Substack is building a new economic engine for culture, giving the brightest, most interesting, and most creative people on the internet the power of their own publishing platform. Substack empowers independent writers, artists, videographers, podcasters, and creators of all types to create, share, and make a living off their work through subscriptions, while offering them creative freedom, ownership, and a direct connection to their audiences.
Substack is looking for a Senior Recruiter to own and elevate our GTM recruiting function. This is not a role for someone who waits for the right resume to land in their inbox — we need a proactive, networked recruiter who takes pride in finding exceptional talent before they're looking, building relationships before there's a role to fill, and pushing the bar on every hire we make.
You'll be joining a small but mighty recruiting team (you'll partner closely with our EPD recruiter) and will report directly to our Head of Operations. This is a high-ownership role where you'll shape how we hire, not just execute on it.
Responsibilities:
Own full-cycle recruiting for GTM roles including sales, marketing, and business operations — from top-of-funnel sourcing through offer close
Build and maintain a proactive sourcing strategy that goes well beyond inbound — tapping your network, identifying passive talent, and creating pipelines before roles open
Partner closely with hiring managers to deeply understand each role, calibrate on what "great" looks like, and move quickly without sacrificing quality
Own and optimize our Ashby instance — build dashboards, set up reporting, leverage AI and automation to drive recruiting efficiency
Manage a strong candidate experience from first touch to offer, ensuring every interaction reflects the Substack brand
Contribute to recruiting operations: tracking metrics, identifying bottlenecks, and continuously improving how we hire
Occasionally support technical or engineering roles as needed
About You:
6+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, with a strong focus on GTM roles (sales, marketing, business operations, partnerships)
A genuine network and the instinct to use it — you know how to reach people who aren't actively looking
Ashby experience strongly preferred; comfort with ATS dashboards, reporting, and workflow automation
A track record of owning recruiting functions, not just executing reqs — you've built pipelines, improved processes, and pushed back when needed
Sharp attention to detail and a high bar for reliability — you follow through, communicate proactively, and never let things fall through the cracks
Comfort working in a fast-moving, lean environment where you'll have real ownership and real impact
Bonus: experience hiring for technical or engineering roles
Why Substack:
Substack is building the future of independent media — a platform where writers, podcasters, and creators can build direct relationships with their audiences and earn a living doing what they love. We're a lean, high-conviction team that moves fast and takes our culture seriously. Every hire matters, and this role is central to who we become next.
Substack’s compensation package includes a market-competitive salary, equity for all full-time roles, and exceptional benefits. Our cash compensation salary range for this role is $135,000-175,000. Multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, determine final offer amounts and may vary from the amounts listed above.
Substack is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender status), age, national origin, veteran or disability status. We’re seeking people passionate about enabling independent expression and building a better business model for creators. If you want to see what media, communities, and content can become when unmoored from advertising models, and you have the skills and experience to contribute, we’d love to meet you.
Please see our Privacy Notice for details regarding Substack's collection and use of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking here.
Skills Required
- 6+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience
- Strong focus on GTM roles
- Experience with Ashby preferred
- Track record of owning recruiting functions
- Attention to detail and reliability
- Experience hiring for technical or engineering roles
What We Do
Substack lets writers connect with their audience on their own terms and earn money doing it. We make it simple for writers to publish to an email list that they own, get discovered on the web, and charge for subscriptions. More than 500,000 people pay to subscribe to writers across the Substack network, and the top writers make millions of dollars a year. Substack’s model depends on the success of writers using Substack – we only make money when they do. “Substack makes it dead simple to start a newsletter and get paid for it.” – Judd Legum, author of Popular Information "Substack gives me a way to connect with my audience on my own terms.” – Lyz Lenz, author of God Land and Men Yell At Me Make something that matters Great writing is valuable. It respects readers' time, their intelligence, and their trust. It helps us make sense of and change the culture we live in. At Substack, we're building a business model that enables great writing to thrive. Learn more about our opportunity and mission. We are a small but growing team, and there is more to build than we could ever imagine. That’s why we need you. We aim to take pragmatic approaches to problem solving while shipping high-quality products that allow the writing on Substack to take the spotlight. Every person at the company participates in customer support. We do this to build empathy with our users and enable us to build better products. We believe that a diverse team will help us build a product that best serves the needs of a wildly diverse ecosystem of writers. So whatever your background or perspective, we’d welcome your input to help build the best possible version of Substack.
