Melisa Fich

Co-Founder

Denver, United States14 yrs 6 mos experience
AI ML PractitionerAI Enabled

Key Highlights

  • Scaled Airbnb from 500 to 5000 employees.
  • Led Robinhood's recruiting during rapid growth phases.
  • Advised startups on scaling and IPO readiness.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and Fintech recruiting expert with extensive startup scaling experience.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Scaling CompaniesGenerative Ai

Other Skills

OntologyMulti-Modal RAGCommercial AIOperations ManagementTalent ManagementGenerative SearchEnterprise SoftwareStart-up LeadershipStart-up VenturesRecruitingTechnical RecruitingSocial NetworkingApplicant Tracking SystemsManagementPublic Relations

About

Melisa Koutz Fich is a Recruiting Leader who has spent the last decade of her career learning at Google, growing Airbnb from ~500 to 5k+ and scaling Robinhood from ~100 to 4K+ - helping both Airbnb and Robinhood go from pre-IPO to a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ. She holds extensive experience in technical and nontechnical recruiting inclusive of Executive and Board hiring. Melisa advises several early stage start ups as they scale their companies from Seed to Series D - specializing in scaling leadership, engineering, GTM and IPO readiness teams from the ground up. More to share on her next chapter as a Co-Founder soon. JadeIQ uploading...

Experience

14 yrs 6 mos
Total Experience
1 yr 8 mos
Average Tenure
1 yr 5 mos
Current Experience

Jadeiq

Co-Founder

Jan 2025Present · 1 yr 5 mos · Denver, CO

  • Announced the launch of JadeIQ's white glove services in January 2025. Serving as an Interim Head of Talent to Seed stage companies in 2025. Scale by JadeIQ is live in 2026, our approach to delivering service through software. Not another locked-in enterprise contract, but a system where you can plug in and get real work done against your actual problems in real time. Reach out to melisa@jadeiq.com for hiring or consulting service requests.
  • More to come on JadeIQ's software operating system in 2026. See our initial landing page here: https://jadeiq.com/
Generative AIOntologyScaling companiesMulti-Modal RAG

Mercury

Head of Talent Acquisition

Mar 2024Sep 2024 · 6 mos · United States · Remote

  • Head of Recruiting while the VP of People was on maternity leave.

First round capital

Fast Track Mentor

Mar 2023Jun 2023 · 3 mos · Remote

  • Fast Track is a 90-day mentorship experience that pairs hundreds of tech leaders with high-potential operators. Mentees go through our powerful matching process to find the best Mentor for their career goals and maximize the Mentor’s impact. Each pair meets for one hour every other week, for six total 1:1 sessions, to discuss the Mentee’s professional goals, tips for cultivating leadership skills and advice for weathering the challenges of startup life. In addition to these 1:1 meetings, mentors support in hosting virtual professional development workshops and curated learning sessions.

Robinhood

2 roles

Director of Talent Acquisition

Jan 2023Aug 2023 · 7 mos

  • Director of the Core Business Recruiting organization inclusive of Robinhood Money, Robinhood Crypto, Robinhood Futures, Say Technologies, International Expansion, Core Brokerage, Customer Experience & Investor Relations.

Senior Recruiting Leader

Apr 2018Aug 2023 · 5 yrs 4 mos

  • ~Scaling the company democratizing access to the financial system~ Scaling Robinhood from 1.5M customers to 22M during my tenure, ~100 people to 4k+
  • Head of Financial Services and Platform Operations Recruiting + Robinhood International Recruiting (October 2022 - February 2023)
  • Head of the Foundation Recruiting Organization (June 2020 - present)
  • Leading the team building and scaling the foundational organizations at Robinhood including Operations, CX, PeopleX, G&A, Business, Legal, & Compliance at Robinhood (all functions built under our COO, CFO, CLO, CPO)
  • April 2019 - June 2020: Senior Recruiting Leader of the team scaling our G&A, Business, Legal, & Risk & Compliance organizations (all teams that roll into our CFO, CLO, and VP of Risk & Compliance)
  • August 2018 - April 2019: Senior Recruiter Lead contributing to building out all orgs within Robinhood including Backend & Specialized Engineering, Executive Leadership, Product, Operations, G&A, Business, Legal, Risk & Compliance, University Recruiting
  • + People Manager of the Recruiting Operations Effectiveness team (12 direct reports)
  • April 2018-August 2018: Senior Technical Recruiter focused on scaling our specialized engineering teams (all Data, Security, Infrastructure)

Y combinator

Recruiting & People Advisor

Jan 2021Jan 2024 · 3 yrs · Denver, CO

  • Advising three Y Combinator backed companies from the Winter 21’ and Summer 21’ batch in their early days of growth to executing their scaling goals from their Seed raise to prepare for Series A. Consultant on all company needs- Initial Hires + scaling strategy, Leadership, Technical, Product, Business, GTM, Customer Support and Operations hiring strategies. Value add consultive services providing infrastructure solutions to Recruiting + HR challenges.

