Dex Hires Founders of Secret Escapes and Progression for AI Recruitment

Dex, a London-based AI recruitment platform focused on software engineers, has made significant strides by hiring two notable founders for senior positions. Tom Valentine, who co-founded the travel deals site Secret Escapes, joins as the chief operating officer, while Jonny Burch, co-founder of the career development platform Progression, steps in as head of design.

Paddy Lambros, the founder and CEO of Dex, expressed enthusiasm about the new hires, stating, "Tom and Jonny have built businesses around problems that matter deeply to Dex, namely, how to scale a marketplace and how to help people build better careers. They’re joining our already world-class team to tackle those challenges head-on with us."

Valentine brings a wealth of experience to Dex, having co-founded Secret Escapes in 2010 and later serving as executive chairman and COO at Fyxer AI, a startup that developed an AI executive assistant. He shared insights on the recruitment landscape, noting, "Hiring engineers has been the hardest part of my job for about 20 years. In that time, I’ve seen all sorts of propositions to improve the experience for candidates and companies come and go." He emphasized the transformative potential of AI in recruitment, stating, "AI now makes it possible to understand a candidate beyond a specific role in a way that just wasn’t previously possible. This is where the opportunity to build a truly candidate-centric recruitment business lies."

As COO, Valentine will focus on commercial strategies and the growth of Dex's core marketplace, which connects engineers with potential employers. He will also explore opportunities for the platform to expand into other roles and stages of the career journey.

Burch's Vision for Product Development

Burch, on the other hand, has a strong background in design and product development. His previous venture, Progression, was instrumental in helping companies establish career and skills frameworks, backed by investors such as LocalGlobe and Connect Ventures. Burch stated, "Although I’m a designer, I’m still a founder at heart. I love early-stage teams, difficult problems, and the autonomy to solve them. I want us to build a product so good that candidates recommend it because of the experience itself, regardless of whether we place them in a job." At Dex, he will lead the design team and oversee the development of the candidate-facing product.

Dex's innovative AI "talent agent" engages with engineers to discuss their skills, experiences, and career aspirations before matching them with suitable job opportunities. The platform utilizes a combination of AI models from Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI to enhance its matching capabilities. In April, Dex successfully raised a $5.3 million seed round led by Notion Capital, alongside other investors supporting AI recruitment tools.

What Comes Next

Lambros advocates for hiring former founders, citing that AI agents enable smaller teams to achieve remarkable results. He remarked, "AI agents are expanding what leaner teams can achieve at a staggering rate. This means that the ability to decide what needs doing, get it moving quickly, and take responsibility for the result, makes human agency all the more valuable in today’s workplace. Former founders have spent years working this way."

This strategic hiring at Dex underscores the growing importance of experienced leadership in the rapidly evolving AI recruitment sector, aiming to leverage AI technologies to create a more efficient and candidate-focused recruitment process.