Hiring manager
Also called HM.
The person the role reports to — who owns the requisition, makes the decision, and is the only interviewer whose "yes" is close to sufficient.
Recruiters run the process; the hiring manager decides. They wrote or approved the posting, they know which listed requirements are real, they'll live with the consequences of the hire, and in most companies they can override a lukewarm panel for a candidate they want.
That makes their interview different in kind from the others. They are asking whether you can do the specific job in front of them, in this team, with these constraints — not whether you're generally strong. Answers that connect your experience to their described problems land; generically impressive answers don't.
It also makes them the right person to ask the questions you actually care about: what the first ninety days look like, why the seat is open, what would make this hire a success in a year. Their answers are more concrete than anyone else's, and how they answer tells you what working for them would be like.
Recruiter screen
The first conversation in most hiring processes — a 20–30 minute call confirming basics and deciding whether to pass you to the hiring manager.
Interview loop
The set of interviews a company runs to make a decision — typically three to six sessions, each assigned a different signal to evaluate.
Job posting
The employer's public description of a role — part specification, part marketing, and rarely a literal list of requirements.