First round capital

Advisor

May 2020Apr 2021 · 11 mos · Remote

  • Serving as an advisor to two early-stage startups backed by First Round Capital on their technical, GTM, and leadership hiring strategies. Seed to Series A, Series A to Series B.

Stanford flan (first-generation and/or low-income alumni network)

Committee Volunteer

Apr 2020Present · 6 yrs 2 mos · Stanford, California, United States · Hybrid

  • The purpose of FLAN, the Stanford First-Generation and/or Low-Income Alumni Network, is to build a connection amongst Stanford First-Generation and/or Low-Income (FLI) alumni and to our university. We organize networking and community-building opportunities for FLI alumni, work closely with the student group First-Generation and/or Low-Income Partnership (FLIP) to support current FLI Stanford students, support the First-Generation and/or Low-Income (FLI) Office at Stanford, and advocate for the FLI community at Stanford. FLAN is an official chartered club of the Stanford Alumni Association (SAA), whose mission is to reach, serve, and engage Stanford alumni.

Airbnb

Senior Technical Recruiter

Feb 2014Apr 2018 · 4 yrs 2 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

  • Full-cycle recruiter building out the team that helps Airbnb make data-driven decisions everyday.
  • February 2018- April 2018: Engineering Recruiter (Full-Cycle) & Recruiting Lead for Machine Learning Pod
  • September 2015 - February 2018: Data Science Recruiter (Full-Cycle)
  • September 2015-January 2016: Built out the 1st Intern Program for the Data Science Organization
  • February 2014 - September 2015: Software Engineering Sourcer & Recruiter, Specialized Engineering Teams (Data Infrastructure, Search, Security, Data Engineering, SRE, Magical Trips)

Google

Engineering Sourcer

Mar 2013Mar 2014 · 1 yr · Global HQ

  • Sourcing and developing software engineers for all product areas within Google.

Coit group - a hudson rpo company

Lead Technical Recruiter & Account Manager

Jun 2012Mar 2013 · 9 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

  • The Coit Group is a boutique recruiting firm that provides direct hire staffing solutions to start-­up companies.
  • Specialized in full time Software Engineering roles representing 11 Clients (such as Stripe, Houzz, FitBit, Birst, Inkling, NetSuite, Marketo, Riverbed, Dropbox). Account Manager for Gablit Startup while placing full-time software engineers and specialized technical engineers.

Hillerich & bradsby co.

Marketing Representative Intern

Jun 2011Aug 2011 · 2 mos · (Louisville Slugger)

  • Marketing representative for Louisville Slugger.

Stanford university

3 roles

Graduate Student

Promoted

Jan 2011Jun 2012 · 1 yr 5 mos

  • M.A. Media Studies - a broad introduction to scholarly literature in mass communication; Social Science Track.
  • Worked with Professor Lawrence M. Friedman- Professor of Law at Stanford & Faculty Sponsor for Stanford Program in Law & Society.
  • Worked as an intern at Ropes & Gray LLP in Palo Alto while completing M.A. & Thesis.

Research Assistant (Mind, Culture, & Society Lab)

Promoted

Sep 2010Jun 2011 · 9 mos

  • Research Assistant for the Mind, Culture, & Society Lab within the Psychology Department at Stanford University directed by Professors Hazel Rose Markus and Jennifer Eberhardt. The Mind, Culture, & Society Lab explores the ways in which the sociocultural environment and its products shape psychological experience. More specifically, research in the MCS lab examines how race, ethnicity, culture, gender, and social class affect perception, attitudes, motivation, and behavior.

Student-Athlete (Varsity Softball)

Sep 2007Jun 2011 · 3 yrs 9 mos

  • Lettered in 2011. Shake that Cardinal.
  • 4 NCAA Regional appearances, 3 NCAA Super Regional appearances. Freshman All PAC 10, Rookie of the Year 2008. PAC 10 Academic Honor Roll 2008, 2010, 2011

Los angeles sparks

Public Relations Intern

Jun 2009Sep 2010 · 1 yr 3 mos

Agajanian, mcfall, weiss, tetreault & crist llp

Legal Associate Intern

Jun 2008Sep 2008 · 3 mos · Greater Los Angeles Area

Hopsports, inc.

Trainer

Sep 2005Jun 2007 · 1 yr 9 mos · Santa Clarita Valley

  • Trainer at HOPS sports training facility in the Santa Clarita Valley, specifically working with softball and baseball players.

Education

Stanford University

Master of Arts (M.A.) — Communication and Media Studies

Jan 2011Jan 2012

Stanford University

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Jan 2007Jan 2011

Saugus High School

Jan 2004Jan 2007

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