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What does it take to stand out in tech today? For Caitriona Staunton, VP of People at Primer, she shares that it’s not about elite degrees or office perks — it’s about actively unlocking potential through flexibility, intentional inclusion, and bold, innovative hiring practices.
With tech layoffs still making headlines and competition sharper than ever, standing out in today’s job market is no longer optional — especially in fintech hubs like Singapore, where innovation moves faster than ever.
To understand how hiring has evolved and what it takes to thrive while putting talent first, we speak to Caitriona Staunton (pictured above), VP of People at Primer, a global payments company with a fully distributed team across 25 markets. Having gone from hand-delivering paper résumés to a previous employer, to now leading a remote-first team at Primer, Caitriona has both witnessed and shaped the evolution of tech hiring first-hand.
What does it take to get noticed in today’s crowded tech job market? In a candid conversation with Sarah Gideon, Caitriona draws on decades of experience to share what recruiters really look for — and how AI is changing the rules.
Q How has your extensive career journey shaped your approach to building people-centric cultures in tech?
I’ve been lucky enough to be part of some incredible companies; each with their own strengths and all at very different stages in their growth. And while my role has always been about building these companies through the lens of people, each company taught me something different along the way.
At Google, I learned the power of questioning established norms, challenging assumptions such as, 'Only grads from elite universities make the best hires', and realising it wasn't the case.
Atlassian showed me how crucial it is to deliberately scale culture alongside the business. We worked hard to make sure that our values and startup DNA didn’t get diluted as we grew, and ensuring inclusion was never an add-on, but core to how we built teams.
At Improbable, I experienced first-hand the vast shift the pandemic brought. Leading through that time, and personally becoming a parent, I understood how much flexibility and psychological safety unlock people's potential.
"I bring all those lessons with me to Primer. We’re remote-first by design and scaling fast, so everything we do in the people team is about helping our people do their best work, wherever they are, while staying true to the ambitious, creative culture that defines us."
Q At Primer, how are you developing a people strategy that aligns with the company’s mission to transform the payments and commerce landscape while staying competitive in today’s talent market?
Primer is building something genuinely ambitious; we are defining a new category within payments, and that requires attracting people who are bold, curious, and up for the challenge of uncharted territory. Our people strategy is designed to match that ambition.
We’ve been remote since the beginning — and that was a deliberate decision, not a pandemic pivot. It gives us access to incredible talent globally, but it also means we need to be intentional about everything: how we communicate, how we hire, and how we stay connected.
Singapore is a massive part of our story in APAC. As a fintech powerhouse, it’s a place where we've found brilliant, diverse talent with a global mindset. Our team there speaks six languages and is deeply connected to our international customer base.
Of course, great talent has choices, especially in APAC. What makes Primer stand out is how we design for meaningful flexibility. Our team has access to the best co-working spaces in the city, and they’re empowered to choose when and how they work best. We balance this with intentional moments to connect; team meetups, biannual ‘workations’, and our annual global retreat, ‘Primer Unified’. Our team loves the flexibility this gives them, alongside perks like unlimited vacation, with a minimum of 25 days off.
Our people strategy is built on the values we hire for: we look for people who innovate with vision but also reflect with purpose. People who thrive in ambiguity, own their work and collaborate intentionally. And that’s how we stay competitive, by hiring people who are excited to help us set the pace for the industry.
Q With tech hiring evolving rapidly, what do recruiters really look for today, and how have hiring processes changed over the years?
Hiring has shifted fundamentally in the past five years, from the race to scale to the discipline of precision — finding people who will bring meaningful, lasting impact.
At Primer, we hire for mindsets as much as skill sets. We look for people who bring both innovation and purposeful reflection. It’s not enough to have technical expertise; you need to be able to navigate ambiguity, question assumptions, and contribute to shaping the future of commerce. Because we’re fully distributed, we also look for people who thrive in a remote-first environment, and who understand how to collaborate, when to challenge, and when to champion others. This is what we mean when we say we are ‘distributed, yet unified’.
We also value ownership. We seek out people who are energised by the opportunity to take decisive action and make deliberate decisions. In today’s market, the candidates who stand out are those who demonstrate impact, adaptability, accountability, and a real desire to shape the companies they join.
