.2023
  • Company Overview: OpenX Technologies is a pioneering advertising technology company founded in 2008, specializing in digital advertising solutions for publishers and advertisers, utilizing ML/AI real-time bidding and programmatic advertising to optimize ad placements and maximize revenue
  • Led executive searches internally and through search partners in Sales, Marketing, Product, and Engineering
  • Led a team of high-performing recruiters in the US and Poland and search partners in EMEA and APAC
  • Fostered a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement
  • Developed and enhanced the employer brand by partnering with marketing and career sites that increased our application rate by more than 40%
  • Increased our candidate satisfaction score by 30% by implementing a 'no candidate left behind' approach to our follow-up process.
  • Developed executive recruiting dashboards for each department leader to keep them informed of our progress. Used data to evaluate the effectiveness of the process and recruitment strategies.
  • Provided regular reports and insights to senior leadership
  • Diversity and Inclusion - Drove diversity and inclusion initiatives within the talent acquisition process and diversified the candidate pool by 35%.
  • Implement strategies to attract a diverse and qualified candidate pool using sourcing tools that helped to eliminate racial/gender bias from the evaluation process
  • Met our talent team goals of reducing time-to-fill and time-to-hire by 35% by developing a talent pipeline for key positions in tech, product, and sales.
  • Led the transition from Greenhouse to Lever within a 60-day implementation window due to a data breach. Partnered with HR BP, HR Ops, and IT to streamline the implementation process and ensure we did not experience a service interruption.
  • Negotiated agreements with technology vendors, external search partners, contractors or consultants.
  • Conducted bi-monthly update meetings with department heads to review progress on strategic initiatives.
  • Developed and implemented strategic plans to ensure organizational goals were met.
  • Assessed employee performance against established benchmarks or targets.

Director, Talent Acquisition

NextTrucking, Inc.
01.2018 - 09.2018
  • Company Overview: Next Trucking, established in 2015, is a technology-driven logistics company that operates at the intersection of transportation and digital innovation
  • A player-coach role with the responsibility of building the recruitment process while personally leading the recruitment process for critical hires.
  • Established the talent acquisition function, from developing a sourcing strategy to defining standard operating procedures for recruitment and the interview process.
  • Planned and rolled out Lever as the company's first ATS. Created all modules, including the interview process, scorecards, and the offer process.
  • Led recruitment efforts for leadership and critical hires in Engineering, Marketing, Product, and Sales.
  • Led a team of two tech recruiters, with the responsibility of building out our engineering team. Set performance KPIs that drove our process forward.
  • Provided guidance and advice to hiring managers throughout the recruitment process.

Managing Director

TalentMiners, Inc.
04.2015 - 12.2017
  • Company Overview: TalentMiners is a search partner for high-growth tech companies looking to scale quickly with high-capacity team members who can drive and thrive in fast-paced environments
  • Spearheaded engineering and executive searches for startups and mid-sized technology companies, filling critical roles such as VP of Engineering, Chief Data Scientist, and VP of Product
  • Designed and implemented comprehensive recruitment strategies, leveraging executive search, direct sourcing, employee referrals, and tech events to attract top-tier talent
  • Implemented a robust and flexible recruitment process aimed at attracting, assessing, and retaining top talent, ensuring the organization's ability to meet its talent needs effectively
  • Engaged clients through various recruitment service offerings, including Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), retained search, and contingency services with a retainer, providing tailored solutions to meet their hiring requirements
  • Demonstrated success in recruiting engineering, product development, and marketing teams for a range of tech companies, including Connexity, Quick.ly, UberMedia, New Matter, Tandem App, Edisun Heliostats, Sellbrite, and OpenX

Director of Talent Acquisition

Connexity (Formerly Shopzilla)
01.2013 - 04.2015
  • Company Overview: Connexity is a technology-driven marketing solutions company that leverages almost twenty years of e-commerce data to enable retailers, and brands to understand their consumers better, acquire new customers efficiently, and increase sales
  • Led recruitment efforts resulting in the successful hiring top engineers, marketing/sales professionals, and product managers during a time period wen the company was restructuring and later going through an acquisition.
  • Oversaw all staffing activities, including sourcing strategy, recruiting, candidate development, and selection across all professional levels within the organization, ensuring the alignment of talent with organizational needs
  • Partnered with executives, division leaders, and hiring managers to plan and execute staffing and reorganization plans.
  • Enhanced the recruitment and interview process by implementing standardized, evidence-based assessments, and sourcing strategies to ensure consistency and reliability, resulting in lowering our time to hire by 15 days.
  • Partnered with the design team and engineering teams to revamp the company's career page and employment branding, aligning them with the company vision and employee sentiment, and enhancing the organization's attractiveness to potential candidates.
  • Established long-term talent pipelines through collaboration with engineering, sponsoring tech Meetup such as the LA Java User Group, LA Hadoop User Group, LA Big Data Camp, and the engineering Internship program, ensuring a continuous influx of qualified talent into the organization

Director of Talent Acquisition

Idealab, Pasadena, CA
Pasadena, USA
01.2010 - 12.2012
  • Company Overview: Idealab is a technology incubator founded in 1996 by Bill Gross, supporting startups across diverse industries, including internet, energy, healthcare, robotics, and green technology. Idealab launched over 150 companies with more than 45 IPOs and acquisitions
  • Developed and implemented targeted recruitment strategies to attract top-tier talent in engineering and product development.
  • Oversaw all aspects of staffing, including strategy development, sourcing, recruiting, candidate development, selection, and hiring across all organizational levels.
  • Partnered with Idealab's leadership team to identify and recruit Entrepreneurs in Residence, Opco Executives, and founding engineering teams, aligning recruitment efforts with strategic business objectives.
  • Led efforts to cultivate long-term talent pipelines through the sponsorship of tech-driven Meetup groups, hosting recruiting events that resulted in hires and collaboration opportunities, bolstering the organization's talent pool.
  • Developed and oversaw the annual Idealab internship program, including intern selection, onboarding, and coordination of company pitch sessions, professional development seminars, and social events, fostering the growth and development of future talent within the organization.
  • Idealab launched over 150 companies with more than 45 IPOs and acquisitions

Education

B.A. - Sociology

University of California, Riverside

Skills

  • Team leadership - Agile High Performing
  • Search management - Full-cycle Recruitment
  • Search strategy - Staff and Executive
  • Recruitment process - SOP Improvement
  • ATS - Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby
  • Employer branding - Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Builtin

Personal Hobbies

  • Ultra/Marathon runner
  • Cross-Country/Marathon Coach
  • Community service leader

References

References available upon request.

Timeline

Founder/Principal Recruiter

TalentMiners, Inc.
12.2023 - Current

Director, Talent Acquisition

OpenX, Inc.
10.2018 - 10.2023

Director, Talent Acquisition

NextTrucking, Inc.
01.2018 - 09.2018

Managing Director

TalentMiners, Inc.
04.2015 - 12.2017

Director of Talent Acquisition

Connexity (Formerly Shopzilla)
01.2013 - 04.2015

Director of Talent Acquisition

Idealab, Pasadena, CA
01.2010 - 12.2012

B.A. - Sociology

University of California, Riverside

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