What “vetted” means here
Engineers are vetted by senior engineers, not screened by recruiters against a keyword list alone.
The goal is not the best engineer in the abstract. It is the right engineer for a specific role and client team: someone who can think clearly, communicate, build under observation, and work inside that client’s way of working.
By the time a client sees profiles, the candidate has already been through a live technical path on their stack. What the client receives is two full profiles with rates, interview summaries and coding-test results, then they interview and choose.
The 11-stage hiring engine
This is the hiring engine, in the order of the Hiring Engine diagram (February 2026). Deep how-to for live coding and AI fluency lives on the linked sibling pages.
- Job Role & Company Discovery: A US-based technical lead learns the stack, seniority, team shape, hiring bar, and what “good” looks like for this client.
- Hiring Blueprint + Creation: We interview our clients and create a hiring blueprint from that discussion. Instead of calling it a job description, we call it a hiring blueprint.
- Outreach Launch: Local recruiters and referrals search trusted networks in our talent regions. Existing Cloud Employee engineers help refer proven people. We do not treat a CV board scrape as the whole funnel.
- Screening Call: Skills self-assessment, English check, and work-authorization verification, then a recruiter conversation. AI fluency questions can sit here as a scored dimension (see AI Fluency).
- Custom Build Coding Assessment: A custom coding assessment based on your stack.
- Coding Test Taken: Timed practical assessment with integrity checks against copied or AI-written work that the candidate cannot explain.
- Test Analysis Approval: A senior engineer reviews the actual code, not only the score, and approves or drops the candidate.
- Pair Programming Assessment: Senior Cloud Employee engineer, about 60 minutes, candidate drives. This includes a technical conversation on a recent project, preferably relevant to the client’s work. Full runbook: Live Coding Interview.
- Final Interview & Candidate Report: Fit to the specific client project, not only generic seniority.
- CTO Approval: CTO sign-off before you ever see a profile.
- 2 Matched Profiles to Client: Client receives two profiles and interviews both.
AI fluency is a scored dimension inside this process, not an optional marketing add-on. The live coding session is about 60 minutes, including a 45-minute build segment, which is where fake competence is hardest to sustain.
- 1
Job Role & Company Discovery
A US-based technical lead learns the stack, seniority, team shape, hiring bar, and what “good” looks like for this client.
- 2
Hiring Blueprint + Creation
We interview our clients and create a hiring blueprint from that discussion. Instead of calling it a job description, we call it a hiring blueprint.
- 3
Outreach Launch
Local recruiters and referrals search trusted networks in our talent regions.
- 4
Screening Call AI Fluency
Skills self-assessment, English check, and work-authorization verification, then a recruiter conversation. AI fluency questions can sit here as a scored dimension.
- 5
Custom Build Coding Assessment
A custom coding assessment based on your stack.
- 6
Coding Test Taken
Timed practical assessment with integrity checks against copied or AI-written work that the candidate cannot explain.
- 7
Test Analysis Approval
A senior engineer reviews the actual code, not only the score, and approves or drops the candidate.
- 8
Pair Programming Assessment Live Coding Interview
Senior Cloud Employee engineer, about 60 minutes, candidate drives. This includes a technical conversation on a recent project, preferably relevant to the client’s work.
- 9
Final Interview & Candidate Report
Fit to the specific client project, not only generic seniority.
- 10
CTO Approval
CTO sign-off before you ever see a profile.
- 11
2 Matched Profiles to Client
Client receives two profiles and interviews both.
What the client receives
Two matched profiles. Each includes:
- rate for the role
- interview summary
- coding-assessment outcome
- why this person fits this brief
You interview them. You choose. We do not send a pile of CVs and call it shortlisting.
What this engine still does not guarantee
Technical vetting is a strong filter. It is not a crystal ball.
The live coding SOP is explicit about holes: one session does not prove six-month stamina; the format can be hard on slow, deliberate thinkers; scoped tasks are not the same as an unfamiliar production codebase. Personality, tenure history, references, and the client fit conversation sit alongside the technical stages for that reason.
We have also got fit wrong when someone cleared every technical gate and still could not work inside a client’s playbooks. That failure mode is documented on the Live Coding page under “Where we’ve got this wrong.”
Related pages
- Live Coding Interview: session format, scorecard, freeze accommodations
- AI Fluency: L0-L4 rubric and screen-share protocol
- Onboarding: what happens after the hire
- Retention: Talent Success after Day 1
- How we work
- When you want the commercial path next to this method: Hire software engineers · Pricing