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 .

Senior Software Engineer

St Labs · NYC, NY

Standard Template Labs is a stealth-mode, AI-native startup reimagining the future of IT Service and Configuration Management. Backed by leading investors, we're leveraging AI, graph-based architecture, and exceptional design to transform how enterprises manage and engage with their technology ecosystems.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer who thrives in an AI-native environment—someone who’s excited to build scalable, intelligent systems that blend automation, reasoning, and modern infrastructure.

You’ll play a key role in architecting and implementing the systems that power our AI-driven platform, helping define how we integrate large language models (LLMs), knowledge graphs, and intelligent workflows into enterprise-scale software.

This is a hands-on role for someone who codes deeply, thinks systemically, and wants to shape the future of AI-augmented engineering.

Responsibilities

AI-Driven Technical Ownership

  • Take end-to-end ownership of complex features and systems—from architecture and implementation to deployment and observability.

  • Design and evolve AI-native services that embed LLMs and reasoning capabilities directly into product workflows.

  • Work cross-functionally with product, design, and data teams to infuse AI-powered intelligence into the user and developer experience.

  • Drive architectural decisions that balance rapid experimentation with long-term scalability and reliability.

Hands-On Engineering

  • Backend First: Lead design, implementation, testing, and deployment of backend services, APIs (REST/GraphQL), and core data infrastructure that power scalable enterprise workflows.

  • Full Stack Delivery: Build user-facing features where needed, connecting frontend UI with backend systems — you’ll own the full path from browser to database.

  • Shape the Stack: Help define and evolve our architecture — from backend systems and databases to the UI frameworks and client integrations that consume them.

  • AI and Workflow Innovation: Integrate AI/LLM capabilities into backend pipelines and product logic that make ITSM smarter and easier to use.

  • Performance & Scale: Architect highly performant, secure, and scalable services for enterprise environments, with monitoring and observability in place.

  • Collaboration: Partner with designers, frontend engineers, and infrastructure teams to translate product thinking into real, high-impact solutions.

  • Developer Experience: Improve internal tooling, deployment pipelines, and best practices around CI/CD and automated testing.

  • Security & Compliance: Build with enterprise-grade security and compliance in mind from the start (SOC 2, ISO 27001).

Qualifications

  • Experience: Strong background in backend systems and API design with real SaaS production experience; comfortable contributing across the stack.

  • Backend Languages: Proficiency in one or more modern backend languages (Python, Go, Rust, C++, etc.) and designing distributed systems.

  • Frontend Fluency: Familiar with modern frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Angular) and comfortable building or iterating on UI components that interface with your backend.

  • Databases & Storage: Strong hands-on experience with NoSQL and (ideally) graph or databases.

  • Cloud & DevOps: Experience with cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and infrastructure as code (Terraform).

  • Problem Solving Mindset: Pragmatic, product-driven engineer who thrives in high-velocity startup environments and can balance backend complexity with UI quality.

  • Bonus: Experience integrating AI/LLM features or working with enterprise workflow systems.

Nice to Have

  • Experience building microservices or event-driven architectures.

  • Prior experience with high-throughput or low-latency systems.

  • Contributions to open-source projects or a strong portfolio of technical work.

Why You’ll Love This Role

  • Build core systems for an AI-native enterprise platform—where AI isn’t an add-on, it’s the foundation.

  • Work in a team that uses AI as a development accelerator—pairing human expertise with machine intelligence to move fast and build better.

  • Help define modern best practices for AI-augmented software engineering.

  • Join a focused, collaborative team in Midtown Manhattan—moving quickly, experimenting boldly, and building together.

What We Offer

  • Build foundational product features for an AI-first enterprise platform

  • The opportunity to take ownership of critical systems that scale to millions of users

  • A culture that values craftsmanship, autonomy, and technical excellence

  • Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits package

  • Work from our Flatiron District, Manhattan office, where you’ll be side-by-side with the founding team in a supportive, collaborative setting. Our team works on-site five days a week, growing and building together, and the location is easy to reach with plenty of public transportation options.


As an equal opportunity employer, we don’t tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. Whether that’s based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state or local laws. The reasonably estimated yearly salary for this role at is: $160,000—$230,000 USD.