ZIPRECRUITER, INC. (ZIP)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in Item 1 “Financial Statements” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should read the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

OVERVIEW

Our Mission is to actively connect people to their next great opportunity.

ZipRecruiter is a two-sided marketplace for work. We generate substantially all of our revenue from fees paid by employers to post jobs and access other features in our marketplace. We offer our employers flat rate pricing on terms typically ranging from a day to a year, or performance-based pricing, such as cost-per-click, to align with each employer’s hiring needs.

ZipRecruiter is free to use for job seekers. Job seekers come to ZipRecruiter in search of their next opportunity. After establishing a profile, job seekers are able to apply to jobs with a single click. Our artificial intelligence-powered platform curates jobs and helps job seekers discover new opportunities and stand out to employers. As our matching technology learns more about job seekers’ preferences and attributes, our technology offers increasingly higher quality matches between job seekers and employers.

We plan to continue to invest aggressively in our marketplace to improve functionality and drive growth for the foreseeable future. We have made significant investments in our business to expand our employer and job seeker footprints, increase their engagement and enhance our datasets and machine learning.

For the three months ended June 30, 2026, our revenue was $118.1 million and we generated net income of $43.4 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $14.6 million. For the three months ended June 30, 2025, our revenue was $112.2 million, and we had a net loss of $9.5 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $9.3 million. For the six months ended June 30, 2026, our revenue was $225.6 million and we generated net income of $38.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $24.3 million. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, our revenue was $222.3 million, and we had a net loss of $22.3 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $15.3 million. Adjusted EBITDA is a financial measure not presented in accordance with GAAP. For a definition of Adjusted EBITDA, an explanation of our management’s use of this measure and a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA, see the section titled “Key Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

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KEY OPERATING METRICS AND NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following key operating metrics and non-GAAP financial measures to identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans, and make strategic decisions:

Quarterly Paid Employers

We quantify the revenue-generating customer base as the number of Paid Employers in our marketplace. The Quarterly Paid Employer metric includes all actively recruiting employers (or entities acting on behalf of employers) on a paying subscription plan or performance marketing campaign for at least one day in a given quarter. Paid Employers excludes employers from our third-party sites or other indirect channels, employers who are not actively recruiting and employers on free trials. This group of employers excluded from our Paid Employer count does not contribute a significant amount of revenue.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Quarterly Paid Employers increased 12% when compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2026. We saw strong growth in both new and returning customers as our products continue to improve.

Revenue per Paid Employer

We evaluate Revenue per Paid Employer as a key indicator of our efforts to increase value provided to employers in our marketplace. We define Revenue per Paid Employer as total company revenue in a given period divided by Quarterly Paid Employers in the same period.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, Revenue per Paid Employer decreased when compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2026. We experienced an influx of new and returning Paid Employers, some of which only contributed revenue for a portion of the quarter, driving down Revenue per Paid Employer in the quarter ended June 30, 2026.

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Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

We define Adjusted EBITDA as our net income (loss) before interest expense, gain on debt extinguishment, other income (expense), net, income tax expense (benefit), and depreciation and amortization, adjusted to eliminate stock-based compensation expense. Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA for a period by revenue for the same period.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are helpful to investors, analysts and other interested parties because they can assist in providing a more consistent and comparable overview of our operations across our historical financial periods. In addition, these measures are frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate and assess performance. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a substitute for any U.S. GAAP financial measure and, as calculated, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of performance of other companies in other industries or within the same industry.

Our Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin fluctuate from quarter to quarter depending on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, our investments in research and development, sales and marketing, headcount and our ability to generate revenue.

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The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods indicated:

The following tables present net income (loss) margin and Adjusted EBITDA margin for each of the periods indicated:

Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions

The labor market remains subdued, with lower hiring demand from employers, at least in part due to effects of a variety of global business and macroeconomic factors, including inflationary pressures, elevated borrowing costs, cybersecurity incidents, changes in laws, regulations and administrative policy, including those that impact trade agreements and tariffs, and the impacts of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Despite the continued uncertainty in the labor market, we had a higher number of Quarterly Paid Employers in our marketplace during the quarter ended June 30, 2026 compared to the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Additionally, in the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, we delivered $118.1 million and $225.6 million in revenue, respectively, a 5% and 1% increase compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively.

