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Kaitlyn Heilweil
Kaitlyn Heilweil is Director of Talent Acquisition and Experience at Edelman Financial Engines, one of the largest registered independent investment advisors in the US. Her role covers everything from how the firm attracts talent to how it recognizes and retains it, and she leads the team behind We Applaud, EFE's employee recognition program.
From Recruiting at SpaceX to Building Culture in Wealth Management
Kaitlyn's path into talent acquisition runs through some notably different environments: she started in HR at Aflac and Stryker before becoming a Technical Recruiter at SpaceX, then founded her own recruiting firm, Sunshine Recruiting LLC, in 2017. She went on to lead Talent and Culture at Facet, a financial planning company, before joining Edelman Financial Engines. One recognition moment she points to often is EFE's Client Service Appreciation Week, an intentional, storytelling-driven effort to recognize the frontline client service and operations teams whose day-to-day impact on customers often goes unseen. She has spoken publicly about scaling We Applaud globally so recognition reinforces company values in the flow of everyday work, not just at major milestones.
Topics Kaitlyn speaks on
- Building talent acquisition teams in financial services
- Making recognition a daily, values-driven habit instead of an occasional event
- Lessons from recruiting at SpaceX
- Designing recognition programs that work across US and global teams
- Candidate and client experience as a competitive advantage
Sessions with Achieve
Kaitlyn is a featured panelist on the Achieve webcast "Recognition That Works: Turning Global Rewards & Recognition Insights into a Living System" (February 19, 2026), presented in partnership with Vantage Circle. She joined Saurabh Deshpande and John Land of Vantage Circle, and fellow Vantage Circle clients Amy Latham (LPL Financial) and Daniel Cano (Lummus Technology), to discuss how EFE scaled its We Applaud recognition program and tied it more tightly to company values.
Connect
Want more on what it takes to build a recognition program that actually reaches the front line? Learn more about the Achieve Leadership Network.