At the same time, the hiring process itself has evolved, especially in the past two years. AI now plays a bigger role in how candidates are assessed, with many companies using AI-driven tools to screen and rank applications. That means candidates can no longer rely on generic CVs. To stand out, you have to show the difference you’ve made, highlighting the real impact you’ve had, versus simply listing responsibilities.
Q What key skills do you see driving demand in tech jobs globally, particularly in fintech? How do these skill demands vary across different regions?
The demand for tech talent globally is still strong, but the focus has sharpened. In fintech specifically, we’re seeing demand for people who can combine technical capability with adaptability and commercial awareness.
Unsurprisingly, AI and machine learning top the list across both technical and non-technical teams. There’s a growing expectation for employees to be able to master the use of AI tools to solve real problems, whether that’s optimising infrastructure, personalising customer experiences, or improving operational efficiency. Alongside that, Cloud expertise and a DevOps mindset continue to be essential, especially as companies scale globally.
In APAC, and Singapore in particular, language skills are increasingly valued; being able to genuinely connect with merchants across borders, in their own language, can be a real differentiator, especially as fintech becomes more international. There’s also rising demand for people with a deep understanding of payments and commerce, particularly those who combine technical know-how with the ability to build trust with merchants and regulators in their local markets.
As fintech becomes more competitive, those who are able to combine credibility in the payments space with a strong industry presence, whether that's through thought leadership, community engagement, or social media, are becoming increasingly valuable.
Q What role does company culture play in Primer’s ability to drive innovation, and how do you ensure it evolves alongside business growth?
"Culture is everything, especially for a remote-first company. Innovation happens when people feel safe to take risks, challenge, and experiment."
At Primer, we deliberately balance autonomy with alignment. We give people the space to own their work, but also invest in staying connected through intentional design; async communication, co-working membership, workations, and our annual retreat. These are more than perks, they’re the scaffolding for our culture.
As we scale, we fully expect our culture to evolve. Every new hire brings something that shapes how we work together. What stays constant are our values. We will always be committed to deliberate action and complete accountability, be ‘distributed, yet unified’, and maintain a relentless focus on impact.
The key is to welcome cultural evolution while staying anchored by our values, and that’s how we’ll continue to innovate as we grow.
Q AI is becoming more integrated into hiring. What are its advantages and potential pitfalls, and how can companies balance automation with human judgment?
AI is hugely helpful when used well. It brings consistency, efficiency, and helps reduce some forms of bias. But it also comes with risks. AI is only as good as the data it learns from, and we’ve all seen how it can unintentionally reinforce existing biases.
At Primer, we use AI to support hiring, but not to replace the human elements. We have tools that help hiring managers headhunt like a recruiter, tools that transcribe interviews, tools that build compelling, unbiased job ads, and tools that predict our time-to-hire.
AI helps us scale well, but the final hiring decision will always be made by an experienced team member who can assess skills, potential, and alignment to our values - something AI can’t fully measure.
Q What advice would you give to HR and talent leaders navigating today’s rapidly evolving tech hiring landscape?
My advice is to approach the people experience like you would a great product — design it thoughtfully, test it, listen for feedback, and keep iterating. The best companies I’ve seen treat culture, hiring, development, and reward not as set-and-forget policies but as things you actively build and improve.
Flexibility and accountability go hand-in-hand. People want trust, but they also want clarity: clear goals, meaningful opportunities, and fair reward, you won’t get this right by guessing. Stay close to your people, gather feedback often, and make sure you’re designing systems that meet both their needs and the company’s. That’s what creates lasting impact, for the business and for the people in it.
Q If you could give job seekers one unconventional piece of career advice, what would it be?
One piece of advice I often share is to look laterally, not just vertically. Some of the most valuable career moves I’ve made weren’t promotions, they were sideways shifts into roles that gave me new perspectives, stretched me, and opened doors I wouldn’t have seen if I’d just focused on job titles.
In fast-moving industries like tech, breadth is just as valuable as depth. The people who really stand out are often those who’ve seen different sides of the business and understand how the whole machine works.
"And don’t underestimate the power of your network. The most exciting opportunities often come through relationships, the people who know you, who trust you, and who will advocate for you. The best time to build those connections is before you need them. So be deliberate and start now."
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