Liam Naughton

Head of Talent

New York City, New York, United States9 yrs 9 mos experience

Key Highlights

Expert in building high-performing recruiting teams.
Proven track record in strategic talent acquisition.
Fluent in engineering and product recruiting.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a strategic leader in recruitment technology and talent acquisition.

Contact

liam.naughton@merge.dev LinkedIn

Skills

Other Skills

Customer ServiceLeadershipManagementMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft WordPowerPointPublic SpeakingResearchSocial MediaTeamwork

About

I build and scale high-bar recruiting organizations that power rapid growth, especially in technology and AI.I’ve partnered with founders, executives and hiring teams at some of the fastest growing companies in the tech world to design and execute talent strategies that drive results. At Shiftsmart I joined during a pivotal growth phase to rebuild the recruiting function from reactive to strategic, hiring team members across corporate, field, and support teams, building a high-performing recruiter team, codifying culture and leveling frameworks, modernizing our tech stack, and partnering with the exec team on org design and team structure. My sweet spot is the “player-coach” leader: I’m as comfortable owning a senior IC or technical search as I am designing hiring systems, implementing dashboards and coaching recruiter teams. I’m fluent in engineering and product recruiting, and I’m relentless about raising hiring standards, improving candidate experience and using data to drive decisions.

Experience

9 yrs 9 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 4 mos

Average Tenure

5 mos

Current Experience

Merge

Head of Recruiting

Jan 2026 – Present · 5 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area

Shiftsmart

Director Talent Acquisition

Jul 2023 – Jan 2026 · 2 yrs 6 mos · New York, New York, United States

Candidate labs

2 roles

Client Partner

Promoted

Jun 2021 – May 2023 · 1 yr 11 mos

Candidate Labs is a search firm built as a technology company.
We’re reimagining what’s possible in the recruiting industry—reinventing the hiring process from start to finish to create a radically better experience for candidates, employers, and recruiters.
Founded by repeat entrepreneurs, our team looks like the companies we serve, combining software developers, PhDs, and talent professionals.
By utilizing technology for scale and repeatability alongside our seasoned search team, we connect venture-backed companies with the right hires at the right time while helping candidates accelerate their careers and create long-term success.
We’ve raised $5M+ in funding and are backed by top VCs including SignalFire, Fuel Capital, FJ Labs, Box Group, and dozens of talent leaders, revenue leaders, and founders.

Client Director

Oct 2020 – Jun 2021 · 8 mos

Daversa partners

Executive Recruiter

Jun 2017 – Sep 2020 · 3 yrs 3 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area

Daversa Partners is the leading headhunting firm in North America; building out the management teams for the most disruptive companies of our generation. The firm has developed a reputation for recruiting Material Impact Executives for consumer and enterprise businesses. Five offices give us national reach and unprecedented access to talent. This allows us to operate with an aggressive style that has earned us our reputation as the search partners of choice for the venture and private equity community. We pride ourselves on being strategic partners with entrepreneurs, executives and investors.
Daversa has a track record of success in building management teams for companies such as Dropbox, Twitter, Palo Alto Networks, DataStax, Airbnb, DocuSign, Uber, Snapchat, ThoughtSpot, Oscar and HubSpot.