Director of Organizational Development, Thumbtack
$230-330k
Salary varies depending on location
Local services marketplace app
Be an early applicant
Local services marketplace app
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$230-330k
Salary varies depending on location
1001+ employees
Company mission
Thumbtack's mission is to help homeowners care for their homes, all the way from minor retouching to fundamental remodelling projects.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of experience across talent management, organizational development, learning and development, or related disciplines, including 4+ years leading and developing people
- Deep expertise in talent management—including performance, career architecture, talent planning, and succession—along with demonstrated strength in leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and change management
- A track record of personally designing and implementing scalable talent and organizational solutions, with clear evidence of the performance, capability, or business outcomes they produced
- Credibility with senior leaders and the ability to lead through ambiguity, influence without formal authority, and turn complex or sensitive issues into decisions and action
- An AI-first approach to work, including hands-on experience building multi-step workflows and sound judgment about the use of AI in sensitive people processes and decisions
- A player-coach orientation and analytical mindset: comfortable moving between strategy and detailed execution, grounding solutions in adult-learning and talent-management practices, and using data to improve what you build
What the job involves
- We’re seeking a Director of Talent & Organizational Development to raise both the floor and the bar for performance and capability across Thumbtack, building the talent systems, leadership practices, and developmental plan to enable our talent to scale ahead of the business
- Reporting to the Head of People, you’ll set the multi-year direction for an integrated portfolio spanning performance management, career architecture, talent and succession planning, leadership development, organizational design, and enterprise change
- This is a hands-on leadership role
- You’ll lead a small team of experienced practitioners while partnering directly with senior leaders and HRBPs on Thumbtack’s highest-priority talent and organizational challenges
- You’ll move comfortably between company-wide strategy and detailed execution: advising leaders, designing frameworks and operating rhythms, building development experiences, and ensuring the work translates into stronger performance, deeper talent density, and clearer paths for growth
- Your initial priorities will include strengthening how Thumbtack sets and evaluates performance expectations; evolving career, talent, and succession frameworks; building leadership and organizational capabilities for the company’s next stage; and establishing a clear measurement system for the impact of these investments
- Set and own Thumbtack’s multi-year Talent and Organizational Development strategy, integrating performance management, career architecture, talent and succession planning, leadership development, and change into a focused roadmap with measurable outcomes
- Evolve how Thumbtack defines, enables, and assesses performance strengthening goal setting, expectations, feedback, calibration, and accountability so high performance is clear, consistent, and differentiated
- Maintain and evolve the company’s career architecture, including role and level frameworks, capability expectations, and career paths that give employees clarity and support consistent talent decisions
- Lead talent planning and succession practices that help leaders assess talent, identify critical capability and bench gaps, accelerate high-potential employees, and make deliberate decisions about the organization’s future needs
- Design scalable development experiences that close meaningful capability gaps, strengthen manager effectiveness, and prepare senior leaders for greater complexity and scope
- Apply an AI-first approach across the portfolio, building workflows that improve insight, personalization, and scale while helping managers and leaders develop the capabilities needed to lead in an AI-first company
- Establish an integrated measurement framework for Talent and Organizational Development, using business, talent, and program data to evaluate impact and determine what to scale, change, or stop
Our take
ThumbTack is a local services marketplace app that pairs customers with skilled professionals. Instead of simply searching for a professional, users provide ThumbTack with details of the job they need completing and the professionals then pitch their services to the potential customer using credits. ThumbTack makes its money by charging the professional for these credits.
It positions itself as something a little different in a saturated local services space that is dominated by companies like Angie’s List, TaskRabbit, Yelp, eBay, and Amazon. It also focuses on a broad range of professionals, from traditional home services like electricians and painters to photographers, personal trainers, and birthday party magicians.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw a boost in business for ThumbTack as more people stayed at home and made changes to their properties, increasing the demand for home professionals. In fact, after 2019, the company doubled in value to $3.2 billion with its 2021 raise. Since its 2024 funding round, its updated app has 30 new features, and the company is partnering with the likes of trade-powering platform and Unicorn ServiceTitan, indicating Thumbtack's sustained sway in the market.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-5% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
Jun 2021
$275m
LATE VC
Jul 2019
$150m
SERIES F
Total funding: $699.4m
Company benefits
- Parental leave
- Health insurance
- Community matters | Sure, our ways of connecting have changed. But we haven’t missed a beat, from virtual concerts to “TTversary” celebrations to weekly catch-ups
- Always be improving | We bring out the best in our colleagues — and our product — by pushing each beyond what we believe we’re capable of. We give honest feedback, even when it’s hard
- Wellness is a way of life | We promote balance with generous PTO and company-wide holidays — and find our centers every Wellness Wednesday with yoga featuring a Thumbtack pro
- A worthy mission | In a world where tech is often seen as eroding good jobs, we’re helping small business owners thrive. Our product makes entrepreneurship accessible to everyone
- Driven by our values | Our values are the compass by which we make all our decisions. Each one matters: Lead with why, Make it count, Own it, Choose teamwork, and Say what you mean
- Plus, amazing benefits | All the benefits you’d expect, plus a few more: generous parental and fertility benefits, $1800 for Thumbtack services per year and a $1200 remote work stipend
- Virtual-first working model coupled with quarterly in-person events and Camp Thumbtack
- 20+ company-wide holidays including two week-long shutdowns
- Libraries (collaborative workspaces) in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Toronto, and Manila
- Cell phone and WiFi reimbursements
- Subscriptions and Employee Assistance Program for mental health and well-being
Company HQ
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Marco Zappacosta
(Co-Founder & CEO)Having studied at Columbia University, Marco co-founded Thumbtack in August 2008. He has served as CEO since January 2009.
Jonathan Swanson
(Co-Founder & Chairman)Jonathan started his career creating financial market reports for the White House before co-founding Thumbtack in 2008. Currently Founder at Powerset and Athena.
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