ZipRecruiter Q3 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Q3 revenue rose 8% to $124.4 million, while adjusted EBITDA reached $20.8 million, or 17% of revenue, with the adjusted margin up 9 percentage points year over year.
• Quarterly paid employers increased 10% year over year to 74,000. Job seeker applications rose 10%, qualified applications grew 49% quarter over quarter, and employer response rates per application tripled, with the company crediting product and matching improvements.
• ZipRecruiter forecast Q4 revenue of $118 million to $122 million and adjusted EBITDA of $16 million to $20 million. Its full-year revenue outlook implies 4% to 5% growth, despite a “low hire, low fire” labor market.

ZipRecruiter NYSE: ZIP reported third-quarter revenue growth of 8% and expanded profitability as more employers paid to use its hiring marketplace and engagement increased among job seekers.

Revenue rose to $124.4 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, at the top end of the company’s guidance. Adjusted EBITDA was $20.8 million, or 17% of revenue, exceeding its forecast. The adjusted margin expanded by 9 percentage points from a year earlier.

Co-Founder and CEO Ian Siegel attributed the results primarily to product improvements designed to increase conversations between employers and job seekers. CFO Carmen Chan said momentum built throughout the quarter and that the company was pleased with performance in the fourth quarter to date.

Employer Growth and Profitability

ZipRecruiter had 74,000 quarterly paid employers, up 10% from a year earlier and 5% from the second quarter. Chan said it was the highest count since the third quarter of 2023, with growth among new and returning employers and stronger retention of existing customers.

Revenue per paid employer was $1,683, down 2% year over year but up 1% sequentially. Performance-based revenue, which reflects spending by larger customers, rose 13% year over year and 10% from the prior quarter. It represented 25% of total revenue.

President David Travers said the performance-based business posted its fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. The majority of enterprise customers now use ZipRecruiter’s automated campaign performance tool, he said, though he believes the company has not fully realized the benefits of customers responding to better campaign results.

Net income was $5.1 million, a 4% margin. Operating expenses were $100.9 million, essentially flat from the second quarter despite higher revenue. Sales and marketing expenses fell to 48% of revenue from 52% a year earlier, reflecting improved marketing efficiency, Chan said.

The company ended the quarter with $174.7 million in cash equivalents and marketable securities. It repurchased $4.7 million of senior unsecured notes at a discount to par value and $4.5 million of common stock during the quarter.

AI Matching and Job Seeker Engagement

Siegel said the number of job seekers applying to at least one job rose 10% year over year, while the average number of applications per job seeker increased 24%. Qualified applications grew 49% quarter over quarter, following a 34% increase in the second quarter. The employer response rate per application tripled year over year, he said.

Siegel credited a search and matching engine deployed in the first quarter that uses the company’s proprietary marketplace data to predict both job seeker interest and the likelihood of an employer response. He also highlighted the Be Seen First feature, which lets applicants write a message explaining their interest and showcases qualified candidates to employers.

Be Seen First is used by 9% of applicants, who are two and a half times more likely to hear back from an employer, Siegel said. A follow-up messaging option added in the third quarter resulted in more than four and a half times as many messages exchanged between participating job seekers and employers.

Traffic from AI platforms nearly doubled year over year in the third quarter after ZipRecruiter launched direct integrations with Claude and ChatGPT earlier in 2026. Siegel described it as a high-converting source of engaged job seekers and said the company expects to keep improving those integrations as AI agents increasingly perform tasks for users.

Asked about changes to Google search, Siegel said ZipRecruiter’s brand and multichannel marketing help it weather diminishing opportunities from organic search. Chan added that sales and marketing spending was down 1% year over year while quarterly paid employers rose 10%.

Outlook and Hiring Conditions

For the fourth quarter, ZipRecruiter forecast revenue of $118 million to $122 million, representing growth of 6% to 9% year over year. It expects adjusted EBITDA of $16 million to $20 million, or a 14% to 16% margin.

The revenue outlook implies full-year revenue of $468 million to $472 million, up 4% to 5% from 2025. Chan said that exceeded the company’s flat-growth outlook at the start of the year, despite what executives described as a “low hire, low fire” labor market. The fourth-quarter forecast also accounts for a typical seasonal slowdown in hiring.

Travers said third-quarter strength was evident in technology, transportation, logistics and construction, while healthcare, retail and education were flatter. Chan said ZipRecruiter plans to continue investing in sales and marketing while adjusting spending based on returns.

About ZipRecruiter (NYSE:ZIP)

ZipRecruiter, Inc operates an online employment marketplace that connects businesses with job seekers. Its platform enables employers to create and distribute job postings across a broad network of online channels, while helping candidates search for available positions and apply for roles.

The company uses technology and matching tools to recommend relevant candidates to employers and suitable job opportunities to job seekers. Its services are designed for businesses of various sizes, including small and midsize employers, as well as staffing firms and larger organizations.

ZipRecruiter was founded in 2010 by Ian Siegel, Joe Edmonds, Ward Poulos and Will Kinnear.

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