Principal Executive Recruiter
Robert
Newby.
20+ years building the world's most elite engineering teams at Google and Amazon. Architect of talent pipelines that shaped cloud computing.
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About
Builder
of Elite Teams.
Rob Newby at Smith Rock
Dynamic and results-driven Principal Executive Recruiter with over 20 years of experience leading global talent acquisition strategies for high-growth technology companies. Expertise in sourcing and hiring top-tier executive talent, managing high-performing teams, and influencing recruitment processes at scale.
Proven track record in building and optimizing talent pipelines for senior leadership roles, including VP, Director, Principal Engineer, Senior Principal, and Distinguished Engineers. Passionate mentor and career coach committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion across organizational structures.
Core Competencies
Career History
Two decades.
Two industry giants.
LINEAR SEARCH LLC
Founder & Principal Executive Recruiter
- Founded and registered my own retained executive search firm, working directly for former clients on confidential senior and executive-level searches.
- A real journey of development — building and running an independent company while delivering on complex, high-trust mandates.
- Applying 20+ years of network, assessment methodology, and client relationships to deliver bespoke talent solutions.
Principal Executive Recruiter / Senior Manager
- Closed the first-ever external Distinguished Engineer hires for Google Cloud and the AI group, including from underrepresented groups.
- Built and scaled a high-performance PE/DE recruiting team from 2 to 10 members, mentoring 3 through successful promotions.
- Developed a new IC senior recruitment process that became a benchmark across Cloud, Search, YouTube, and AI.
- Led formation of a centralized Technical Fellow hiring committee, streamlining interview design across all product areas.
- Influenced compensation strategies for underrepresented groups and spearheaded culture change discussions around equity.
AMAZON WEB SERVICES
Principal Recruiter / Senior Manager L7
- Founding member of Amazon's PE+ recruitment team , the only external hire , reporting directly to CTO Werner Vogels and SVP sponsors Andy Jassy and Brian Valentine.
- Invented a new Principal Engineer assessment process still in use at Amazon today; grew the PE+ population from 37 to over 650.
- Reduced hire failure rate from 90% to 2% through a data-driven, scientific approach to talent assessment.
- Managed global teams across the US, UK, India, Luxembourg, and Israel targeting SDE3 to PE level hires.
- Seconded to work on Compensation & Offer Exception Process, M&A, Principal Promotion Panel, Retention, and Bench/Succession.
- Initiated and drove the creation of the Automated Reasoning Group (ARG) , a team that transformed AWS Cloud Security through formal verification techniques.
DERWENT EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Research Practice Director
- Founded and scaled the research team from 2 to 6, building Executive Search capabilities for top-tier investment banks and technology corporations.
- Promoted from Principal Researcher → Research Manager → Research Practice Director.
- Developed comprehensive talent market insights enabling strategic senior executive placements.
HAYS IT SERVICES
Recruiting Manager
- Promoted from Senior Recruiter to Recruiting Manager for the Software Engineering Practice.
- Identified and secured high-caliber candidates across a broad range of technical disciplines.
KENT POLICE
Detective Constable
- Specialized in crimes against vulnerable individuals and human trafficking investigations.
- Seconded to New Scotland Yard as Assistant Researcher on the PEACE cognitive interview model , work that revolutionized police investigative interviewing across the UK.
- Received a commendation for bravery and was recommended for plain clothes special investigation and serious crime interview units.
KENT COUNTY COUNCIL
Graphic Designer
- Assisted in design and build of exhibition assets, developing strong visual communication and project management skills.Museum of Kent Life·Visit Kent
Highlight Story
Automated Reasoning Group.
Following an eye-opening discussion in December 2012 with an external prospect, about formal verification and reasoning, or 'heavy duty math' to prove software correctness. I embarked on a journey to see why this was important and realised an opportunity to build a valuable new team. Using mathematical proofs to secure the cloud! Byron Cook had shared his dream. To depart Microsoft Research in approximately one year. His desire to find somewhere 'more willing than MSR' to build a team around him and this unpopular, but possibly groundbreaking method.
After the call I wrote a quick one pager (the Amazon way) and next day began meeting with possible stake holders. I focused on two business SVP's initially. CISO Stephen Schmidt, and SVP of Utility Computing Charlie Bell. I pitched the skeleton idea to them, 'using mathematical proofs' to secure the cloud. To my surprise their reception was warm. So I began drafting a six pager. Then moved onto HR VP for AWS Michelle Yetman. My manager Rich Simon was always willing to take a risk. He let me run with it.
I personally influenced dozens of internal stakeholders from early ideation stage, through financing and eventually approvals by S-Team, Bezos directs. CISO Stephen Schmidt could see a way to initially apply this group to tackle a growing backlog of penetration testing and appSec tasks. Most others worried that this potential team, was way too much Academia and not enough production experience. It was a risk Stephen Schmidt was willing to take. He began contributing to the new Six Pager and we moved together towards the creation of an entirely new Engineering team.
A truly niche skill set! One that did not exist at Amazon, prior to this moment.
