01
Founding Engineer / First Engineer
Pre-seed → Series A. Build from zero with product judgment.
Good looks like: ships under ambiguity; product judgment; sets early standards.
TypeScriptPythonRust
OceanSource.Tech
ENGINEER-LED SEARCH · AI STARTUPS
Founding and senior engineers for AI startups — sourced by people who’ve built the stack.
We help early-stage teams hire the backend and AI talent that can actually ship — shortlists you’d put on a call, not résumé spam.
Shortlists you’d defend. Written scope. No volume pipelines.
THE REAL COST
Most “AI hiring” wastes the one resource you can’t buy back: founder time.
Generalist recruiters spray LinkedIn. Keyword filters miss systems depth. You interview people who demo’d ChatGPT — and still don’t have someone who can own production backend + AI.
01
Noise tax
Hours spent rejecting irrelevant profiles and rewriting JDs that never get calibrated.
02
False AI signal
Fluent demos; thin on RAG, evals, latency, cost, and reliability in production.
03
Process chaos
No SLA, unclear shortlist criteria, silent candidate ghosting that burns your brand.
WHO IT’S FOR
Built for technical buyers who still own the hiring loop.
Pre-seed to Series A. Founders and CTOs who evaluate talent themselves — and refuse another week of résumé theater.
01
You’re the bottleneck
You need a founding / senior hire, but every hour in LinkedIn is an hour not shipping. You want a partner who can calibrate and screen without babysitting.
02
The JD is a mess (on purpose)
The role mixes backend, product judgment, and maybe AI — and generalist recruiters keep sending the wrong shape of person.
03
You’ve been burned before
Demo-fluent candidates. Thin production depth. You’re done interviewing people who can’t own systems under load.
ROLES WE FILL
The engineers your product will lean on.
02
Senior Backend Engineer
Production systems in Node.js, Python, or Rust — not ticket farms.
Good looks like: production reliability, data models, APIs, observability.
Node.jsPythonRust
03
Senior Full-Stack (backend-weighted)
Ships product end-to-end with backend depth and taste.
Good looks like: backend-weighted; owns features without a handoff circus.
Full-stackProduct
04
Backend / AI Systems Engineer
LLM, RAG, embeddings, vector DBs, agents — in real backends.
Good looks like: retrieval quality, evals, cost/latency, safe integration.
LLMRAGAgents
05
Tech Lead / Staff (backend/AI)
Second-CTO energy. Owns early architecture and standards.
Good looks like: architecture ownership; mentors; unblocks the founding team.
ArchitectureLeadership
WHY NOT JUST…
Three ways early teams hire. Only one is built for this niche.
| DIY LinkedIn | Generalist agency | OceanSource.Tech | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stack fluency | You carry it alone | Often keyword-deep | Engineer-calibrated |
| Output | Inbox flood | Résumé dumps | 3–5 defended profiles |
| AI roles | Hard to filter | Demo-heavy noise | Production AI bar |
| Process | Ad hoc | Opaque | Brief → shortlist → SLA |
| Founding fit | Slow & exhausting | Misaligned | Core specialty |
If the compare table already feels familiar — talk to us.
30 minutes. Fit check. Clear next step — engage or a clean pass.
WHY ENGINEER-LED
We calibrate roles like engineers — not like generalist recruiters.
01
Engineering judgment
Backend, startups, DevRel, AI/agents — we probe depth beyond résumé keywords.
02
Narrow specialization
Founding and senior backend/AI only. Prefer 3–5 strong profiles over 100 résumés.
03
AI-augmented, human final
Automation for search and triage. Final calls stay with people who understand the work.
04
Process as product
Clear phases, feedback loops, written commitments — no black box once we’re engaged.
METHOD
We screen like you’d screen — if you had another senior engineer on the loop.
- 01
Role calibration
Kill fantasy requirements. Lock must-haves vs nice-to-haves. Craft a candidate value prop that attracts builders.
- 02
Signal-based sourcing
Shipped systems, stack depth, startup readiness — not title inflation or keyword bingo.
- 03
Technical conversation
Architecture tradeoffs, production scars, AI systems reality: evals, retrieval, failure modes.
- 04
Shortlist narrative
Who they are, what they shipped, strengths, risks, and why they might say yes.
