Three engineers. Fourteen days.
$750 buys you 3-5 senior or staff engineers, calibrated to your role and delivered within 14 days. Hire one within 90 days and the full $750 credits against the placement fee.
- Credited 100% against placement on hire within 90 days
- Refund in full if we don't deliver a slate inside 14 days
- No retainer, no monthly fee, no kickoff deck
Engineer 1
Staff
9 yrs · payments infra · ex-Stripe · distributed systems
Engineer 2
Senior
7 yrs · ML platform · LLM serving at scale
Engineer 3
Staff
11 yrs · platform · scaled product to 100M users
How the credit works
Net cost on hire: zero.
The $750 buys our calibration time. When a hire from your slate signs, the same $750 credits back against the placement fee.
Step
Pay $750
Stripe checkout, single payment.
Step
We calibrate + rank
Senior engineering lead reads your JD, ranks the pool against it.
Step
Slate delivered
3 to 5 named candidates inside 14 days. Founder picks who to meet.
Step
Hire, credited
$750 comes off the placement fee. Net cost is zero.
If they sign
$0
net of intake credit
If they don’t
$750
for our calibration time
If we miss the SLA
Refunded
no questions
Compare
The intake slate, side by side with the alternatives.
Up-front cost
Time to first slate
Candidates per slate
Identity-protected
Credited against placement
Pay-on-hire model
Refund if no slate
Engineer opted in
In-house recruiter cost assumes $110/hr × 6 hrs/day × 8 weeks. Other-agency retainers vary by firm.
What happens
From brief to slate, in fourteen days.
- Day 0
Day 0
Brief lands
You buy the intake and send the JD. A senior engineering lead reads it within 4 hours.
- Day 1-2
Day 1-2
Calibration call
30-minute call to lock the bar: what counts as a yes, what kills a candidate.
- Day 3-10
Day 3-10
Pool ranked + shortlisted
Deterministic + AI pass over the pool, recruiter prunes to the strongest 3-5 against your brief.
- Day 14
Day 14
Slate delivered
Named profiles + a written read on each. You decide who you want to meet first.
The guarantees
Three guarantees on the $750.
Guarantee 1
Credited 100% on hire
If anyone from the slate signs an offer within 90 days, the full $750 comes off the placement fee.
Guarantee 2
Refunded if we miss the SLA
If we don't deliver a slate of 3-5 candidates inside 14 days, we refund the full $750. No questions, no portal to navigate.
Guarantee 3
Real engineers, already interested
Everyone on your slate is a real engineer who already told us they want to talk. No placeholders, no scraped profiles.
Launch offer
Our first ten founders close at 18%.
Engagements signed in the first ten get a flat 18% placement fee (vs our standard 22%) plus a no-questions refund window of 60 days. We do this because we’re building the kind of reputation that takes two or three rounds of real founder reviews to compound. You get the discount; we get the case study.
- 18% on first-year base
- 60-day refund window
- $750 intake credits as standard
Before you start
How the engagement works.
The relationship
You meet every engineer through us, warm and already interested. No retainer, and you only pay when you hire.
Operator
roles.cc is built and run by a senior engineering lead who's sat on both sides of the table: the hiring manager picking the slate, and the engineer in the interview seat.
Commitments
- Warm, opted-in introductions
- 90-day replacement window
- 12-month ownership window
- Engagement terms in plain English
Start the intake
Tell us what you’re hiring. Your slate lands in 14 days.
FAQ
The straight answers.
Why $750 if the pitch is no retainer?
It's not a retainer. It covers the initial calibration work, and it's refundable. Hire someone from the slate and the full $750 credits against the placement fee. If we don't deliver, you get it all back.
When does the credit apply?
If you sign an offer with someone from the intake slate within 90 days, the $750 comes off the placement fee. Outside that window, the intake stands on its own.
What if you don't deliver?
If we don't deliver a slate of 3 to 5 candidates inside 14 days, we refund the full $750. No questions, no portal.
What if I don't hire anyone from the slate?
Nothing further to pay. The $750 covers our calibration time. We can run a second slate at a discount, or you can take the names off the table.
Who actually picks the slate?
A senior engineering lead reads your brief, ranks the pool against it, and picks the final 3 to 5 before sending. Each candidate comes with a short read on why they made the cut.
How is this different from contingency engagement?
Contingency is pay-on-hire only, so the commitment is loose and the start is slow. Intake is a refundable $750 that starts the work immediately. Once one of the candidates moves, you sign standard engagement terms and the $750 credits against the placement fee.
What does my brief need to include?
Role title, level (Senior or Staff), city or remote preference, stack, what counts as a strong candidate, what kills a candidate. We follow up with a calibration call inside 48 hours.
Will the candidates know they were shortlisted?
They've already told us they want to talk to you. We make the warm introduction once you're set up to interview.
Three engineers, fourteen days, $750.
Credited on hire. Refunded if we miss the SLA.