26
FocusEngineering & GTM Recruiting
BasedLondon, UK
CompanyCloudflare · EMEA

Lee Sam

The recruiting leader for the AI era.

Executive and senior leadership search across EMEA — strategy, market mapping, and succession.

AI is redesigning how companies hire. Recruiters and leaders need to change too.

Timeline.

Eighteen years across the world's category-defining technology companies.

PositionCompanyYear
01Leadership Recruiting & AICloudflare2026 — Now
  • Lead executive and senior leadership recruiting for Cloudflare across EMEA, focused on critical regional leadership roles.
  • Design executive search strategies, research frameworks, market maps, and proactive succession pipelines.
  • Advance AI adoption across Recruiting by improving productivity, simplifying workflows, and building custom tools for recurring work.
  • Contributed to Cloudflare's official candidate guidance on AI usage in interviews, helping define practical expectations for candidates and interview teams.
  • Partner with senior stakeholders on talent availability, market dynamics, candidate positioning, pipeline diversity, and search cadence.
02Head of Recruiting, EMEACloudflare2022 — 26
  • Led EMEA recruiting delivery at scale: 318 hires in 2023, 477 in 2024, and 429 hires in 2025 as of 1 September.
  • Partnered with business leaders and Finance on workforce planning, headcount forecasting, and growth alignment.
  • Built and developed a high-performing recruiting team through feedback loops, career development, performance management, and succession planning.
  • Worked across HR, Compensation, Legal, People Operations, and Special Projects to support hiring governance, M&A activity, and talent retention.
03Recruiter → ManagerCloudflare2018 — 22
  • Progressed from Recruiter to EMEA Recruiting Lead and EMEA Recruiting Manager during Cloudflare's regional growth.
  • Hired across Sales and Engineering talent across EMEA.
  • Partnered with managers and leaders to identify diverse talent for active and future hiring needs.
  • Built the foundation for broader EMEA recruiting leadership across planning, delivery, stakeholder partnership, and team operating rhythm.
04Senior RecruiterOkta2018
  • Recruited for a fast-growing enterprise identity business during a period of international scaling.
  • Partnered with hiring teams in a cloud software environment focused on security, access, workflow, and customer success.
  • Brought prior SaaS recruiting experience into a high-growth, venture-backed technology company.
05Senior Business RecruiterSnap Inc.2017
  • Hired as Snap's first Business Recruiter outside the US.
  • Owned strategic hiring across EMEA, with additional ad-hoc roles across the Middle East and US.
  • Managed end-to-end hiring from intake and sourcing through offers, contracts, and onboarding.
  • Recruited across Account Executives, Account Managers, Creative Strategists, Marketing Managers, Event Managers, Sales Operations, Business Operations, and Agency Partners.
06Senior RecruiterSalesforce2015 — 16
  • Partnered with Professional Services, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud business groups across EMEA.
  • Developed senior stakeholder relationships and managed hiring through direct sourcing and employee referrals.
  • Worked closely with Employee Success, Finance, and cross-functional teams to keep recruiting processes smooth and efficient.
  • Contributed to Salesforce's 1:1:1 model through volunteering and local community activity.
07Senior RecruiterTwitter2013 — 15
  • Recruited across UK and EMEA roles spanning Ads Sales, Account Management, Media Partnerships, Marketing, Comms, Legal, Finance, and Research.
  • Managed end-to-end hiring from intake through offer acceptance, with a strong focus on candidate experience.
  • Used market data and internal benchmarks to construct competitive candidate offers with HR, Compensation, and senior business approval.
  • Promoted employee referrals, ran sourcing sessions, maintained hiring trackers, and presented recruiting updates to the UK office.
08Technology RecruiterBoA Merrill Lynch2011 — 13
  • Managed end-to-end technology hiring across GWIM, GMRT, GWBT, Technology Infrastructure, and Risk Tech.
  • Built talent pools for Software Engineers, Application Support Analysts, Business Analysts, and Project or Programme Managers.
  • Partnered with hiring managers, HR Business Partners, agencies, and business leaders on pipeline, compensation, approvals, and market updates.
  • Direct sourced candidates through LinkedIn, X-ray search, eFinancialCareers, Jobserve, CW Jobs, and niche boards.
09Recruiter, IT AdvisoryErnst & Young2010 — 11
  • Managed end-to-end recruitment for IT Advisory, Risk Advisory, Programme Advisory Services, and interim Transactions Advisory coverage.
  • Recruited Programme Managers, Enterprise Architects, SAP Consultants, and transformation specialists across major sectors.
  • Turned around IT Advisory recruitment, helping the group meet FY10 headcount targets and all recruitment KPIs.
  • Served as Champion for Racial Diversity at EY UK, improving attraction and recruitment of candidates from under-represented ethnicities.
10In-House RecruiterHewlett Packard2007 — 10
  • Recruited Technical Account Managers, Technical Pre-Sales Consultants, and Sales Account Managers for the Technology Solutions Group.
  • Supported hiring managers from requisition approval through close, advising on salary, benefits, working conditions, and process compliance.
  • Reduced agency expenditure through direct sourcing and achieved 98% direct recruitment in FY09.
  • Reduced time-to-hire to under 38 days in FY09 while managing the largest requisition volume in the Staffing team.

Recruiting tools for the AI era.

A mini portfolio of practical tools built to make recruiting sharper, faster, and more intelligence-led.

Delivery,
in numbers.

EMEA recruiting delivery at Cloudflare across FY23–25. Volume measured in hundreds, acceptance measured in confidence.

FY 2023318EMEA hires delivered
FY 2023 cohort86%Offer acceptance rate
FY 2024477EMEA hires delivered
FY 2025 · 1 Sep429EMEA hires year-to-date

Travel, basketball, and a few long flights.

Outside work, I make time for travel, live sport, and the kind of trips that become stories.

I am a Milwaukee Bucks fan, including flying to Milwaukee to watch games in person. This is the personal side of the story: places, games, and the occasional very long flight.

Let's talk.

For introductions, conversations, or quiet enquiries about senior leadership search, AI-era recruiting operations, and talent systems for companies being rebuilt around AI.