ZipRecruiter (ZIP) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — Ian Siegel
• President and Interim Chief Financial Officer — David Travers
• SVP, Investor Relations — Emilio Sartori

TAKEAWAYS

• Revenue -- $107.5 million, a 2% decline year over year and a 4% decrease sequentially from Q4, with both movements attributed to muted hiring demand and post-holiday seasonality, respectively.
• Net loss -- $4.7 million, directly reported for the quarter.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $9.7 million, reflecting a 9% margin and above the high end of the company's guidance range.
• Quarterly paid employers -- Over 63,000, flat year over year and up 7% sequentially, indicating employer base stability and consistent seasonal patterns.
• Revenue per paid employer -- $1,698, down 2% year over year and 10% sequentially; sequential decline was primarily due to increased numbers of paid employers ramping their campaigns.
• Cash, equivalents, and securities -- $393.5 million as of March 31, 2026.
• Share repurchase -- 3.5 million shares repurchased for $9.4 million in the quarter.
• AI engine launch & results -- The new search and matching AI engine increased relevant job application volume by 37% for exposed job seekers; company expects full rollout by end of Q2.
• Be Seen First product metrics -- Over 50% of paid employers receive responses via Be Seen First; 12% of all applicants used this feature; candidates using Be Seen First are nearly two times more likely to receive employer messages than traditional applicants.
• Organic job seeker growth -- Engaged job seekers via organic search grew 26% year over year, despite a decline in overall web traffic across the hiring category.
• Performance marketing revenue (enterprise) -- Increased 5% year over year, with enterprise now comprising 24% of total revenue, double the share recorded in 2019.
• Q2 2026 guidance -- Revenue guidance of $112 million at the midpoint, indicating flat year-over-year growth and a 4% sequential increase; adjusted EBITDA aimed at $13 million, or a 12% margin.
• Full-year 2026 outlook -- Management expects flat year-over-year revenue for 2026 and anticipates adjusted EBITDA margin expansion by five percentage points to 14%.

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RISKS

• The company described the hiring environment as "sluggish," noting that "quits rate and total hires stayed near their lowest levels since 2015, while job openings were down 3% year over year."
• Management stated that "hiring demand remains muted" and expects subdued levels to persist in 2026, placing pressure on top line growth.

SUMMARY

ZipRecruiter (NYSE:ZIP) reported a step change in engagement driven by new marketplace features, with direct application volumes and employer adoption rates of engagement products showing material improvement. Investments in AI—including deployment of a next-generation search and matching engine and the launch of a ChatGPT app—expanded distribution and operational capabilities. The enterprise segment continued to gain revenue share, while the implementation of multimedia branding rolled out via integrated employer pages represented a new product-driven approach to employer branding. Management guided to a sequential acceleration in revenue for Q2 and articulated confidence in margin expansion for the full year, premised on operational efficiency and accelerating innovation.

• Leadership emphasized that operational cost efficiencies in G&A, sales and marketing, and R&D contributed to adjusted EBITDA margin outperformance for the quarter.
• Quarterly paid employer stability was maintained despite macroeconomic volatility, suggesting customer retention amid challenging market conditions.
• Employer multimedia profiles powered by the Breakroom platform were newly integrated, signaling further customizable branding opportunities for clients.
• AI adoption was described by leadership as driving rapid acceleration of the product roadmap, not as a driver of cost savings, with "AI is permeating really every department within our company."
• Management identified job seeker feedback and app ratings—at a 4.9 average across 1 million reviews—as qualitative evidence of improved platform performance and user satisfaction.
• Initial integrations with generative AI platforms are expected to broaden ZipRecruiter's distribution footprint as new channels scale in relevance.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Be Seen First: A ZipRecruiter feature allowing qualified job applicants to highlight their fit and signal intent, receiving prioritized visibility to employers.
• Quarterly paid employers: Distinct employer entities that purchased at least one paid job posting or subscription during the fiscal quarter.
• Performance marketing revenue: Earnings derived from outcome-based advertising solutions, predominantly within the enterprise customer segment.
• Breakroom: Workplace rating and job platform acquired by ZipRecruiter and used to power multimedia employer branding within job listings.
• LLMs: Large language models, a type of AI frequently referenced relative to generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Emilio Sartori: Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for our earnings conference call during which we will discuss ZipRecruiter, Inc.’s performance for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, and our guidance for 2026. Joining me on the call today are Ian Siegel, cofounder and CEO, and David Travers, president and interim CFO. Before we begin, please be reminded that forward-looking statements made today are subject to risks and uncertainties relating to future events and/or the future financial performance of ZipRecruiter, Inc. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

A discussion of some of the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements can be found in ZipRecruiter, Inc.’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, which is available on our investor website and the SEC's website. The forward-looking statements in this conference call are based on current expectations as of today, and ZipRecruiter, Inc. assumes no obligation to update or revise them whether as a result of new developments or otherwise. In addition, during today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, or in isolation from, GAAP results.

