Rebecca Carr, CEO of SmartRecruiters, is steering the enterprise hiring sector into an era where artificial intelligence acts as an invisible conductor, streamlining talent acquisition while preserving human judgment at the core. Under her guidance, SmartRecruiters launched Winston, an agentic AI companion that automates administrative drudgery, allowing recruiters to focus on strategic connections. This shift comes amid widespread doubts about hiring efficacy, with the company’s research revealing 34% of businesses uncertain they selected the right candidates—a figure Carr suggests understates the issue, potentially reaching 50% based on turnover patterns observed in their systems, as detailed in a WRKdefined podcast.

Carr’s vision positions AI not as a replacement but as an amplifier. ‘The role of recruiter is going to change and become more strategic,’ she explained. ‘It has evolved into a very administrative role… They’re connectors. Their intuition about who’s going to be a fit is what makes them great recruiters.’ Winston embodies this by handling screening, scheduling, and follow-ups, freeing teams from 80% administrative workflows, according to internal surveys cited in the same WRKdefined discussion.

SmartRecruiters serves 4,000 customers including Bosch and Visa, and Carr’s appointment as permanent CEO in August 2024 marked a pivotal moment. With nearly a decade at the firm, her transition from Chief Product Officer leveraged deep product expertise to push innovations like integrated AI and robust APIs amid fragmented systems plaguing talent teams, per a PR Newswire release.

Carr’s Path to the Helm

Carr rejoined SmartRecruiters in 2023 after stints at Checkr, bringing over 15 years in HR tech from roles at Jobvite and beyond. Her Berkeley and Harvard Business School background informs a customer-centric approach: ‘My priority is to lead with empathy for our customers, keeping them at the heart of every decision as we redefine the future of work,’ she told Unite.AI. This ethos drove her 18-month AI transformation without board approval, as recounted in a Modern CTO podcast.

Founded in 2010 by Jerome Ternynck as a superior ATS, SmartRecruiters scaled to global enterprises in its 2.0 phase. Carr now champions 3.0: AI-powered recruiting. SAP’s acquisition amplified this, providing resources for Winston’s development while maintaining HCM-agnostic flexibility, as Carr discussed in various interviews.

The Yahoo video highlighting ‘AI-Powered Workforce Orchestration’ underscores Carr’s broader influence, though specifics remain tied to her SmartRecruiters leadership in orchestrating human-AI teams for efficient hiring.

Winston: The AI Orchestrator

Unveiled in October 2024, Winston disrupts by eliminating—not just reducing—admin tasks. ‘Winston doesn’t just reduce administrative tasks—he eliminates them entirely,’ states a SmartRecruiters announcement. Built on the ATS data model, it screens candidates, matches talent with explainable scoring, schedules interviews via availability AI, and provides insights, targeting high-volume sectors like retail and manufacturing.

‘The traditional ATS isn’t meeting expectations… especially in high-volume, high-turnover industries,’ Carr noted. Winston Match reduces bias through transferable skill detection, while Winston Chat offers generative responses from career sites, boosting engagement. Customers report 2x candidate conversion, 60% faster time-to-hire, and $3,000 saved per hire, per a Hire Note article.

Agentic workflows are central: ‘82% of the recruiting workflow is administrative… AI offers agentic workflows to build efficiency and insight,’ Carr said at UNLEASH World 2025 alongside SAP’s Lara Albert, as covered in UNLEASH.

Overcoming Data and Bias Hurdles

AI’s efficacy hinges on clean data. ‘AI requires good data. It can’t read context out of thin air,’ Carr emphasized in WRKdefined. She stresses normalizing skills and job profiles: ‘Junk in is junk out… Invest in consistent language across systems.’ SmartRecruiters mitigates bias via testing, explainability, and fine-tuning tools, ensuring ‘transparency isn’t just a value—it’s a necessity,’ per Unite.AI.

In high-volume hiring, Winston starts with specific roles like store managers, expanding to complex ones. This phased approach addresses inconsistent interviews and declining assessments noted in SmartRecruiters research.

SAP integration enhances this, with Carr affirming: ‘Together, we’re not just responding to the future of work, we’re building it,’ in an UNLEASH exclusive.

Strategic Shifts in Talent Roles

Recruiters evolve into ‘talent advisors,’ guiding workforce plans and aligning skills with goals. ‘That’s orchestration. Automation that behaves like a team member, not a tool,’ Carr described in Hire Note, with accountability via audit trails.

Companies lose up to $3,000 per hire from inefficiencies; Winston counters this. ‘Hiring becomes faster, smarter, and more human,’ she added. Recent X discussions echo this, with posts on AI agents as ‘digital workers’ and orchestration skills commanding premiums.

Carr’s leadership proves product expertise scales innovation: 22% of HR organizations execute AI, gaining edges, per Gartner insights she shared.

SAP Synergy and Global Scale

Post-acquisition, SmartRecruiters remains agile, prioritizing AI-native workflows. Winston’s roadmap includes predictive capabilities, positioning it as indispensable for workforce shaping, as Carr outlined to Unite.AI.

Benchmarks like 95% messaging open rates via SmartMessage highlight ecosystem strength. X chatter from HR pros notes SmartRecruiters’ stack—Winston, CRM, analytics—as a Hiring OS differentiator.

Carr’s triathlete discipline mirrors her drive: ‘Meet customers where they are, empower creativity through smarter systems,’ aligning with her Forbes Technology Council views.

Enterprise Implications

Firms face 4x application volumes without quality gains; Winston’s AI Control Center offers governance. ‘Decisions more connected, confident, more human,’ Carr asserts.

Her vision: ecosystems where hiring, development, performance converge. Recent X trends on AI agent org charts and human-AI pairs validate this trajectory.

As Davos 2026 approaches, Carr heads there to champion AI workforce transformation, per X posts, solidifying her role in redefining enterprise talent strategies.