Key Takeaways

  • 75% of U.S. employers use automated applicant tracking systems to screen resumes before a human reviews them (Harvard Business School & Accenture, 2021)
  • The most common ATS failures are missing keywords, incompatible formatting, and incorrect file types
  • ResumeGeni scores your resume across 8 parsing layers — modeled on the same steps enterprise ATS platforms like Workday, Greenhouse, and Taleo use to evaluate candidates

How ATS Resume Scoring Works

Applicant tracking systems parse your resume into structured data — extracting your name, contact info, work history, skills, and education — then score how well that data matches the job requirements. Many ATS rejections happen because the parser couldn't extract critical fields, not because the candidate wasn't qualified.

LayerWhat It ChecksWhy It Matters
Document extractionFile format, encoding, readabilityCorrupted or image-only PDFs fail immediately
Layout analysisTables, columns, headers, footersMulti-column layouts break field extraction
Section detectionExperience, education, skills headingsNon-standard headings cause sections to be missed
Field mappingName, email, phone, dates, titlesMissing contact info is a common cause of immediate rejection
Keyword matchingJob-specific terms, skills, certificationsKeyword overlap affects recruiter search visibility and ATS scoring
Chronology checkDate ordering, gap detectionReverse-chronological order is expected by most ATS
QuantificationMetrics, numbers, measurable outcomesQuantified achievements help human reviewers and some scoring models
Confidence scoringOverall parse quality and completenessLow-confidence parses get deprioritized in results

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ResumeGeni free?
Yes. ResumeGeni is currently in beta — ATS analysis, scoring, and initial improvement suggestions are free with no signup required. Full guidance and saved reports may require a free account.
What file formats are supported?
PDF, DOCX, DOC, TXT, RTF, ODT, and Apple Pages. PDF and DOCX are recommended for best ATS compatibility.
How is the ATS score calculated?
Your resume is processed through an 8-layer parsing pipeline that extracts structured data the same way enterprise ATS platforms do. The score reflects how completely and accurately your resume can be parsed, plus how well your content matches common ATS ranking criteria.
Can ATS read PDF resumes?
Yes, but not all PDFs are equal. Text-based PDFs parse well. Image-only PDFs (scanned documents) and PDFs with complex tables or multi-column layouts often fail ATS parsing. Our analyzer will flag these issues.
How do I improve my ATS score?
Focus on three areas: use a clean single-column format, include keywords from the job description naturally in your experience bullets, and ensure all sections (contact, experience, education, skills) use standard headings.

ATS Guides & Resources

Built by engineers with 12 years of experience building enterprise hiring technology at ZipRecruiter. Last updated .

Developer Relations Engineer

Freeplay · Boulder, CO

The Opportunity

We're hiring an experienced Developer Relations Engineer to lead efforts in growing awareness of Freeplay and helping the AI engineering and product management community understand how to use it build better AI products. In this role, you'll focus on crafting compelling content, engaging relevant communities through online and in-person events, developing our brand narrative, and driving lead generation initiatives targeted at technical audiences.

This is an exciting chance to join a fast-growing AI startup that has a front row seat to how AI products are getting built and used across some of the largest and most innovation companies in the world. You'll immerse yourself every day in the details of building agents, creating and using evals, optimizing prompts and models, and ultimately what it takes to build AI products that actually work well and thrill customers.

What's Freeplay?

Freeplay is the end-to-end platform for software teams to ship great AI products. We give product development teams the power to test, evaluate, monitor & optimize AI in production. Our customers use Freeplay to to build better LLM features, chatbots, and agents. Today we serve leading software companies from growing startups to Fortune 100 companies.


Your Mission

Create the content and messaging to establish and expand Freeplay's developer community and drive growth.

  • Establish and grow Freeplay’s brand within the AI engineering and product management communities through thought leadership, technical content, and community engagement. Become a primary public voice for Freeplay over time.

  • Lead the creation and strategic direction of high-quality technical content, including sample code and apps, notebooks, documentation, blogs, videos, webinars, tutorials, etc.

  • Constantly refine and tune our narrative to show the world what makes Freeplay unique and powerful.

  • Ensure content is engaging, clear, and effectively demonstrates Freeplay’s value to technical audiences.

  • Build a steady cadence of content marketing and nurture campaigns that balance top-down enterprise messaging with practical, hands-on solutions for AI engineers and PMs.

  • Partner closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Sales to keep messaging aligned and impactful.


About You

  • 5-10 years of relevant experience, including at least 2 years of prior experience in developer marketing, developer relations, or a related technical marketing role.

  • Production engineering experience. This is a technical role. You must be confident writing code and creating practical, useful examples for production software teams.

  • Proven ability to craft compelling technical narratives and clearly communicate complex ideas to technical audiences.

  • Hands-on familiarity with generative AI and machine learning development techniques, along with an understanding of the AI engineering ecosystem.

  • Demonstrated experience leading content strategy and production with a focus on efficiency and impact.

  • Excellent project management skills, highly organized, and capable of managing multiple initiatives simultaneously.

  • Passionate about engaging the AI engineering and PM communities and driving adoption through genuine thought leadership.

  • Previous experience with developer tools, platforms, or APIs.


Bonus Points

  • Experience managing external consultants or freelancers, including leveraging AI-driven tools for content creation.

  • Track record of public speaking, participating in panels, or representing companies at industry events.


Compensation & Benefits

  • Competitive salary commensurate with experience, plus equity package.

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance.

  • Premium hardware setup (MacBook, monitor, peripherals).

  • Four weeks of Paid Time Off per year (and we encourage you to take it!).


Location

We prefer candidates able to work full-time on-site in Boulder, CO or in San Fransisco, CA, but we're open to exceptional remote candidates in other locations who can visit Boulder every 6 weeks for team collaboration.