Question 1

Two candidates? Other recruiters send me ten.

Accepted Answer

They do, and you read all ten. Two is what is left after we headhunt 100+ UK engineers, run a coding assessment on your stack, put the finalists through a live pair-programming session with a senior engineer, and get a CTO sign-off. Anyone who did not survive that is not a candidate, they are a CV. If neither of the two is right we go again at no extra cost. The fee is for the hire, not the shortlist.

Question 2

What if they quit, or it doesn't work out?

Accepted Answer

Every direct hire carries a six-month replacement guarantee. If the engineer leaves or the fit is wrong, we run the search again at no extra cost, with the same headhunting, the same coding assessment and the same live interview. You keep the market read and both written reports either way.

Question 3

What if they accept and then take a counteroffer?

Accepted Answer

We ask about money, notice and reasons for leaving in the first conversation, then again the week they resign, so a counteroffer rarely arrives as a surprise. UK notice periods are long enough that a lot can change in three months, so we stay close to the engineer the whole way through, not just to the signature. If a counteroffer still wins, it is treated like any other failed hire and we go again.

Question 4

How is this different from the recruiters emailing me every week?

Accepted Answer

Contingency recruiters forward CVs that match keywords. We headhunt for the role across the UK market, then a senior engineer runs a live technical interview on a real problem from your stack before you see anyone. What lands in your inbox is two engineers and two written reports, not ten profiles for you to screen.

Question 5

Who actually does the technical interview?

Accepted Answer

A senior engineer on our team, and you get their name. The write-up you receive is theirs: what they asked, how the engineer reasoned, where they are strong and where they are a stretch. A CTO signs the brief off before we search and signs off the shortlist before it reaches you.

Question 6

How do you know they're not using AI in the interview?

Accepted Answer

There is no take-home to outsource. It is a live session on camera, on a problem from a real codebase, and the interviewer keeps asking why: why a queue, why that batch size, what breaks at ten times the traffic. AI can write the first answer. It cannot survive the third follow-up.

Question 7

Will you approach them again later?

Accepted Answer

No. Anyone we place with you is off-limits to us, in writing, for as long as they work for you. That is a clause in the agreement, not a promise on a web page. Our business runs on repeat searches, not on recycling engineers we already placed.

Question 8

What does it cost?

Accepted Answer

£3,000 to start a search, credited in full against the placement fee. Nothing further is due unless you hire. The fee covers the hire rather than the shortlist, so if neither finalist is right we go again at no extra cost, and the six-month replacement guarantee sits behind it.

Question 9

How long does it take?

Accepted Answer

Twenty minutes to scope the brief with a senior engineer, then two matched profiles in seven days. Most UK searches close inside three to four weeks once your own interviews, offer and acceptance are counted, then a one to three month notice period before they start. You get a written update every week the search is open, news or not.

Question 10

Do you do this in the US?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Same process, same senior-engineer interview, priced and contracted for the US market. Plenty of clients run a UK search and a US search side by side off one brief. If you are hiring outside both, ask us and we will tell you honestly whether we can headhunt that market.

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Customer Stories

Hire UK engineers
vetted by engineers

More applicants
Harder to find the right
engineer.

How it works - from your side.

Tell us what you need

Live coding session interviews

You interview two. You hire one.

We do what a recruiter can't do

A senior engineer ran the interview

A written report on both finalists

Tell us who you're looking for

Start with what you've got

The questions founders and CTOs actually ask.

Hire UK engineersvetted by engineers

More applicantsHarder to find the rightengineer.

How it works - from your side.

Tell us what you need

Live coding session interviews

You interview two. You hire one.

We do what a recruiter can't do

A senior engineer ran the interview

A written report on both finalists

Tell us who you're looking for

Start with what you've got

The questions founders and CTOs actually ask.

01Two candidates? Other recruiters send me ten.

02What if they quit, or it doesn't work out?

03What if they accept and then take a counteroffer?

04How is this different from the recruiters emailing me every week?

05Who actually does the technical interview?

06How do you know they're not using AI in the interview?

07Will you approach them again later?

08What does it cost?

09How long does it take?

10Do you do this in the US?

Hire UK engineers
vetted by engineers

More applicants
Harder to find the right
engineer.