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP metrics to the nearest GAAP metrics are included in ZipRecruiter, Inc.’s shareholder letter and in our Form 10-Q. And now I will turn the call over to Ian. Thank you.

Ian Siegel: Good afternoon to everyone joining us today. ZipRecruiter, Inc. opened 2026 with a strong first quarter, delivering revenue of $107.5 million and beating the midpoint of our guidance. Net loss was $4.7 million and adjusted EBITDA came in above the high end of our guidance range at $9.7 million. At ZipRecruiter, Inc., our mission is to actively connect people to their next great opportunity. We do that by playing the role of active matchmaker. Increasing direct, meaningful conversations between employers and job seekers is a central focus of our R&D, and in Q1, we saw engagement increase across multiple metrics. First, we launched our next-generation search and matching AI engine in Q1.

This represents a massive leap forward in how we drive more conversations between employers and job seekers. This engine delivers two major upgrades: a step change in how we assess candidate qualifications and a new level of precision in interpreting job seeker intent. The results were immediate. Application volume increased by 37% for job seekers using the new engine. While only live for a subset of job seekers, we expect a full rollout by the end of Q2. We also created significant momentum with Be Seen First, a product that empowers qualified, high-intent job seekers to stand out by highlighting exactly why they are a fit for a role. Adoption is scaling fast.

Over half of our paid employers now receive Be Seen First responses on their postings. In Q1, 12% of all applicants chose to Be Seen First. Only qualified candidates for a role can utilize this feature, ensuring a high-quality experience for employers. Be Seen First candidates are nearly two times more likely to receive a message from an employer than those using traditional applications. Over the past year, we have deployed multiple products and enhancements across both sides of our marketplace, from Zip Intro and our redesigned resume database to Be Seen First and our next-generation search and matching engine. Each innovation is focused on the same goal: driving more conversation between employers and job seekers.

This momentum is reflected in both our data and job seeker app store reviews. With a 4.9 rating and over 1 million combined reviews, ZipRecruiter, Inc. remains the number one rated job search app on both iOS and Android. Over the course of Q1, we saw a notable increase in positive reviews specifically mentioning getting a call from an employer or landing an interview compared to Q4. We believe the most valuable thing we can do for job seekers is get them into conversations with employers. And the most valuable thing we can do for employers is deliver them candidates they want to engage with. The data is moving in the right direction. The app store reviews are one signal.

The product data is another. Together, they tell a consistent story: the quality of connections happening on ZipRecruiter, Inc. is meaningfully improving. All of these improvements were delivered against what remains a sluggish hiring backdrop. In Q1, the quits rate and total hires stayed near their lowest levels since 2015, while job openings were down 3% year over year. In spite of this subdued hiring environment, ZipRecruiter, Inc. outperformed on Q1 results, and we believe this is due to our product improvements and the efficacy of our marketplace. The pace of innovation across our marketplace is accelerating.

In a market where many companies are competing on the breadth of their AI capabilities, we believe the long-term winners will be those that translate technology into real outcomes—employers finding the right person, job seekers landing the right role. That is the bet we are making. We believe the quality of our marketplace has never been stronger, and that we are building a business that will capture disproportionate share as the hiring market normalizes. Q1 is evidence that we are moving in the right direction, and we look forward to showing you more. I will now turn the call over to Dave to share additional business highlights, financial results, and guidance.

David Travers: Thanks, Ian, and good afternoon. Our performance in the first quarter reflects the continued success of our product-led strategy. I am excited to share several highlights with you. On the SEO front, we are seeing strong growth in high-intent traffic despite a year-over-year decline in total web traffic across the hiring category. In Q1, our engaged job seekers—defined as those who applied to job postings—grew 26% year over year through organic search. At the same time, we are leaning into generative AI. In March, we launched the ZipRecruiter, Inc. app for ChatGPT, extending our reach directly into the AI tools job seekers are increasingly adopting.

We see this as an early step in broadening our presence across generative AI platforms, and we will look to expand our integrations over time. Taken together—our increased share of total traffic, 26% year-over-year growth in engaged job seekers through organic channels, and a new distribution footprint across generative AI platforms—we believe ZipRecruiter, Inc. is gaining share at a moment when cyclical hiring demand remains muted. That combination does not happen by accident, and we believe it positions us to disproportionately capture volume when the hiring market normalizes.

