Job Description
Senior Agency Recruiter, Software Engineering
- Title of Role: Senior Agency Recruiter, Software Engineering
- Location: remote
- Office Type: Remote
- Salary: $50K–$80K
Recruiting from Scratch is a software-driven technical recruiting firm. We help venture-backed startups and public technology companies hire exceptional software, AI, and product talent.
What You Will Do
We are hiring a Senior Technical Recruiter to lead complex software engineering searches from intake through accepted offer.
You will partner directly with hiring managers, develop sourcing strategies, evaluate technical talent, manage candidate and client relationships, and close competitive searches.
This is an agency recruiting role for someone who values technical depth and sound judgment. We care about placements, fees earned, candidate quality, and client trust—not activity for activity’s sake.
- Own full-cycle searches for senior and staff software engineers at competitive, well-funded technology companies.
- Lead intake conversations that produce a real search strategy: calibrate the technical bar, identify target companies, surface likely tradeoffs, and define what a strong candidate looks like before sourcing begins.
- Evaluate engineers credibly. Read a résumé, LinkedIn profile, or GitHub repository and understand what the person actually built, the difference between services and scripts, scale and scaffolding, or senior- and staff-level scope.
- Explain and defend your assessment to technical hiring managers.
- Build and manage pipelines through targeted outbound, referrals, and our proprietary candidate database—not LinkedIn Recruiter alone.
- Use modern AI-assisted sourcing tools to research markets, identify candidates, and work more efficiently.
- Stay current on modern software development and how AI is changing engineering teams, technical roles, and the signals that indicate exceptional performance.
- Run thoughtful candidate processes, including preparation, feedback, compensation alignment, offer management, counteroffers, and closing.
- Maintain clear, accurate pipeline data so clients and teammates always understand where a search stands.
- Turn what you learn into better scorecards, sourcing strategies, screening criteria, and recruiting processes.
Ideal Candidate Background
- A track record recruiting software engineers in an agency, executive-search, or high-growth startup environment.
- Demonstrated production, including placements made, fees or gross profit earned, and offers closed. We will ask about specific results.
- Strong technical screening ability. You can explain the difference between a senior and staff backend engineer—and describe why you rejected the last candidate you passed on in technical terms.
- Genuine curiosity about software, AI, and modern engineering. You follow the market because you find it interesting, not simply because a job description requires it.
- Experience building targeted sourcing strategies rather than relying on high-volume outreach.
- Consultative written and verbal communication, with the credibility to advise engineers, founders, and hiring managers.
- Strong candidate management and closing skills, particularly when candidates are considering multiple offers.
- Comfort working independently in a remote, transparent, performance-oriented environment.
- High standards for candidate experience, data quality, and follow-through.
Preferred
- Experience recruiting across adjacent technical functions, including data, infrastructure, machine learning, product, or hardware.
- Experience hiring for venture-backed startups, including founding and early engineering teams.
- A computer science background, previous engineering experience, or a history of building technical projects yourself.
- Fluency with modern ATS platforms, sourcing tools, and AI-assisted recruiting workflows.
What success looks like
Within your first several months, you will understand our clients, technical standards, tools, and search process well enough to manage searches independently.
Over time, success means:
- Making consistent, high-quality placements.
- Earning trust with candidates and hiring managers.
- Producing focused pipelines instead of unnecessary volume.
- Closing competitive candidates effectively.
- Keeping searches organized and moving.
- Improving the way the broader team evaluates and recruits technical talent.
Compensation and Benefits
The base salary for this position is $50,000–$80,000, depending on experience, plus uncapped commission. On-target earnings are approximately $120,000, with no ceiling for top performers.
Our commission structure rewards placements and fee production rather than raw submission volume. We will explain the complete commission plan during the interview process.
This is a full-time, remote position for candidates based in the United States.
