Hiring your first engineers

    Early-stage startups often have to hire engineers before anyone in the company can judge one. AlgoSmiths Talent brings the technical interviewers: an engineer from our panel interviews every candidate against a scorecard we build with you, so a non-technical founder can hire their first 5–15 engineers with confidence.

    Tell us the roleCompare all ways to hire

    A good fit if

    • Non-technical founders hiring their first engineers
    • Seed to Series B teams where the CTO is too busy shipping to interview
    • Startups hiring a first SRE or data engineer

    Not the right service for

    • Hiring a CTO or co-founder
    • Roles paid mainly in equity with a below-market salary
    • Bulk or entry-level hiring

    How it works

    1. 1

      Work out the first roles

      We help you decide what to hire first, at what level and with which skills, based on what you need to build in the next six months.

    2. 2

      Scorecards you can understand

      Each role gets a plain-language scorecard, so you know what the interview tests and why it matters for your product.

    3. 3

      Engineer interviews

      An engineer from our panel runs the technical round and writes a report you can read without a technical background.

    4. 4

      Your conversation and the offer

      You meet the shortlist to judge fit and motivation. We help with salary benchmarks, the offer and any ESOP conversation.

    5. 5

      Joining and settling in

      We stay in touch through the notice period and the first months, and replace the hire once if it doesn't work out within 90 days.

    What's included

    • Help deciding which roles to hire first
    • Plain-language scorecards per role
    • Engineer-led technical interviews and reports
    • Salary benchmarks for the level and city
    • Offer and notice-period support
    • One free replacement within 90 days

    How pricing works

    The same model as permanent hiring: a percentage of annual CTC, paid only when the hire joins, with no retainer. We confirm the rate when we take on the roles.

    Questions we get asked

    The interview report is written for you: what was tested, what the candidate did well, where they struggled and the level we recommend. You focus on fit, motivation and how they work with you.

    Usually yes. A first engineer has to make decisions alone, so we normally suggest a senior or lead engineer before mid-level hires. We'll give you our view on the first call.

    Yes. AlgoSmiths' development team can build an MVP or run a pod while you hire, then hand over to the team you build.

    Guides from our engineers

    Practical write-ups on the problems this work solves, from the AlgoSmiths blog.

    All articles on the blog

    Tell us the role.

    Four details and we'll come back within a working day with how we'd approach it.

    No retainer. You pay only when someone joins. Or write to talent@algosmiths.com