While this picked up momentum I simultaneously engaged three more handpicked team members recommended by Byron Cook. More potential Principal Engineers! I prepared all the potential candidates. I coached them considerably on what they should be ready for. Interviews at Amazon were famously hard. None of these people were traditional Principal Engineers and really belonged more in Research Scientist or maybe Applied Scientist. At the time it was going to have to be the bar for Principal Engineer. Or no go!
So Serdar Tasiran, was at the time a full time Professor of Computer Science at Koch University Turkey, he needed relocation and a visa, sponsored or academic. Another, an unlisted engineer, who exclusively worked for the top secret parts of .gov. Another Ernie Cohen a super deep engineer for formal methods. I coordinated the interview process and began assessments simultaneously. Each member was essential to the plan. But all had different concerns about meeting the bar for engineer. In the end they all passed the bar for engineer at the necessary level 7 Principal.
Now it's December 2014 — Byron Cook joins 2 years after the first call as a Senior Principal Applied Scientist. Closely followed by his new team, Ernie, Serdar, et al.
I went on to hire four more PE and Senior PE's like Rustan Leino, the inventor and maintainer of the language DAFNY.
(This is another cool story of a first of kind hire at Amazon, as we had to allow him to continue to develop the language outside Amazon... ask me about this.)
This team became the Automated Reasoning Group (ARG), taking a revolutionary approach to automate mathematical correctness proving techniques, 'formal verification and reasoning', to continuously scan and harden all software and systems in the AWSCloud. This niche team has changed the entire evolution of Cloud Security and Software Engineering at Amazon. It is now routinely mentioned by CTO Werner Vogels and other DE's. ARG has grown and evolved to be a front and center, selling point, for AWS Cloud. The latest new branch started by these foundational hires, is known as Neurosymbolic AI and formal reasoning.
Peer Recognition
What colleagues say.
10 Google Peer Bonus awards, each a direct nomination from a colleague.
"Rob routinely makes himself available to dissect tricky/difficult candidate situations, and really does an amazing job of helping me get 'unstuck' with concrete solutions/next steps… Rob is consistent with these actions and it's greatly appreciated."
Joshua Williams
Aug 18, 2023
"Rob, I recognize that you put a ton of time into Xiaodan's candidacy on behalf of Core ML. This was a complicated scenario and you managed with expertise. Thank you so much for the partnership , and going above and beyond to land a great talent for Google."
Bryan de Ponce
Apr 18, 2023
"You are an amazing mentor and a foundational asset to our team. You lead with empathy, and sincerity… Thank you for being our rock and PE/DE Guru! This team would not be the same without you!"
Dzenita Custo
Mar 16, 2023
"The knowledge that you have about the space is wildly humbling… The rapport you build because of the technical depth at which you're able to connect and level with folks is inspiring."
Alyssa Kopervos
Mar 10, 2023
"A huge shoutout for being such a great partner in bringing Ranjita onboard for the GGN PE role in Bangalore. It wasn't an easy packet, but thanks to your help, we managed to get it through."
Anto Raimo
Dec 15, 2022
"Thank you Rob for your constant support, leadership and mentorship. You are a big part of what makes our crew special, and you truly bring so much joy to my life it is astounding."
Steve Iuliucci
Nov 18, 2022
"Sensei!! Thank you for always being such an amazing mentor… Whenever I find myself in a sticky situation or need guidance, you always make the time. Thank you for always being so honest and genuine."
Dzenita Custo
Sep 28, 2022
"Rob went out of his way to help me navigate role exploration with a tricky but valued candidate… Thanks again Rob for all that you do, and for keeping this life-long learner satiated with knowledge!"
Joshua Williams
Aug 11, 2022
"You have been such an amazing partner/teammate to work with. Thank you for continuously sharing your wealth of knowledge. I appreciate you! Glad you are a part of our team!"
Dzenita Custo
Apr 01, 2022
Education
Foundations.
Kent Police Headquarters
1998 – 2004Center for Investigative Skills
Certification: Investigative Skills & Interview Techniques (PEACE Model)
University of Kent, England
1998 – 2002BA, Criminology, Psychology, Law, Forensic , (Incomplete)
West Kent College, England
1992 – 1996BTEC Higher National Diploma: Media Art & Graphic Design
Additional
Public Speaking
Regular speaker on talent acquisition, diversity initiatives, and recruitment process innovation.
Volunteer
Regular fundraiser for structured educational programming for young people.
Certifications
Certified Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI #482584) · Marine Biology / Reef Teacher , GBRMPA
Outside Work
HiiT · Wake Surfing · Mountain Biking (MOAB) · Sport Climbing / Bouldering · Scuba Diving
Client & Candidate Testimonials
Voices from the field.
Testimonials from Principal Engineers, Distinguished Engineers, VPs, and executives Robert has placed or partnered with across Google, Amazon, Apple, Databricks, and beyond.
