We are a boutique recruiting firm that partners with high-growth, venture-backed startups to solve their most difficult hiring challenges. We are not a volume shop. We run a select number of searches at any given time, and we approach every engagement with a true research-driven methodology. Our clients are seed-through-Series D companies building world-class Engineering, Product, and Design teams — and they come to us because we find the people others miss.
This is not a role for someone who posts jobs and works the queue. We are looking for a researcher and sourcer who views talent acquisition as an investigative craft — someone who is energized by the hunt, takes pride in thoroughness, and builds the kind of candidate intelligence that changes how our clients think about the market.
The Opportunity
As our Technical Researcher / Sourcer, you will be the architect behind our search strategies. You will build comprehensive market maps, identify talent ecosystems within high-growth sectors, and surface the top 1% of Engineering, Product, and Design professionals that our clients are trying to hire. Your work will directly shape the quality of every search we run and the quality of every hire our clients make.
You will work closely with our recruiting team to translate client briefs into actionable research — then execute that research with depth, precision, and speed. If you love the investigative side of recruiting, are obsessed with data integrity, and genuinely enjoy spending hours mapping a niche market, this role was built for you.
Core Responsibilities
Market Mapping
- Execute deep-dive research to visualize talent ecosystems within specific sectors including AI/ML, Fintech, SaaS, and other high-growth verticals
- Identify where top Engineering, Product, and Design talent is concentrated — mapping team structures, reporting lines, and headcount at target companies
- Track talent movement, promotion patterns, and organizational shifts at high-talent-density startups
- Deliver market maps that give our recruiters and clients a clear, actionable picture of the available talent landscape
Strategic Sourcing
- Build robust, high-quality candidate pipelines for Engineering, Product, and Design roles across all levels of seniority
- Utilize LinkedIn Recruiter at a power-user level — building precise Boolean searches, leveraging filters, and identifying candidates who are not surfaced through standard searches
- Source beyond LinkedIn using platforms and methods specific to each role — including GitHub, patent databases, Crunchbase, academic publications, conference speaker lists, and open-source contribution history
- Prioritize quality over quantity — every candidate on a list should belong on it
Deep Market Intelligence
- Go beyond candidate identification to provide intelligence that helps our clients make smarter hiring decisions
- Research headcount trends, funding rounds, team growth trajectories, and competitor hiring activity within target sectors
- Identify which companies are scaling, which are contracting, and where top talent is likely to become available
- Deliver research outputs that add strategic value — not just names and contact details
Data Integrity & Documentation
- Maintain accurate, well-organized, and immediately actionable Google Sheets across all active market maps and candidate lists
- Ensure all data is consistently formatted, up to date, and clearly documented so the recruiting team can act on it without cleanup
- Build and maintain source tracking, search methodology notes, and candidate status documentation for every active search
- Treat data hygiene as a professional standard, not an afterthought
Collaboration & Communication
- Work closely with recruiters and managing partners to understand search requirements and translate them into targeted research strategies
- Participate in search kickoff calls and debriefs to ensure sourcing efforts are aligned with evolving client needs
- Communicate research findings clearly and proactively — including market constraints, talent availability, and competitive dynamics that may affect the search
- Flag candidate quality issues, pipeline gaps, or market realities early enough to adjust strategy
Must-Have Qualifications
- 5 or more years of experience sourcing and recruiting specifically for Engineering, Product, and Design roles within the US venture-backed startup ecosystem — Seed through Series D
- LinkedIn Recruiter mastery — you know how to use Boolean logic, filters, and platform features to find candidates that keyword searches miss
- Startup fluency — you understand the nuances of venture-backed company culture, know which organizations have high talent density, and understand what it takes to attract talent in this environment
- Analytical mindset — you enjoy spending hours researching a niche and find genuine satisfaction in building a comprehensive, well-sourced list of 100 precisely matched candidates
- Strong data organization skills — your Google Sheets are clean, logical, and useful to anyone who opens them
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building market maps or talent ecosystem analyses for specific sectors such as AI/ML, Fintech, or SaaS
- Hands-on experience sourcing via GitHub, Crunchbase, patent databases, or other non-LinkedIn research methods
- Background working at a boutique or retained recruiting firm — experience with a research-driven search methodology
- Familiarity with funding stages and venture ecosystem dynamics — you understand the difference between a Series A and a Series D company and what that means for talent
- Experience delivering candidate intelligence reports or market briefings to recruiting leadership or clients
Tools & Platforms
- LinkedIn Recruiter — primary sourcing platform; advanced proficiency required
- GitHub — engineering talent sourcing and contribution analysis
- Crunchbase — company research, funding tracking, and headcount intelligence
- Google Sheets — market map and candidate list management
- Patent databases — sourcing for specialized technical talent
- ATS or CRM platform as assigned — candidate tracking and pipeline management
What Makes You a Great Fit
- You treat every search like an investigation — you do not stop when the obvious candidates are found, you keep digging
- Your lists are curated, not padded — every name on a candidate list belongs there and you can defend why
- You are genuinely curious about markets, companies, and talent ecosystems — you read funding announcements and engineering blogs for fun
- Your data is always clean — the recruiting team can open your market map and act on it immediately without asking you to clarify anything
- You communicate what you are finding in real time — if the market is tighter than expected or a sector is talent-constrained, you say so early and suggest adjustments
What We Offer
- A fully remote role with autonomy over how you run your research.
- Work that visibly shapes the quality of every search and every hire the firm makes.
- A team that treats sourcing as craft, not queue-clearing — precision over volume.
- Compensation up to $7/hour
- Async-friendly collaboration with a daily overlap into US Mountain Time hours.
By applying, you consent to being contacted via the contact information provided in your application for recruitment purposes only.
A note on scheduling: initial calls run on US Mountain Standard Time (MST), within a 3:00 AM – 1:00 PM MST window — roughly 6:00 PM – 4:00 AM in the Philippines (PHT) and 1:00 PM – 11:00 PM in Kenya (EAT). We genuinely appreciate your flexibility around the time difference.