The brief
The client was growing its payments platform across Europe and North America. Engineering headcount was increasing quickly, but hiring was fragmented across regions. Each team used a different brief, a different interview process and a different view of what “senior” meant.
They needed a partner who could run a consistent process across six countries, work inside their existing hiring teams and keep the technical bar high while the volume increased.
What we did
We placed a six-person search team inside the business for nine months. The team included four consultants, a researcher and an assessment specialist.
We started by rebuilding the role scorecards for backend, platform, mobile and security engineering. Each scorecard set out the technical depth, scope, ambiguity and communication expected at each level. We then ran a single market map across the six countries, rather than six separate searches.
The embedded team owned sourcing, assessment and scheduling. The client kept control of the final decision and the offer. Every week, we reviewed pipeline quality, interview conversion and the reasons candidates said no.
The outcome
The client made 46 engineering and platform hires across six countries in nine months. Twelve-month retention was 94%. Time from final interview to offer fell from 38 days to 24.
The scorecards remained in use after the partnership ended, and two internal recruiters were trained to run them.
What the client said
“They understood the difference between a good engineer and the right engineer for us. The shortlist was small, and every conversation was worth having.”
— VP Engineering, global payments platform