HeadHunter

What HeadHunter does

HeadHunter is the operator of hh.ru, Russia's largest online recruitment platform, connecting employers with job seekers through a marketplace that has dominated the Russian market since its founding in 2000. The company is publicly listed (Moscow Exchange ticker: HEAD), headquartered in Moscow, and serves two primary customer segments: employers/recruiters that pay to post vacancies and access resume databases, and job seekers that use free and premium (hh PRO) services. Beyond the core job board, HeadHunter offers a portfolio of adjacent services including Expert Resume writing, Career Guidance, Resume Audit, messenger notification bots (Telegram, VK, Viber), the Setka professional networking platform, the School of Programming developer training program, and a public API at dev.hh.ru for enterprise HR integrations. The company also holds a 26% strategic stake in Moya Smena (My Shift), a gig-work platform, extending its reach into the self-employed labor segment.

The underlying technology stack combines a large proprietary resume and vacancy database with recommendation technologies for candidate-job matching, and increasingly with applied AI: a proprietary AI Assistant for employers (launched December 2025) automates recruitment workflows such as drafting cover letters, and AI Call Transcription (launched March 2026) converts recruiter-to-candidate phone conversations into searchable text with auto-generated candidate evaluations. The platform is accessed via the hh.ru website, iOS and Android mobile apps, and APIs, and is distributed in Russia only.

Revenue is generated primarily through employer subscriptions for job postings and resume database access, with additional subscription revenue from the hh PRO job-seeker product and advertising income from banner placements and targeted job alerts. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. Management reported RUB 10.4 billion (~$132 million) in Q4 2025 revenue and RUB 11.0 billion (~$136 million) in Q3 2025, with full-year 2025 revenue growth of 4% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 55.2%, exceeding the company's 52% target. Management has guided to up to 8% revenue growth in 2026, with EBITDA margins expected to remain above 50%.

Name

HeadHunter

Legal name

OOO «Khedkhunter» (ООО «Хэдхантер»)

Website

https://hh.ru

Company type

Public

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

HeadHunter (hh.ru) is Russia's largest online recruitment platform, connecting employers posting job vacancies with job seekers searching for opportunities across the Russian Federation, supported by AI-powered recruitment tools, premium job-seeker subscriptions, and adjacent HR ecosystem services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Recruitment Platform

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Core HR & HRIS (BPACAPAA)

Keywords

• Online recruitment platform
• Job board services
• Resume database access
• AI recruitment tools
• HR technology platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Moscow

HQ country

Russia

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Employer Services (Job Posting & Recruitment): Revenue primarily driven by employers paying for job posting services, recruitment solutions, and premium hiring tools on the hh.ru platform
2. Applicant Services: Premium services for job seekers including hh PRO subscription for enhanced visibility and career tools
3. Advertising: Advertising services on the platform including banner placements and targeted job alerts

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

HeadHunter operates hh.ru, Russia's largest online recruitment platform and job board. The platform enables employers to post vacancies and search resume databases, and enables job seekers to search and apply for jobs. The company monetizes primarily through employer subscription fees for job posting and recruitment tools, with additional revenue from job-seeker premium services (hh PRO subscription, Expert Resume, Career Guidance, Resume Audit), advertising, and a public API for developer integrations.

Product overview

HeadHunter operates the hh.ru job board as its core platform — Russia's largest online recruitment platform — supported by a portfolio of complementary products and sub-brands. The core offering includes a job board for employers to post vacancies and for candidates to search and apply, accessible via the website, mobile app, and a public API (HeadHunter API) for developer integrations. Premium services for job seekers include hh PRO (paid subscription with enhanced visibility), Expert Resume (professional resume writing), Career Guidance (professional orientation), and Resume Audit (expert review). On the employer side, proprietary AI features include the AI Assistant for Employers (automation of recruitment tasks) and AI Call Transcription (converting recruiter calls into searchable data). Additional ecosystem products include Setka (professional networking social network), HeadHunter Messenger Bots (cross-platform notification bots), the School of Programming (developer training), and a 26% equity stake in My Shift (gig work service). The platform also employs recommendation technologies to match candidates with relevant vacancies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Setka: Networking social network platform
• hh PRO

