Remote-first companies have a structural hiring advantage that's often underexplored: you can draw from the SF and NYC talent pools simultaneously, without asking candidates to relocate or commute. You get access to the two densest concentrations of senior engineering talent in the country, compete against a narrower set of companies (in-person and hybrid companies can't hire from both markets as freely), and you can move faster than geo-restricted competitors.
The challenge is that remote-first hiring has its own complexity — evaluating asynchronous communication skills, distributed team culture fit, and home-office setup. Here's how to do it well.
The post-2020 normalization of remote work created a counterintuitive dynamic: the strongest engineers often prefer remote-first companies, not because they're avoiding offices, but because remote-first companies tend to have better documentation culture, more asynchronous decision-making, and clearer written communication standards. Engineers who've worked at distributed companies often won't go back to in-person-first environments.
The numbers: A remote-first company drawing from SF and NYC simultaneously effectively has 2-3x the addressable candidate pool of a company requiring in-person work in one city. For senior roles (Staff, Principal), this matters enormously — these roles have small pools.Remote-first companies have a choice: pay a single US rate regardless of location, or pay location-adjusted rates. The market is moving toward single US rates:
| Approach | Effect on Hiring |
|---|---|
| SF rates for all US engineers | Strongest recruiting tool; attracts SF/NYC talent outside those markets |
| Location-adjusted (SF=100, NYC=97, remote=90) | Moderate; reduces cost, limits SF/NYC pool slightly |
| Local market rates | Weakest for SF/NYC talent; works for other markets |
Companies paying SF rates for all US engineers can draw from anywhere in the country. A $260K senior engineer in Denver is compelling to both the Denver market and any SF engineer willing to relocate-not-relocate.
Beyond technical skills, remote-first companies need to assess:
Asynchronous communication. Can this person communicate effectively in writing? Do their written explanations make sense to someone reading without context? Ask candidates to write a brief technical design for something related to your stack — the writing quality is signal. Self-direction. Remote engineers need to make progress without real-time check-ins. Behavioral questions about how they manage ambiguity ("tell me about a time you were blocked on a task and no one was immediately available to unblock you — what did you do?") surface this. Timezone discipline. For synchronous collaboration, knowing that a candidate can reliably be available for core hours matters. Not everyone with a "remote" preference actually maintains working-hours discipline. Home setup. Asking about and supporting good home office setup (quality audio, reliable internet, dedicated workspace) reduces the "I can't hear you" tax that compounds over thousands of meetings.Strong sources for remote-first companies hiring from SF/NYC:
We placed a distributed engineering team for a fully-remote insurtech company that drew engineers from SF, NYC, Austin, and Denver simultaneously — building a 30-person engineering team with the talent density of an SF company without the geographic constraint. Remote-first hiring done well is a genuine competitive advantage.
We've run remote-first searches across SF, NYC, and the broader US market. We understand how to source and evaluate for remote-first fit, and how to position your company to both SF and NYC candidates simultaneously. Start a remote-first search →
Related: How to Hire Remote Software Engineers at a Startup · Software Engineer Salaries in San Francisco 2026For the latest engineering compensation benchmarks, levels.fyi and The Pragmatic Engineer are the most cited sources.
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