About

16+ years in talent acquisition. Most of them spent building the hiring infrastructure high performance & growth companies run on.

At Zalando, Wayfair or thermondo, that problem meant recruitment held together by workarounds nobody had time to replace, hiring decisions argued from instinct because the data sat in seven systems, and leadership counting talent acquisition as a cost centre while asking it to deliver growth.

We work as talent engineers, which means we take a hiring system apart, find out why it buckles under load, rebuild it and document it so your team can run it without calling us back. AI carries a lot of that load: cleaning and interrogating hiring data, building some small internal tools you don't have engineering time for, and clearing the admin so recruiters spend their hours on judgement, with decisions about people left to people.

For companies, consulting and training. For talent professionals, career strategy and coaching.

For Companies For You

Andreea Lungulescu, founder of The Principal Recruiter

Andreea Lungulescu — Founder, The Principal Recruiter

Professional background

16+ years building hiring that holds up

Before founding The Principal Recruiter, I spent 16+ years in talent acquisition. In UK consulting, I recruited and supported clients including Aston Martin, Dyson, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Terex, and JCB, combining recruitment, business development, and consultative client work. I then moved into in-house roles at Zalando, Wayfair, and thermondo. At Wayfair, I set up and led recruitment for a tech development centre in Bangalore, India — building the team from the ground up and hiring across engineering, product, and design. At Zalando, I worked across global TA programmes covering EMEA, the US, and Asia. Since leaving thermondo, I have consulted for flaconi, Parloa, Unzer, and Glow25.

I hold two Global Innovation Awards for work delivered at Wayfair and Zalando. Over the past 16+ years, I have trained over 250 product managers in a single rollout on structured hiring practices, led ATS migrations and implementations for companies scaling past 100 hires per year, and built hiring infrastructure for startups from pre-seed through Series C. I also founded Talent Crunch, Europe’s largest talent acquisition community, with ±8000 members.

16+

Years in TA

250+

PMs trained in one rollout

Global Innovation Awards

Global community founded

Trusted by 30+ teams — and more are coming

+ 20 more reputable brands

By the numbers

16+ years

Talent acquisition across EMEA, Asia, and the US

2× Global Innovation Awards

Recognised at Wayfair and Zalando

250+ Product Managers

trained in a single rollout

What we stand for

We exist because the standard of how companies hire and how talent professionals develop is not where it should be. Consulting, training, and career strategy are how we raise it

Our point of view

The root of most hiring problems is the same: recruitment is treated as a reactive function, not an engineered one.

A role opens, a req gets filed, someone scrambles to fill it. The tooling is an afterthought. The process is inherited from whoever set it up three years ago. Hiring managers are expected to interview well without ever being taught how. And when it goes wrong, the recruiter takes the blame.

On the individual side, talented professionals stall because no one taught them how to position themselves, how to translate their experience into a career that moves in the direction they want, or how to have the conversations that lead to better roles.

We work on both sides of that problem because they are the same problem. Companies that invest in how they hire get better people. Professionals who invest in how they position themselves get better opportunities. The standard rises when both sides take it seriously.

Our vision

Raising the standard of how talent acquisition is built, practised, and developed across Europe.

Through expert consulting, practical education, and a growing community of practitioners who hold each other to higher standards.

Speaking and events

Invited to speak at

Conference stages, podcasts, leadership summits, and in-house workshops across Europe and the US — speaking on AI in hiring, recruitment efficiency, hiring manager enablement, career frameworks for talent professionals, and what modern talent acquisition should look like when it's done properly. Hosts and organisers can reach out for keynotes, panels, fireside chats, and closed-door executive sessions.

We Are Developers & HR Leaders Summit

FemTech Conference

TechRec Conference

T3 Leadership Summit

Recruiting Brainfood

Recruiting Future

TRC 2023 Amsterdam

Community

Built on the same foundation

The Principal Recruiter and Talent Crunch are two sides of the same practice. TPR is where the consulting, training, and career strategy live. Talent Crunch is where the community lives: events, peer connections, and a growing network of talent professionals across the Globe who hold each other accountable.

Both exist because the same person built them, for the same reason, with the same standards.

Two brands, one mission.

Explore Talent Crunch

Frequently asked

Before you reach out

01Where are you based?

Berlin, but we deliver across Europe and beyond. For in-person workshops, training, or consulting that benefits from being on-site, we travel to you. All travel and accommodation costs sit with the client.

02What languages do you work in?

English is our primary working language across all services. Romanian is also native. Most engagements with European and international companies run in English.

03Do you do headhunting or recruitment?

We can. For senior and leadership-level searches, we manage the engagement end to end, from scoping the role and defining the hiring infrastructure through to identifying and placing the right candidate. Depending on the brief, we bring in vetted specialist recruiters from our network to support the search, with The Principal Recruiter leading the strategy, the process, and the quality throughout. For companies that need ongoing recruitment capacity rather than a single search, we'll help you find the right long-term partner and set up the working model.

04What does a typical consulting engagement look like?

It depends on the problem. Some clients need a 90-minute session to unblock a specific hiring challenge. Others need a full process redesign over several weeks. We scope every engagement around what you need, not around a fixed package.

05I'm an individual, not a company. Can I still work with you?

Yes. Career strategy and coaching for talent professionals is a core part of what we do. Single sessions, structured coaching bundles, and the Career OS Masterclass are all available. Head to the For You page for details.

06How do I know if I need consulting or training?

Consulting fixes a specific problem or builds something that doesn't exist yet. Training gives your team the skills to run what's already there, or what we've built together, without depending on external support. If you're unsure, that's what the initial call is for.

07How quickly can we start?

Depending on current capacity, most engagements begin within one to two weeks of the scoping call. For larger projects, we'll agree on a timeline during that first conversation.

08What should I expect from working with you?

Direct communication, fast turnaround, and no filler. We focus on outcomes you can measure, and we'll tell you if something you're asking for won't work before we take your money to do it.

Get in touch

Worth a conversation?

Whether you're a company rethinking how you hire or a professional rethinking where your career goes next, fifteen minutes is enough to know if we're the right fit.

Email us Browse our services