- 05
Interview partnership
Structured feedback between rounds. We don’t disappear when the hard part starts.
DELIVERABLES
Concrete outputs — not “we’ll find someone.”
01
Role brief
Calibrated requirements + candidate-facing narrative that attracts builders.
02
Sourcing plan
Channels and profile hypotheses tailored to your stage and stack.
03
Shortlist
3–5 profiles with strengths, risks, and motivation called out.
04
Market context
Qualitative comp and market discussion — figures on the call.
05
Interview coaching
Loop design help for first / early technical hires.
06
Structural SLA
Written response windows and feedback commitments at engagement.
COMMERCIAL · HYBRID · NO BLACK BOX
Transparent engagement. Numbers on the call — clarity in the agreement.
Hybrid model: a scoped engagement fee plus success on hire. No public price list — figures once the role is calibrated. You always know the stage, what’s blocked, and what decision we need from you.
- 01Discovery
- 02Scope & terms
- 03Search
- 04Shortlist
- 05Interview support
- 06Hire
Clear scope first
We don’t run until the brief and commercial outline are written down.
Structural SLA
Shortlist definition, response windows, and feedback loops — agreed at engagement.
No candidate spam
Human outreach. Honest feedback. Your brand stays intact.
START HERE
What happens on the discovery call (≈30 minutes).
- 01
Your product, stage, and the role that actually matters now
- 02
Whether we’re a fit — we’ll say no if the niche doesn’t match
- 03
Rough search shape + commercial outline (no surprise black box)
- 04
Next step: scoped engagement — or a clear pass
SCOPE
We’re narrow on purpose.
Specialization is the product. If we’re wrong for you, we’ll tell you fast.
WE HIRE FOR
- +Founding / first engineers
- +Senior backend (Node / Python / Rust)
- +Backend-weighted full-stack
- +Backend / AI systems (RAG, agents, production)
- +Tech lead / Staff as early architecture owners
NOT A FIT
- —Junior / mid volume hiring
- —Pure frontend-only or mobile-only searches
- —Enterprise IT staffing / non-product companies
- —Prompt-only “AI wrapper” roles
- —Anything outside our senior/founding niche
FOUNDERS
Built by operators — not career recruiters.
We’ve shipped backend systems, talked to engineers for a living, and felt the cost of bad hiring from the founder side. OceanSource.Tech exists so early teams can hire founding and senior talent with engineering judgment — shortlists you’d defend, process you’d respect.
“If we wouldn’t put them on a call ourselves, they don’t make the shortlist.”
Backend engineer (Node.js / TypeScript, Python, Rust) and former DevRel. Built products from zero in startups; hands-on with production AI and agents. Calibrates roles and candidates the way a hiring eng would — probing depth, not keywords.
BackendFull-StackAI SystemsDevRelStartupsProduct
FOCUS
Role calibration, technical screening, AI/backend depth checks, shortlist quality.
Owns client experience, search operations, and candidate experience. Keeps the process clear for founders and respectful for candidates — feedback loops, pacing, and no black-box silence between rounds.
Client successSearch opsProcessCandidate UXPartnerships
FOCUS
Engagement clarity, candidate experience, SLA discipline, communication cadence.
01
No résumé theater
We won’t send profiles we wouldn’t put on a call ourselves.
02
Operators in the loop
At least one partner reviews every shortlist before it reaches you.
03
Respect both sides
Clear feedback for candidates. Clear blockers for clients.
FAQ
Straight answers before you book.
Do you only work with AI startups?
AI and early product companies are the core. Founding/senior backend with real systems depth — talk to us.
Different from a big recruiting firm?
Narrow niche, engineer-led evaluation, shortlists over volume, transparent process.
Will you spam candidates?
No. Human communication, honest feedback, no spray-and-pray.
How fast do you shortlist?
Written structural SLA at engagement — not vanity public numbers.
What does it cost?
Hybrid: engagement + success. Figures on the discovery call once scope is clear.
JD isn’t ready yet?
Normal. Calibration is part of the work — we help kill fantasy requirements.
Help with interview process design?
Yes — especially for first technical hires where founders are still building the loop.
Ready for a shortlist you’d put on a call?
Book a discovery call. We’ll tell you in ~30 minutes if we’re the right partner — or a clean pass.
Book a discovery call