Finnian Durkan
Finnian Durkan
Head of Recruiting, Rokt
Finn Durkan’s path into talent acquisition wasn’t linear—it was built through curiosity, adaptability, and a deep belief in relationships. Starting his career at Amazon as a Technical Account Manager on the early Prime Video team, Finn quickly realized that while technology was exciting, his real strength lay in people. With a background spanning real estate, creative writing, screenwriting, and copywriting, he brought an uncommon blend of storytelling, business, and human connection into every role he took on.
What began as a casual conversation about a potential contract role turned into a career-defining pivot. Finn was “recruited into recruiting,” joining Aquent, where he learned the fundamentals of sourcing, relationship building, and enterprise hiring. From there, he moved in-house to RealSelf as their first dedicated recruiter, building the entire hiring function from the ground up. He led ATS selection, created university recruiting partnerships, and scaled the organization from a 60-person startup into a multi-hundred-person company.
His career continued through some of the most recognized names in tech: Indeed, Cruise Automation, and Stripe. At Cruise, Finn centralized and scaled the sourcing organization from 12 to over 50 team members, navigating rapid growth during the early days of the pandemic. At Stripe, he helped build the company’s first dedicated sourcing function at scale—until the 2022 market slowdown forced a reset that reshaped much of the industry.
Today, Finn leads recruiting for Rokt’s Seattle office as a senior individual contributor, focused on machine learning, AI, and engineering talent. At an 800+ person company with just six recruiters, he balances high-level strategy with hands-on execution, hiring dozens of roles each year while shaping how recruiting operates at scale.
What Energizes Him Most
For Finn, recruiting is about partnership—not just process. What excites him most is “cracking the nut” of what makes someone truly successful at a given company or on a specific team. Rather than simply moving candidates through the funnel, he aims to act as a strategic filter—identifying the mix of IQ, EQ, and adaptability that predicts long-term success.
He’s especially passionate about turning insight into execution. Whether analyzing data across ATS and HR systems or refining sourcing strategies, Finn thrives on finding the high-leverage moments where recruiting can shift from transactional to transformational. His goal is always the same: ensure that the first interaction between a candidate and a hiring team is thoughtful, intentional, and high quality..
How Recruiting Is Changing
Working at Rokt has given Finn a front-row seat to the future of hiring. With automated processes supporting early-stage roles and recruiters focusing on senior-level and high-impact positions, he’s seen how technology can streamline operations without removing the human element.
At the same time, he believes today’s talent leaders must remain adaptable. Market shifts, hiring slowdowns, and the rise of AI have pushed many leaders back into individual contributor roles—something Finn embraces. For him, sharpening the core recruiting skill set while continuing to think strategically is not a step back, but a necessary evolution of modern talent leadership.
Finn’s Advice for the Future
Finn’s perspective is rooted in balance: between strategy and execution, data and intuition, automation and human connection. He believes the best recruiters don’t just fill roles—they build systems, understand people deeply, and create trust with hiring teams and candidates alike.
In an industry defined by constant change, his advice is simple but powerful: stay curious, stay grounded in the fundamentals, and never lose sight of the relationships at the heart of recruiting.
It’s that blend of strategic thinking, hands-on expertise, and genuine partnership that makes Finn Durkan a standout voice in today’s talent landscape—and a well-earned member of the Talent 100.
