Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the 6th most common cancer worldwide and the human papillomavirus (HPVP+P)-driven subtype is the fastest rising in North America. Although most cases of HPV+ HNSCC respond to radiation and chemotherapy in combination with surgery, up to 20% of patients recur after primary treatment with poor prognosis. To gain insights into the mechanism of recurrence to inform patient stratification and precision treatment, we carried out RNA-seq analysis on 43 HPV+ HNSCC specimens, of which 15, including 7 recurrent tumors, were analyzed by quantitative mass spectrometry. The proteome and phosphoproteome, but not the transcriptome, were found to be distinct between the recurrent and non-recurrent tumors. Specifically, recurrent tumors featured a pro-fibrotic and immune suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) characterized with more abundant cancer associated fibroblasts, extracellular matrix (ECM), neutrophils and suppressive myeloid cells, increased potential for epithelial-mesenchymal transition and defective T cell function, accompanied by aberrant changes in the corresponding signaling pathways. Mechanistically, kinome reprogramming played a pivotal role in mediating recurrence through regulating TME remodelling, cytoskeletal reorganization, cell adhesion, neutrophil function, and coagulation. Besides providing systems-level insights into the molecular basis of recurrence, our work led to the identification of numerous mechanism-based biomarkers and therapeutic targets that may aid future endeavours of developing prognostic biomarkers and precision medicine for recurrent HPV+ HNSCC.