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Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

We generate revenue primarily from fees paid by employers to post and distribute jobs in our marketplace, as well as multiple sites managed by Job Distribution Partners, which are third-party sites who have a relationship with us and advertise from our marketplace, and includes job boards, search engines, social networks, talent communities and resume services.

Our subscription revenue consists of time-based job posting plans, upsells which complement or expand visibility and prominence to job posting plans, and resume database plans.

We offer job posting plans with terms typically ranging from a day to a year on a flat rate subscription basis to access our marketplace, where customers may create and manage job postings and review incoming candidate applications. We recognize revenue ratably over the subscription period beginning on the date the subscription service is made available to the customer. Our nonrefundable subscriptions are typically subject to renewal at the end of the subscription term.

Our upsell services complement or expand visibility to job posting plans and are typically sold on a subscription basis. Upsell services revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the agreement beginning on the date the upsell services are made available to the customer. Additionally, upsell services include job posting enhancements which are applied to individual job postings. Such services enhance job postings by providing customers with a temporary boost in the prominence of their job postings, expanding visibility to job postings by inviting highly qualified potential candidates to apply to the job, or highlighting key attributes of job postings to make them stand out to job seekers. Revenue from job posting enhancements is recognized as the customer uses the enhancements on its job postings.

Resume database plan

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OVERVIEW

Our Mission is to actively connect people to their next great opportunity.

ZipRecruiter is a two-sided marketplace for work. We generate substantially all of our revenue from fees paid by employers to post jobs and access other features in our marketplace. We offer our employers flat rate pricing on terms typically ranging from a day to a year, or performance-based pricing, such as cost-per-click, to align with each employer’s hiring needs.

ZipRecruiter is free to use for job seekers. Job seekers come to ZipRecruiter in search of their next opportunity. After establishing a profile, job seekers are able to apply to jobs with a single click. Our artificial intelligence-powered platform curates jobs and helps job seekers discover new opportunities and stand out to employers. As our matching technology learns more about job seekers’ preferences and attributes, our technology offers increasingly higher quality matches between job seekers and employers.

We plan to continue to invest aggressively in our marketplace to improve functionality and drive growth for the foreseeable future. We have made significant investments in our business to expand our employer and job seeker footprints, increase their engagement and enhance our datasets and machine learning.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, our revenue was $449.0 million and we had a net loss of $33.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $40.8 million. For the year ended December 31, 2024, our revenue was $474.0 million and we had a net loss of $12.9 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $78.0 million. Adjusted EBITDA is a financial measure not presented in accordance with GAAP. For a definition of Adjusted EBITDA, an explanation of our management’s use of this measure and a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA, see the section titled “Key Operating Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

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KEY OPERATING METRICS AND NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following key operating metrics and non-GAAP financial measures to identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans, and make strategic decisions:

Quarterly Paid Employers

We quantify the revenue-generating customer base as the number of Paid Employers in our marketplace. The Quarterly Paid Employer metric includes all actively recruiting employers (or entities acting on behalf of employers) on a paying subscription plan or performance marketing campaign for at least one day in a given quarter. Paid Employers excludes employers from our third-party sites or other indirect channels, employers who are not actively recruiting and employers on free-trials. This group of employers excluded from our Paid Employer count does not contribute a significant amount of revenue.

In the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2025, Quarterly Paid Employers increased 2% when compared to the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2024, versus a decrease in the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2023. Despite the continued uncertainty in the labor market, our higher marketing and advertising investments during the year ended December 31, 2025 drove more new and returning paid employers to our platform, increasing the number Quarterly Paid Employers in our marketplace in the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2024.

