5 Best Recruiting Firms for Series B and C Startups in New York (October 2026)

For a New York Series B or C startup scaling engineering, Recruiting from Scratch is the best fit: New York is its largest market, it recruits only engineers, including staff-level engineers and engineering managers, and it works on contingency with no upfront cost. Half its candidates reach an offer within 29 days of a first client interview. For a VP Engineering or CTO search, retained firms such as Riviera Partners fit better.

Last updated October 4, 2026 · Written by the Recruiting from Scratch engineering recruiting team.

Scaling engineering after a Series B in New York? Recruiting from Scratch sends 3–5 qualified engineers, on contingency. Book a 15-minute call → or Get a shortlist of 3–5 engineers →

How we ranked

Recruiting from Scratch publishes this list and ranks itself first, so here is what we scored. At Series B and C, a New York company is hiring across several teams while competing with banks, large enterprises and well-funded tech employers:

• NYC engineering depth (30 points): specialist engineering recruiters across levels, including staff.
• Capacity (25): can the firm run several searches at once without quality dropping?
• Speed to a shortlist (20): qualified candidates, not resumes.
• Commercial model (15): contingency versus retained, and the replacement guarantee.
• Verifiable proof (10): named companies and a real process.

We rank ourselves first on NYC depth and say below where others fit better.

The ranking at a glance

The 5 best recruiting firms for Series B and C startups in New York

1. Recruiting from Scratch

Best for: Series B and C companies hiring multiple engineers across product, platform and AI.
Strengths: engineering-only recruiters, New York as our largest market, a shortlist of 3–5 qualified candidates and 300+ placements. We've placed an agent software engineer in New York at Decagon and backend and machine-learning engineers at Mercor.
Limitations: engineering only. We don't run C-suite search or recruit for sales and marketing.

2. Riviera Partners

Best for: retained search for engineering and product leaders.
Limitations: a leadership tool, not for a flow of individual-contributor hires.

3. Hunt Club

Best for: senior and leadership searches through a referral network.
Limitations: less suited to high-volume engineering.

4. Motion Recruitment

Best for: broad IT placement, with an annual tech salary guide.
Limitations: less startup specialization.

5. Kore1

Best for: IT and technical recruiting across many industries.
Limitations: less engineering-specialist.

What changes at Series B and C in New York

• Hiring becomes a program. With open seats on several teams, assign one owner for the pipeline and one for interview calibration. See our playbook for scaling from 10 to 50 engineers.
• Staff engineers are the scarce seat. New York has deep senior supply, but it is contested; read staff engineers in New York.
• Vertical competition is sharp. Fintech, AI and enterprise software teams all want the same engineers. Our guide to low-latency engineers at fintech companies shows how specialized those searches get.
• Separate leadership from IC hiring. Use retained search for a VP; use contingency for the engineers beneath.
• Be specific about hybrid. Vague office policies lose finalists.

A validated example: Decagon and Mercor

Decagon has hired an agent software engineer in New York through Recruiting from Scratch, and Mercor has hired backend engineers and machine-learning engineers. The pattern we'd carry to a Series B company is a standing brief per team, a weekly pipeline review and a fixed feedback window per candidate.

Choosing between recruiting agencies at Series B and C

Ask each agency how many recruiters work on your account, how they split a multi-role search, whether there is a retainer and what the guarantee covers (terms vary by contract). Our guide to contingency versus retained recruiting compares the models, and Carta's compensation data helps with bands.

When not to use a recruiting firm

• You have an in-house recruiting team with capacity and strong sourcing.
• You're hiring one executive. That's a retained search.
• You haven't set levels and compensation bands.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best recruiting firm for Series B startups in New York?

For engineering hiring, Recruiting from Scratch: New York is its largest market, with contingency pricing, 300+ placements and half of candidates reaching an offer within 29 days of a first client interview.

Should a Series B company use contingency or retained search?

Use contingency for individual-contributor engineers and managers, and retained search for a VP of Engineering or CTO.

How many recruiting firms should a Series B startup use?

Often one or two. More firms mean more noise and split attention, so give one firm the role first.

Can a recruiting firm hire staff engineers in New York?

Yes, though staff searches take longer and need a clear scope, level and compensation band.

When should we build an in-house recruiting team instead?

When you hire continuously across many teams and can keep a recruiter busy with a stable plan.

Related: Best Recruiting Firms for Series A Startups in New York · Best Recruiting Firms for Series B and C Startups in San Francisco · Best Technical Recruiting Firms in New York City for Startups, by Stage and Vertical

Hiring engineers?

Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 New York engineers who fit your stack, level 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 growth-stage startup instead? See the engineering roles we're hiring for now →

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers
• Carta: startup equity and compensation data
• Firm descriptions: each firm's public website, October 2026.