ZipRecruiter, Inc.

Thank you for standing by. My name is Jordan and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to ZipRecruiter Q4 2025 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. You are limited to one question and one follow-up question during the session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Emilio Satori, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for our earnings conference call during which we will discuss ZipRecruiter's performance for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31st, 2025, and our guidance for the first quarter of 2026. Joining me on the call today are Ian Siegel, co-founder and CEO, David Travers, president, and Tim Yarbrough, CFO. Before we begin, please be reminded that forward-looking statements made today are subject to risks and uncertainties related to future events and or the future financial performance of ZipRecruiter. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. A discussion of some of the risk factors could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements can be found in ZipRecruiter's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2025, which is available on our investor website and the SEC's website. The forward-looking statements in this conference call are based on the current expectations as of today, and ZipRecruiter 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's shareholder letter and in our Form 10-K. And now, I will turn the call over to Ian. Thank you.

Good afternoon to everyone joining us today. 2025 was a year of stabilization and strategic execution for ZipRecruiter. After multiple quarters of sequential growth, I'm pleased to share that we achieved year-over-year revenue growth in Q4-25. The first time a quarter has grown year-over-year since Q3 of 2022. Throughout 2025, we remained focused on our mission to actively connect people to their next great opportunity by delivering high-impact product enhancements. We upgraded Zip Intro and our resume database to drive faster connection, deployed new AI-powered suggested screening questions to decrease the time it takes employers to vet the candidates they receive, and optimized our automated campaigns to deliver better performance for our enterprise clients. In January of 2026, we took another leap forward with the launch of Be Seen First, a product which enables job seekers to jump to the top of an employer's candidate list. Job seekers earn this advantage when they tell the employer why they're excited about the role and what skills they bring to the table. The results are promising. Be seen first candidates are nearly two times more likely to have a conversation with an employer. Following the sequential growth in Q2 and Q3 of 2025, Q4 25 marked a return to year-over-year revenue growth. We achieved this milestone despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. That said, hiring demand in Q4 25 was soft. Firing demand dropped below what normal seasonality would have predicted, and job openings declined 10% year over year. As a result, Q126 started from a lower base of paid employers. Our Q126 revenue guidance of $106 million at the midpoint reflects this lower holiday baseline. However, in Q1 of 26, paid employer trends have rebounded year to date. Those trends are in fact stronger than the trends we called out as noteworthy in Q1 of 25. We are encouraged by the momentum we see in performance marketing revenue. Year over year performance marketing revenue increased 5% in Q3 of 25 and 9% in Q4 of 25. Our go to market motion and product offerings continue to resonate with and drive value for our larger enterprise customers. This performance gives us confidence that our product improvements and technology investments are driving us forward in this environment with our underlying momentum intact. For the full year of 2026, we expect hiring demand to follow a typical seasonal cadence, albeit at subdued levels given the lower starting point post-holidays. We believe a likely result in this scenario is for us to achieve flat year-over-year revenue in 2026 compared to the 5% decline in 2025. Further, in this scenario, we expect adjusted EBITDA margins to expand by five percentage points, from 9% in 2025 to 14% in 2026. This improvement reflects our rigorous cost discipline alongside targeted investments aimed at capturing growth. In addition to addressing our business specifically, we have been receiving many questions about AI and its impact on the labor market. While some attribute the current hiring slowdown to AI displacement, ZipRecruiter employer survey data tells a different story. According to ZipRecruiter customer responses in our Q4 2025 annual employer survey, the current labor market trends are primarily driven by economic factors, such as lower customer spending or cost-cutting mandates, rather than technology-driven automation. AI is currently having little to no impact on our customers' hiring plans. This matches the sentiment from a large number of economists on the topic. Over the long term, we expect AI to be a substantial boon to the labor market. History shows that major technological shifts displace specific roles, but ultimately unlock productivity and enhance labor demand. We believe AI will follow a similar trajectory. We further believe ZipRecruiter is uniquely positioned to lead this next wave of AI-driven acceleration. Since our inception, we have invested over a billion dollars to build an enduring brand that resonates with both employers and job seekers. Our proprietary AI matching technology, trained on billions of interactions, continuously learns to service the right roles and deliver qualified candidates faster. Our team and our technology investments are laser focused on continuously improving the process of finding a great job or a great employee. ZipRecruiter remains committed to its mission of actively connecting people to their next great opportunity through every economic cycle. We believe we will continue to lead the shift in recruiting from offline to online, and we are prepared for this new wave of AI-driven innovation. Before I turn the call over to Dave, as you read in our shareholder letter, our CFO Tim Yarbrough has decided to pursue a new opportunity and will be departing ZipRecruiter. On behalf of the board and the entire ZipRecruiter team, I want to thank Tim for his over a decade of dedicated service. We wish him continued success in his next opportunity. Dave Travers, our current president and previous CFO of six years, is stepping in as interim chief financial officer, effective February 26th. Dave's deep familiarity with our business, financial operations, and history will ensure a seamless transition during this interim period. We've also initiated a comprehensive search for a permanent CFO. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Dave to share some business highlights.