Where we focus
- Product engineers who own features end to end and are comfortable talking to customers.
- Platform and infrastructure engineers for teams whose product is starting to carry real load.
- Applied AI engineers who have shipped LLM-based features to production and can speak honestly about evals, latency and cost.
- Engineers moving toward the customer, including those who want a forward deployed path. See our FDE guide.
What makes an engineering search succeed
- A real pitch. Engineers choose on problem, team and trajectory. If the founders cannot articulate why this is an interesting place to build, no recruiter can fix that.
- A short loop. Four interviews over two weeks beats seven over six. Strong engineers are usually in two or three processes at once.
- A clear comp band, including equity. Vague offers lose to clear ones.
- Someone who closes. Founder involvement at the offer stage changes outcomes.
How we run the search
We take engineering searches where the role is well defined and the company can move quickly. We source from engineers we already know in San Francisco and New York, screen for stage fit and motivation before you see anyone, and keep the list short. Fees are paid by the company. Candidates never pay.
Common questions
Do you run technical interviews?
No. We screen for experience, motivation and stage fit, and we are candid about what we see. Your team owns the technical evaluation.
What seniority do you place?
Mostly mid-level to staff engineers and first engineering managers. We do not run executive searches for CTO or VP Engineering.
Do you place remote engineers?
Some, but most of our clients hire in or near San Francisco or New York, and many want engineers who are open to being in the office several days a week.
Written by Sam Kwak, founder of Technical Recruiters. Last updated 2026-10-06.