Products and services

• hh.ru HeadHunter's primary online recruitment platform and job board serving the Russian market. Allows job seekers to search and apply for vacancies and employers to post vacancies and search resumes.
• hh PRO Premium subscription service for job seekers offering enhanced visibility, priority application handling, and additional tools to improve job search outcomes.
• Expert Resume (Готовое резюме) Professional resume writing and optimization service to help job seekers create competitive resumes.
• Career Guidance (Профориентация) Professional orientation service helping job seekers identify suitable career paths based on their skills and preferences.
• Expert Resume Audit (Экспертная рекомендация) Expert review and feedback service for existing resumes to improve their effectiveness.
• HeadHunter API Public API enabling programmatic access to the hh.ru platform for developers and partners to build integrations and automate recruitment workflows.
• School of Programming (Школа программистов) Educational program for training software developers, extending HeadHunter's ecosystem into professional development.
• Setka (Сетка) Professional networking social network for building professional connections and networking, operated as a separate property under HeadHunter.

Quantifiable outcome

• 55.2% adjusted EBITDA margin for 2025, exceeding 52% target

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SkillazcoreTechnology or Integration · 26 March 2026HeadHunter has implemented Skillaz's HR platform to consolidate onboarding, training, assessment, and goal-setting tools into a single unified workspace. Previously, these HR functions were managed across multiple different business systems. The integration aims to streamline internal HR operations for HeadHunter.
• My Shift (Moya Smena)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 October 2025HeadHunter acquired a 26% stake in Moya Smena (My Shift), a gig work service focusing on local jobs for the self-employed. The strategic investment expands HeadHunter's presence in the gig economy segment. Financial details were not disclosed.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SuperJob: One of Russia's largest online recruitment portals, directly competing with hh.ru for employer job-posting spend and job-seeker traffic. Operates a comparable subscription-based revenue model targeting the same Russian SMB and enterprise segments.
• Rabota.ru: Russian online job board offering job postings and resume search for employers and job seekers. Directly competes with HeadHunter in the Russian recruitment market with a similar horizontal, mass-market positioning.
• Zarplata.ru: Russian job board that was acquired by HeadHunter in 2020 but operates as a separate brand. Competes in the same Russian recruitment market with overlapping employer and job-seeker audiences.
• Indeed: Global leader in online job search and recruitment advertising, operating a similar marketplace model monetized through employer job postings and sponsored listings. Provides a relevant international benchmark for HeadHunter's business model and unit economics.
• ZipRecruiter: US-based online employment marketplace using AI-driven matching to connect employers and job seekers. Closely comparable business model to HeadHunter, monetized through employer subscriptions and job postings, useful as a public-market comp.
• Glassdoor: Jobs and company-reviews platform owned by Indeed/Recruit Holdings. Overlaps with HeadHunter in job listings and employer branding, with added employer-reviews content that competes for candidate attention.

Broad incumbents

• Avito Rabota: Jobs vertical within Avito, Russia's dominant classifieds platform. Competes for entry-level and blue-collar job-posting traffic on hh.ru as part of a much broader marketplace, leveraging massive general consumer reach.
• LinkedIn: Microsoft-owned professional network with extensive job-board functionality, recruiter tools, and AI-driven candidate matching. Competes for enterprise recruitment budgets globally with a broader professional-networking value proposition beyond job listings.

Regional players

• Seek Limited: Leading online employment marketplace in Australia and New Zealand with operations across Asia. Comparable horizontal job-board model and employer-paid monetization, providing a regional public-market peer benchmark.
• StepStone Group: European online job-board operator active in Germany, Belgium, and other markets, part of Axel Springer. Comparable business model of paid employer job postings and resume database access in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hh_ru
• Facebookfacebook.com/headhuntergroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/headhunters-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A3 records

Investments4 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about HeadHunter