For a developer tools startup hiring backend, infrastructure and full-stack engineers between Seed and Series C, Recruiting from Scratch is the strongest fit: it recruits only engineers, works on contingency with no upfront cost, and half its candidates reach an offer within 29 days of their first interview. Teams like Mercor, Cinder and Decagon have hired through it. For a VP of Engineering or CTO, retained search is the better route.
Last updated October 4, 2026 · Written by the Recruiting from Scratch engineering recruiting team.
Hiring engineers who can sell your devtool to other engineers? Recruiting from Scratch sends 3–5 qualified engineers, on contingency. Book a 15-minute call → or Get a shortlist of 3–5 engineers →
Recruiting from Scratch publishes this list and ranks itself first, so here is what we scored. Five criteria, weighted by what devtools founders raise:
We rank ourselves first on engineering depth and stage fit, and say where others fit better.
| # | Firm | Best for | Stages | Roles | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recruiting from Scratch | Backend and infrastructure engineers | Seed to Series C | Backend, full-stack, staff, forward-deployed | Contingency, replacement guarantee |
| 2 | Riviera Partners | Engineering leadership | Venture-backed, seed to late stage | VP Eng, CTO | Retained search |
| 3 | Y Combinator's Work at a Startup | Reaching early-career engineers who want startups | Seed to Series B | Broad engineering roles | Job board |
| 4 | Wellfound | Direct applicants to a startup | Any | Broad engineering roles | Job marketplace |
| 5 | Dover | Founders running their own process | Pre-seed to Series A | Any role you source yourself | Software plus optional services |
| 6 | Open-source community network | Engineers already using your tool | Any | Maintainers and power users | Direct outreach |
Best for: developer tools startups building a backend, infrastructure and full-stack team from Seed through Series C.
Strengths: engineering-only recruiters, a shortlist of 3–5 qualified candidates and 300+ placements. We've placed backend engineers at Mercor and forward-deployed engineers at Cinder, the field-facing profile devtools companies hire for customer integrations.
Limitations: engineering only. We don't recruit developer advocates, sales or C-suite leaders.
Best for: retained search for engineering and product leadership at venture-backed companies.
Limitations: not designed for several individual-contributor hires.
Best for: companies, especially in the YC community, that want to reach engineers actively looking for startups.
Limitations: candidates apply to you, so you do the screening, and it is not a recruiting service.
Best for: startups that want applicants without a fee on each hire.
Limitations: you manage sourcing, screening and closing, and volume does not equal fit.
Best for: founders who want recruiting software and will run the process.
Limitations: the founder still sells, screens and closes.
Best for: engineers who already use or contribute to your tool and care about it.
Strengths: the strongest signal of fit you can get.
Limitations: slow, manual and limited to the people who found you.
Devtools companies build for engineers, so their engineers are judged by engineers. They hire backend engineers for APIs and data planes, infrastructure engineers for build systems, CI and observability, full-stack engineers for dashboards and onboarding, and forward-deployed engineers who integrate with customer codebases. Many also want developer advocates or solutions engineers, which are a different recruiting job.
The difficulty is taste. Candidates evaluate your product, docs and open-source reputation before they talk to you, and the best ones ask about technical direction and ownership. A recruiter who cannot hold that conversation sends you resumes and loses the candidate. Our guide to backend engineers at developer-tools companies goes deeper, and hiring founding engineers covers the first few hires. Check Carta's data for equity benchmarks.
Start with your community. If you have users who would join, talk to them first. Add a contingency engineering firm when hiring outpaces that pipeline, so you pay only on hire. Keep retained search for a CTO. A scaling playbook lives in our 10 to 50 engineers guide.
For backend, infrastructure and full-stack engineers from Seed to Series C, Recruiting from Scratch: contingency pricing and 300+ placements, with half of candidates reaching an offer within 29 days of a first interview.
They need one who can discuss technical direction credibly, because candidates evaluate the product and the team before agreeing to talk.
Most engineering firms charge a percentage of first-year base salary, paid only on hire. Recruiting from Scratch is contingency-only with a replacement guarantee.
Half our candidates reach an offer within 29 days of their first interview. Fast technical interviews are the biggest lever you control.
When you can, yes. It is the best signal of fit, but it rarely scales past a few hires.
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Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 engineers who fit your stack, stage and budget, on contingency with a replacement guarantee.
Get a shortlist of 3–5 engineers → or Book a 15-minute call →
Looking for a role at a developer tools startup instead? See the engineering roles we're hiring for now →
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