At age 19, he played an important role in the development and popularization of OpenID and OAuth, and is probably best known for his evangelism on behalf of the decentralized single-sign-on protocol.

[6][non-primary source needed] Recordon was employed as an Open Platforms Tech Lead at blogging company Six Apart and more recently as a Facebook Engineering Director.

[citation needed] In March 2015, Recordon was appointed to the newly created position of Director of White House Information Technology by President Barack Obama.

[7] Following the end of the Obama administration, Recordon was hired as Vice President of Infrastructure and Security at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and resided in San Francisco.

In the run-up to the 2020 United States presidential election, Recordon volunteered as the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the Presidential transition of Joe Biden, and, on January 5, 2021, Recordon was named as the Director of Technology in the White House Office of Management and Administration for the incoming administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.