Kevin Doiron

Kevin Doiron

Head of Talent Acquisition - Decagon

For Kevin Doiron, a career in recruiting began with an unexpected detour—one inspired by a passion for rock climbing.

After spending years climbing on the East Coast, Kevin set out on a six-month adventure through Western Canada, living out of his car while chasing mountains and climbing routes.

At the end of the trip, he faced a decision: return home or build a new life out west.

With nothing pulling him back to the East Coast, Kevin settled in Calgary, Alberta, during the height of the city's oil and gas boom.

At the time, Calgary had more open jobs than people available to fill them.

“It was this huge imbalance in the talent market,” Kevin recalls.

Having previously worked in technology, recruiting seemed like the natural next step.

He joined a recruiting agency during one of the most competitive hiring markets in the city's history, unknowingly beginning a career that would shape both his professional and personal life.

Not only did recruiting become his profession—it also introduced him to his future wife. The two met while working at the same agency, eventually started their own recruiting firm together, and took a leap of faith by launching a business just one year into their relationship.

“We were putting it all on the line,” Kevin says. “If the business didn't work, our relationship would probably fail too.”

Fortunately, both flourished.

Building a Career Through Bold Opportunities

Kevin's career has been defined by embracing new challenges and learning from exceptional leaders.

One of the earliest and most influential mentors in his journey was Jeff Winter, who brought Kevin to California to join Thumbtack during its rapid growth phase.

There, Kevin experienced Bay Area recruiting at scale for the first time, supporting an organization with an exceptionally high engineering hiring bar.

Watching world-class engineering recruiting firsthand fundamentally changed how he viewed talent acquisition.

“Jeff was absolutely a mentor of mine,” Kevin says. “To this day, we still bounce ideas off each other.”

Another pivotal influence was Praveen Krishnamurthy, who recruited Kevin to join Palo Alto Networks and build its executive recruiting function.

Although executive recruiting was new territory, the opportunity expanded Kevin's leadership capabilities and introduced him to an entirely different dimension of talent acquisition.

Most recently, Kevin credits Anne Marie Zimmerman, Chief People Officer at Moveworks, with helping shape his philosophy on building and leading recruiting organizations.

“She really helped me figure out how I approach running a recruiting organization,” he says.

One lesson has remained central throughout his career: recruiting exists to serve the business.

Rather than starting with recruiting processes, Kevin believes talent leaders should begin by understanding what the business needs—and then reverse engineer recruiting strategies to deliver those outcomes.

Building World-Class Recruiting Teams

Today, Kevin finds the greatest fulfillment not in making placements himself, but in building teams capable of doing extraordinary work.

He describes this stage of his career as the transition from player to coach.

At Moveworks, Kevin has focused on assembling what he considers a world-class recruiting organization, bringing together talented recruiters and creating an environment where they can thrive.

“Building an incredible recruiting team is one of the things that brought me to Silicon Valley,” he says.

Watching recruiters succeed, grow, and elevate the business has become one of the most rewarding aspects of his leadership journey.

Modernizing Recruiting Through AI

Few areas have evolved faster than recruiting technology.

According to Kevin, the past 12 to 18 months have delivered more innovation than the previous two decades combined.

At Moveworks, he helped lead a company-wide AI initiative that became the catalyst for completely modernizing the recruiting technology stack.

From sourcing platforms and AI-powered note-taking to interview scheduling and workflow automation, nearly every aspect of recruiting was redesigned around modern AI capabilities.

The impact went far beyond efficiency.

“It improved the ability of recruiting to show up for candidates and hiring managers,” Kevin says.

For Kevin, AI is not simply about reducing manual work—it is about enabling recruiters to spend more time where they create the greatest value.

Advice for Talent Leaders Heading into 2026

As AI continues reshaping talent acquisition, Kevin encourages recruiters to remain curious and adaptable.

His advice is simple: don't become comfortable doing things the way they've always been done.

“Don't be afraid to try new tools,” he says. “Don't be afraid to try new ways of working.”

While Kevin does not believe AI will replace recruiters, he believes recruiters who effectively leverage AI will outperform those who resist change.

“I don't think AI will replace recruiting,” he says. “But innovative recruiters who use AI in an innovative way will replace recruiters who don't.”

For decades, recruiting technology consisted largely of an applicant tracking system and LinkedIn.

Today, talent leaders have access to an expanding ecosystem of AI-powered tools that can dramatically increase productivity and effectiveness.

Kevin believes the recruiters who continue experimenting, learning, and adapting will be the ones who thrive in an increasingly competitive market.

By combining curiosity, technological innovation, exceptional team building, and a business-first mindset, Kevin Doiron represents the next generation of talent leaders helping redefine what modern recruiting can become.