HR staff with no coding background build their own hiring software with AI

Remote, a company that handles payroll and hiring for employers around the world, built its own applicant tracking system with AI. The people who built it were mostly recruiters and other HR staff, not software engineers. The system launched in October 2026 and holds more than 24,000 applications and candidate records.

What happened

An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is the software that collects job applications and moves candidates through hiring. Remote's version was built with Claude and Claude Code, AI tools from Anthropic. The project began when founder Job van der Voort challenged Chief People Officer Barbara Matthews to build one at a team off-site in January. It started as a small experiment with a tool for screening résumés.

Who built it

The team included three recruiters, one sourcer, Matthews's executive assistant and a people transformation specialist. Each person took on different features, such as résumé screening and a tool linking job codes to job descriptions. They did this alongside their regular jobs.

Remote also told staff it would not renew several third-party software contracts. Employees had the rest of the year to build replacements.

Reading the numbers

The 24,000 figure needs a careful read. It includes older records moved over from the previous system, so it does not mean 24,000 new applicants. Matthews said the system received 7,000 new applications in a single week. At the time of her interview, the company had made six hires through it.

Beyond hiring

The same team has built or is building other tools:

• A learning management system, finished in June
• A compensation tool, still in progress
• A 360-degree feedback tool, where colleagues review one another
• An employee engagement survey tool

The system is still changing. Staff report bugs and ideas through an internal feedback channel, and the team makes fixes and additions daily. Matthews also introduced weekly review sessions called crit labs.

What is not known

The material does not say how much money Remote saves, how well the screening works, or how the company protects applicant data. Six hires is also a very small sample. Remote also has an unusual advantage: it is a tech company, and its engineers were freed up after a strategy change in March. A smaller business should test any homemade tool closely before canceling a paid vendor.