Zillow CEO says remote work is a talent advantage
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Zillow’s job applications quadrupled after the company went remote-first under its “CloudHQ” model, CEO Jeremy Wacksman told Fortune — a result he attributes to expanding the company’s talent pool across all 50 states while major tech rivals enforce return-to-office mandates.
Applicant pool quadrupled after Zillow went remote-first
“For us, we see huge benefits in recruiting. We now have employees in all 50 states, whereas before we had them only in a handful,” Wacksman said on the Fortune Leadership Next podcast.
The CEO, who has led Zillow since August 2024 and himself works remotely outside of in-person retreats and town halls, said geographic expansion of the talent pool has made the company more competitive in hiring against major tech firms now pushing employees back into offices.
Zillow‘s CloudHQ model directly contrasts with the return-to-office posture of Amazon, Meta, and Apple — giving the real estate platform a structural recruiting advantage in markets where top talent has already built its life around location flexibility.
Wacksman says remote-first requires deliberate cultural investment
“There is talent everywhere in this country,” Wacksman said, describing the core philosophy behind keeping Zillow’s remote-first structure intact.
He acknowledged the model required building new systems for performance measurement and collaboration to replace what physical proximity once provided automatically.
Being remote has not eliminated in-person connection — Zillow holds retreats and town halls where employees travel to each other rather than commute to an office.
The company’s performance and collaboration systems were rebuilt from scratch so that conversations once handled informally in offices or hallways now require intentional scheduling and measurement.
“We leaned in early. And, again, we really pivoted the company. We didn’t start the company this way,” Wacksman said — underscoring that CloudHQ required active organizational change, not a passive extension of COVID-era habits.
The Zillow model offers a direct blueprint for BPO providers managing distributed, offshore-first delivery.
Geographic talent access — the same advantage Wacksman cites — is precisely the value proposition offshore staffing has delivered to U.S. clients for decades, and Zillow’s quadrupled applicant flow demonstrates the business case for maintaining it against return-to-office pressure.
BPO providers who have already built intentional performance systems and structured connection points are ahead of the credibility curve their clients are only now trying to navigate.
