David McDonnell is the Vice President of People & Culture at Dealfront, leading the global People strategy for a remote-first B2B SaaS business. With deep expertise in Talent Acquisition, he specialises in scaling high-growth teams and building people systems that drive clarity, performance and cultural alignment.
What’s a recent professional achievement of yours that you are proud of?
Taking top spot in Screenloop’s Candidate Experience award.
What is your prediction for the future of the TA industry?
It’s less about replacing TA and more about adapting to a new AI-native way of working. Internal recruiters will absolutely remain but the model will become far more lean and strategic. Where I see the biggest shift is in the supporting layers; coordination, scheduling and manual administrative work will be heavily automated. TA teams of the future will likely be smaller, more specialised and more data-led.
What projects are you planning on working on in 2026?
Driving AI adoption across our candidate experience and hiring processes.