After investing over $1 billion over the past fifteen years to achieve over 80% aided brand awareness on both sides of our marketplace, we are now leveraging our branding expertise to empower our customers to tell their own stories with multimedia branding. In Q1, we rolled out integrated branded pages for our employer listings on ZipRecruiter, Inc., powered by Breakroom, a workplace rating and job marketplace platform, to increase visibility of employers’ brands to job seekers. These pages allow employers to move beyond static text and use video, images, and testimonials to showcase their true workplace culture. We look forward to scaling these multimedia capabilities across our entire marketplace. Finally, our enterprise strategy continues to gain traction.

Adoption of our automated campaign performance solutions grew over 50% year over year as large employers look for more efficient hiring solutions. Our go-to-market improvements drove a 5% year-over-year increase in performance marketing revenue, proving that our technology investments are delivering for employers of every size. With that, I will now discuss our financial results and guidance. Our first quarter revenue of $107.5 million came in ahead of our guidance midpoint, with a 2% decline year over year and a 4% decline quarter over quarter. The year-over-year decrease was driven by a soft hiring environment, while the sequential decline reflects post-holiday seasonality.

We finished the first quarter with over 63 thousand quarterly paid employers, which was flat year over year and represented a 7% increase sequentially. Quarterly paid employers remaining flat year over year in spite of macroeconomic volatility demonstrates the stability of our employer base. The sequential growth is consistent with our historical seasonal patterns, where quarterly paid employers typically grow over the course of Q1 after the holiday slowdown in Q4. Revenue per paid employer was $1,698, down 2% year over year and down 10% sequentially. The year-over-year decrease reflects more muted hiring demand.

The sequential decrease was primarily driven by seasonal growth in the number of quarterly paid employers as they ramped up their hiring campaigns over the course of Q1. Our net loss in the first quarter was $4.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA in Q1 was $9.7 million, representing a 9% margin, coming ahead of the high end of our guidance range. This compares to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 5% in 2025. Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaled $393.5 million as of March 31, 2026. During the first quarter, we repurchased 3.5 million shares totaling $9.4 million.

Moving on to quarterly guidance, our Q2 revenue guidance of $112 million at the midpoint represents a return to flat revenue year over year and 4% growth quarter over quarter, demonstrating the impact of our hiring solutions despite underlying macro headwinds. Our adjusted EBITDA guidance for Q2 is $13 million at the midpoint, representing a 12% margin. Looking beyond Q2, we continue to expect hiring demand to follow a typical seasonal cadence throughout 2026, albeit at subdued levels. Under this scenario, we expect to achieve flat year-over-year revenue in 2026, which is a five percentage point improvement over the 5% decline in 2025.

In this scenario, we also believe adjusted EBITDA margins can expand by five percentage points from 9% in 2025 to 14% in 2026. This margin expansion reflects our commitment to operational efficiency, alongside targeted investments aimed at capturing growth. The stabilization in the business and accelerating pace of innovation we have seen in our marketplace are encouraging. We remain confident that our focus on driving more meaningful conversations between employers and job seekers will position ZipRecruiter, Inc. to outperform the broader hiring category over the long term. We will now open the call for questions. Operator?

Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Ralph Schackart with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Ralph Schackart: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. First question, maybe if you could talk about the differences you might be observing between SMB and enterprise segments. It sounds like you are making some good traction within enterprise. And then, as 2026 progresses, how would you expect the behavior within each of these segments to perhaps change? And then I have a follow-up.

David Travers: Great. Thanks, Ralph. So, yes, we have been pleased with the execution we have seen on both customer segments, SMB and enterprise. Enterprise mainly comprises performance marketing revenue, so that was up 5% year over year. That continues a long-term trend of expanding our percentage of revenue that comes from enterprise—24% of revenue this quarter. If you go all the way back to our S-1 pre-COVID in 2019, we were at 12% of revenue. So we have doubled our percentage of revenue, and we expect to continue to expand revenue there over time. As it evolves over the course of the year, we expect to continue to see that.

What we have seen in talking to the customer base from both sides is consistent with the macro data we have seen. We are in a subdued but relatively stable environment, and that captures the mood of employers on both sides of the marketplace.

They are responding to conversations being driven, and job seekers are responding to that as we talked a lot about in the letter, and we expect to continue to see the benefits of that as we continue to execute this year, consistent with our guidance, where we are guiding to double our top-line growth versus what we did Q2 over Q1 last year—showing $4.5 million of top-line growth at the midpoint as opposed to just over $2 million in the same quarters last year.

