Hamburg-based Xing, a subsidiary of New Work SE, has announced a management reshuffle as it pivots from a professional network to a job board.
At the end of this year, managing director Thomas Kindler (above) will step down after two years in the role, according to New Work’s news release. He will be succeeded by Simone Reif (below), who joins from Stepstone as MD and CRO. She was at the latter company for 21 years, ending her time their as MD for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Meanwhile, Philip Brandecker and Mario Kühlkamp have been named as COO and chief sales officer, respectively, while former Stepstone CEO Ralf Baumann will join Xing as senior advisor.
New Work CEO Henning Rönneberg commented: “I am extremely pleased that we have succeeded in recruiting three proven industry experts in Simone Reif, Ralf Baumann and Mario Kühlkamp. Together with Philip Brandecker, they will further develop Xing strategically. All three represent customer focus, problem-solving expertise and have demonstrated their ability to successfully build and lead high-performing recruitment organizations.”
Rönneberg, who was promoted to CEO in June, praised Kindler’s contribution to the company’s turnaround: “He repositioned Xing, reorganized the company and played a crucial role in re-establishing Xing as a relevant player in the recruiting market.”
Kindler wrote in a LinkedIn post: “The past five years have been intense and deeply meaningful. Together we have redefined Xing’s strategy, fundamentally restructured the organization, and laid the foundation for a successful German jobs network. I’m proud that we’ve brought Xing back into the position of a relevant recruiting player — and that the company is now ready to move forward with confidence.”
Founded in 2003, Xing recently came into the hands of Munich-based Burda Digital as part of its acquisition of New Work SE. Burda is reportedly preparing to sell Kununu, an employer-rating site acquired by New Work in 2019.
Xing operates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The company says it hosts 20 million members, 1 million job ads and 20,000 recruiters.