Revenue per Paid Employer

We evaluate Revenue per Paid Employer as a key indicator of our efforts to increase value provided to employers in our marketplace. We define Revenue per Paid Employer as total company revenue in a given period divided by Quarterly Paid Employers in the same period.

In the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2025, Revenue per Paid Employer decreased 2% when compared to the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2024. While we believe our products and services continued to improve and offered more value for employers of all sizes, we saw a 2% year-over-year decrease as hiring demand remains more muted.

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Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

We define Adjusted EBITDA as our net income (loss) before interest expense, other income (expense), net, income tax expense (benefit), and depreciation and amortization, adjusted to eliminate stock-based compensation expense. Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA for a period by revenue for the same period.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are helpful to investors, analysts and other interested parties because they can assist in providing a more consistent and comparable overview of our operations across our historical financial periods. In addition, these measures are frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate and assess performance. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a substitute for any U.S. GAAP financial measure and, as calculated, may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of performance of other companies in other industries or within the same industry.

Our Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin fluctuate from quarter to quarter depending on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, our investments in research and development, sales and marketing, headcount and our ability to generate revenue.

The following table presents a reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods indicated:

The following tables present net loss margin and Adjusted EBITDA margin for each of the periods indicated:

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FACTORS AFFECTING OUR PERFORMANCE

We believe that the growth and future success of our business depends on many factors. While each of these factors presents significant opportunities for our business, they also pose important challenges that we must successfully address in order to grow and improve our results of operations and profitability.

Attract More Employers

Our ability to maintain and grow an expansive universe of employers and job opportunities in our marketplace over time is critical to our business’s future. We acquire new employers primarily through marketing programs and our sales teams.

Our ability to cost effectively attract both employers and job seekers is critical to our success. Given that our marketplace remains free for job seekers, employers’ spending funds our continued investment in matching technology. The majority of our marketing efforts to date have been toward reaching employers. Our investment in employer-specific marketing has driven a significant increase in brand awareness. We believe scaling our brand has a positive impact on our ability to attract both employers and job seekers to our marketplace. We plan to continue to invest in the sales and marketing channels that we believe will drive further brand awareness and preference amongst both employers and job seekers. We are focused on the effectiveness of our sales and marketing spend and will continue to be disciplined in how we measure and re-invest in growing both sides of our marketplace.

Most of the employers in our marketplace use our self-serve tools to gain access to our marketplace and do not require a salesperson to help them initially onboard and begin using ZipRecruiter. Other employers have more sophisticated needs or require greater assistance from our sales team. We expect that our sales teams will continue to become more efficient over time, even as we scale the team to appropriately meet demand from our employer customers.

Create More Value for Employers

While our marketplace serves a wide variety of employers, all employers benefit from finding the right candidate quickly. We bring employers and job seekers together using industry-leading matching technology. This technology benefits from the billions of data points we gather as job seekers and employers interact, leading to better matches over time.

Average Monthly Revenue per Paid Employer by Employer Cohort Start Year

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Satisfied employers continue to expand their relationship with us in terms of additional jobs and tenure in our marketplace. Those with recurring hiring needs remain active in our marketplace over time and tend to increase their spend each year, posting additional jobs and purchasing job enhancement products.

Despite the impact on employer hiring demand, our cohort trends remained intact: employers across annual cohorts continue to spend more, on average, over time. While some cohorts have seen declines amid a subdued hiring environment in 2025, more recent cohorts are showing steady gains as employers increase their use of ZipRecruiter. As employers engage more deeply with the platform, our matching models learn from their hiring behavior, enabling us to deliver greater value and capture increasing share of wallet over time. When hiring conditions normalize to historical levels, we would expect broader strength across cohorts and for these long-term trends to continue.

Attract More Job Seekers

For job seekers, we operate like a personal recruiter, presenting highly qualified potential candidates to employers before they have applied. Phil, our AI-powered career advisor, engages job seekers on their journey and provides technology that makes their job search and application process more efficient. Our ability to cost effectively grow the number of job seekers and increase their engagement in our marketplace is critical to strengthen our marketplace. We compete for job seekers on many fronts, including our ability to su

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