Ralph Schackart: Great. Thanks, Dave. And then just a follow-up, maybe shifting gears a little bit. You talked about the ZipRecruiter, Inc. app for ChatGPT. Just curious what you are learning there. I think you talked about expanding potential integrations. Any more color you could add on the product front there would be great. Thank you.

Ian Siegel: The new app went live on ChatGPT and, on a percentage basis, the growth of LLMs in general has been impressive as a new traffic source. Overall, LLMs are still a tiny contributor in the overall mix of where traffic comes from to ZipRecruiter, Inc. But it is good to be there at the beginning and to enjoy the ride up with them as they become an ever more popular way for job seekers to look for work.

Operator: If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. The next question comes from Justin Patterson with KeyBanc. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Great. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I would love to hear more about the upcoming rollout of the next-generation AI engine. It sounds like that is a really strong return so far. How are you thinking about that as a potential market share driver in a market that is still a little bit subdued here? And then, as a quick follow-up, we have seen a lot of companies trying to balance the productivity benefits against the rising token costs from GenAI tools. How are you thinking about that dynamic, and what might it mean toward your longer-term headcount needs? Thank you.

Ian Siegel: I will take the second question first and then go to the first question. AI is permeating really every department within our company. It is driving extraordinary efficiencies across the board, which we have not looked at as a cost-saving opportunity as much as we have looked at it as a mechanism by which we can realize and increase our ambition. So if anything, it has accelerated our roadmap as opposed to saved us money. You can see the output of that acceleration in Q1, where multiple large-scale initiatives, some of which have been worked on for over a year, were able to deploy. The next-generation search engine is one of those.

It increased applications by 37% for the job seekers who were exposed to it. We expect all job seekers to be on the next-gen search engine by the end of Q2. It is really exciting. This algorithm and the other components of this were retrained to prioritize more meaningful signals for job seekers in terms of the depth of their interest in a role. We can see that play out when we use those algorithms to deliver results in that they are applying at a far higher rate, and these are jobs that they are far more qualified for at the same time.

Further, when they do apply for those jobs and when they are qualified for those jobs, adoption of Be Seen First has been exciting. We saw 12% of total applicants choose to Be Seen First when they applied, and this confers an extraordinary advantage to them because employers who are looking at their list are seeing these very interested candidates who now have a mechanism to show their enthusiasm. They are not just qualified; they are eager. That is coming through, and employers are engaging with those candidates at almost twice the rate that they are engaging with candidates who go through the normal apply process.

Overall, when we look at all the features that we have launched—not just in this quarter, but really over the last three to four quarters—including things like Zip Intro, our redesigned resume database, and the acquisition and deployment of Breakroom, what you see is that the strategy we have built is working, and it is not just me saying that. It is the job seekers. I have been really excited reading the reviews and seeing the spike in the specific language that those reviews contain. The job seekers are using the language that we use internally when we talk about our objective. They are saying that they are getting more interviews, they are getting more phone calls from employers.

They are saying ZipRecruiter, Inc. works. That is exactly how we look at it internally and how we describe it. So it is really rewarding to see the strategy paying off both quantitatively and qualitatively here. There are so many more improvements to come. We are really excited about the momentum we have here, and AI is proving to be an incredible accelerator of our ability to rapidly deploy these improvements.

Operator: Your next question comes from Josh Chan with UBS. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Hi. This is calling in for Josh. Thanks for taking our questions. I wanted to ask about the margin, because the margin certainly came in way above what we expected and also came in above the guide as well. Can you provide more color on what drove that upside against your internal expectations?

David Travers: Great, thanks. Good question. Yes, the EBITDA margins this past quarter did come in above expectations and above the high end of the range we had set earlier. When you look at it year over year, we have been driving efficiency across all three major categories of expense—G&A, sales and marketing, and R&D. However, versus our expectations from last quarter, as we have said many times, we are scientists, not artists, when it comes to sales and marketing investments. This quarter, the team did an extraordinary job of looking for and finding high-ROI marketing opportunities and areas to invest in our go-to-market, and we saw that in the results.

The result was that we came in above the high end of the range. That gives us increasing confidence in our ability to achieve the likely scenario we laid out for the whole year, which is top line being flat—which is five percentage points better than the prior year—and at the same time improving bottom-line margins from 9% to 14% for the full year, which is also a five percentage point improvement along the bottom line. This quarter gave us even more confidence about our ability to do that, and we felt great about it.

Analyst: Very helpful. Thank you.

Operator: That is the end of the Q&A session. This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.

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