FEATURED REFERENCE
“I had the distinct pleasure of working with Robert Newby during a pivotal moment in my career, as I transitioned from a 23-year tenure as a Technical Fellow at Microsoft to a new opportunity at Google. From the outset, Robert distinguished himself through his highly personalized approach to recruitment. He invested considerable time in understanding not just my professional expertise but also my personal aspirations, strengths, and areas for development. His ability to discuss technical topics with both depth and insight was remarkable, underscoring his broad range of interests and profound understanding of the tech industry. What stood out most was his exceptional communication skills , always asking the right questions at the right times to move the process forward effectively. I am a staunch advocate for Robert Newby's work, and I firmly believe that any company would be exceedingly fortunate to have him on their team.”
Jeffrey Snover
LinkedInHarvard Fellow · Google DE · Microsoft Fellow
→ Google · Robert's candidate · 2023 · Robert's candidate · 2023
“Robert was the recruiter that brought me in to Amazon. Everything from early conversations, through interviewing and onboarding. He was central to putting together a great set of reasons to have me join Amazon. He was a real pleasure to work with.”
Robert's candidate · February 6, 2024
“Robert did a fantastic job recruiting me back to Amazon, and for the last 6 years we have worked side by side on many principal engineer hiring loops. Robert took the time to understand the nuances of the security space. He does an exceptional job of matching interviewers with candidates, and always has a keen eye on candidate experience throughout the hiring process. The day I started, Robert came to see me, made sure I got everything I needed and followed up on a few items. That extra touch really mattered and made a strong, positive impression.”
Worked alongside Robert at Amazon · March 4, 2016
“Robert is one of our top recruiters at Amazon and specializes in hiring top technical talent and folks who are best of the best in their chosen technical fields. I have a lot of respect for Robert and trust his judgment on people completely. He is very relationship oriented and long term focused. Robert will work with a passive candidate for years before the candidate is ready to explore other opportunities. What I like about Robert is that he really wants to serve the candidates we hire by making sure they are coming into the right role and are going to be successful and happy.”
Robert's client · April 13, 2014
Nadav Eiron
Career Break (former ML / DE leader)
“Robert did a great job as my recruiting partner working on hiring DE level talent in the ML space in a very tight market and for very complex roles. He was able to deliver an excellent pipeline of candidates and close the deal quickly and effectively. It was a great experience working with Robert in this capacity.”
Robert's client · February 6, 2024
Michael Brundage
Retired AI/ML Applied Scientist/Engineer
Amazon / Meta
“Rob did a fantastic job at all parts of the recruiting process: enticing passive candidates to consider Amazon, finding a good fit across the large company, selecting quality interviewers for loops, managing the interview process, and communicating with candidates afterwards and closing the deal. But Rob is much more than that , he is fun to work with and has great character. He's trustworthy, well-spoken, and calm under pressure. Principal Engineers are notoriously hard to hire, but Rob played a key role in growing Amazon's PE community from under 20 when I started in 2009 to more than 120 when I left in 2013.”
Interviewer & Bar Raiser at Amazon · September 19, 2014
Khaja Ahmed
CISO & SVP , Security Leader
Amazon
“Robert is brilliant at managing and coordinating the process of hiring senior technical talent. He is able to ensure that everyone involved in the hiring process, on both sides, have a clear idea of where things stand, what the next steps are. Robert is adept at identifying the key factors that go into making the decision for the company and ensuring the team does not lose sight of these while maintaining a pleasant and even fun atmosphere for the whole team.”
Robert's client · February 25, 2014
Yan Leshinsky
Vice President of Engineering
Databricks
“Robert was on Amazon SWAT team and worked with me while I was interviewing at Amazon. He is a great recruiter!”
Robert's candidate · February 21, 2014
“I highly recommend Robert for his outstanding work as an executive recruiter. Robert demonstrated exceptional professionalism, responsiveness, and dedication during the hiring process. His collaborative approach, industry knowledge, and commitment to finding the right fit for both candidates and employers make him an invaluable asset to any organization.”
Robert's candidate · February 25, 2024
William Earl
Software Architect; Owner & Captain, S.V. Princess Irene; Investor
Amazon
“Robert was the Amazon recruiter who worked with me when I was considering joining Amazon, and I have subsequently worked with him as he continues to recruit for the team I am in. As a recruiter, Robert is diligent in following up, without being overly pushy. He has good understanding of the relevant technology areas, so he can speak intelligently with a candidate about which positions are a fit. Hiring for senior positions is a challenge at any company; Robert is effective in meeting that challenge.”
Robert's candidate · February 25, 2014
Skye Lockhart
Partner , C-Suite & Board Executive Search
Hourigan International
“We hired Robert for his technology recruitment expertise and strong interpersonal skills. Robert is a natural communicator and has the ability to engage clients and candidates at all levels. He is passionate about engaging technology in the process of sourcing talent and contributed tremendously to the online sourcing strategies at Derwent Executive. He is a genuinely friendly and likeable guy!”
Managed Robert directly · June 2005
Get in touch
Let's connect.
Open to senior executive recruiting roles, consulting engagements, and speaking opportunities.