For startup & scaleup founders
The engineers you want, already wanting to talk.
We’re the hiring partner for venture-backed startups and scaleups, Seed to Series C. The engineers in our pool, new grad to staff across SF, New York, and other major US hubs, have opted into a move. Tell us what you’re hiring for and we’ll set up a 15-minute call to lock down exactly who you need. You only pay if you hire.
2,693
Live engineering roles
666
Startups we track
267
New this week
Tell us what you’re hiring for
1 / 4
The problem
Engineering hiring is mostly noise.
The inbox doesn't help
The engineers you actually want aren't applying through your job post. What lands is the wrong stack, the wrong level, and contractors looking for six months.
Agencies bury you
Most send everyone they can find, then bill against your team's interview time. You sift twelve CVs to find three people worth a call.
In-house takes months
Building the network, calibrating the bar, doing the vetting. That's a quarter of full-time work before the req is even open, and the role sits empty the whole time.
What we do
A short list of engineers who want to talk to you.
A pool that opted in
Software engineers in SF, New York, and other major US hubs, new grad to staff, who dropped a CV with us and told us what they want. They came to us. Nobody got scraped.
A short list, not a flood
Three to five people per role, each one read against your stack and your stage. You spend your time interviewing, not triaging.
Names only when they're in
A candidate's name reaches you after they've said yes to your role. Every person you meet already wants the conversation.
You only pay on a hire
No retainer, no monthly minimum. We make money when you make a hire, so our incentive is the same as yours.
Wherever you are
The hire that matters changes with the round.
We sort the whole board by who just raised, so we already know what stage you’re hiring into, and who actually wants a seat there.
Your first engineers set the ceiling.
You need generalists who own the whole stack and move without a spec, the people who want to build something from nothing. A wrong hire here costs you a fifth of the team.
What we bring. Three or four senior generalists who already want an early seat, not thirty maybes. No retainer to carry while runway is tight.
Five engineers to twenty, bar intact.
Every hire still has to clear the line you set, and hiring can quietly eat the whole quarter you meant to spend building.
What we bring. A steady read of senior ICs calibrated to your bar, so the pipeline keeps moving while you ship. Interview time goes to people worth interviewing.
The roles get specific.
ML infrastructure, platform, security, your first engineering managers. The people who can do them are rarely looking, and never on a public board.
What we bring. Specialists and leads sourced by hand, the ones who only move for the right conversation. Quiet searches when you need them, pay only when someone signs.
What you'll get
Three to five people a week, not a hundred CVs to triage.
What other agencies send
Matched
What we send
Staff Backend Engineer
9 yrs · payments + distributed
ML Infrastructure Lead
Ex-Meta · LLM serving
Senior Platform Engineer
12 yrs · scaled to 100M users
How it works
From your roles to a signed offer.
Tell us the roles
Two minutes in the form above. Paste your live job links and we'll read them in, so we already know the role before we talk.
We bring the people
On a 15-minute call we walk you through who we'd put in front of you. Real names, real fit, already interested. First names within days.
You interview, we close
We introduce the people you want to meet and stay in it through the offer. Every placement carries a replacement guarantee.
FAQ
Straight answers.
What does it cost to start?
Nothing to talk. We'll only ever bill on a hire, and we'll walk you through exactly how that works on the call. There's no retainer and no upfront commitment to get candidates in front of you.
Who's in the pool?
Software engineers at every level, new grad to staff, concentrated in SF and New York with strong coverage in Austin, Seattle, remote, and other US hubs: backend, ML infrastructure, applied AI, platform, security, and the rest of the IC track. Some are interviewing now. Some would move for the right thing.
How fast will I see candidates?
The first call is about getting your bar exactly right. From there, first named introductions usually land within a few days, faster on stacks we already cover deeply.
Do I have to paste my job links?
No, it's optional. But if you drop your Greenhouse, Lever, or Ashby links, we read the JD live and come to the call already knowing the role. It makes the conversation sharper.
Do you run stealth searches and sign NDAs?
Yes, routinely. If you're hiring quietly, we keep it quiet.
Tell us what you’re hiring for.
Two minutes now, a 15-minute call next, and people worth meeting after that. No deck, no charge to talk.
Or browse the public feed: roles.cc