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 engineering standards.
TypeScriptPythonRust
OceanSource.Tech
FOUNDING & SENIOR HIRE · AI / PRODUCT
Founding and senior engineers for AI startups — hired with engineering judgment.
We help early teams hire backend and AI talent that can actually ship — defended shortlists, written scope, no résumé theater.
Defended shortlists. 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 demo-fluent candidates — and still lack 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
Wrong-hire cost
A weak founding hire burns months of runway. Unclear shortlists and silent process make it worse.
WHO IT’S FOR
Built for technical buyers who still own the hiring loop.
Pre-seed to Series A. Founders and CTOs — and teams introduced by funds or studios who need a hire they can trust.
01
You’re the bottleneck
You need a founding / senior hire, but every hour in LinkedIn is an hour not shipping. You want calibration and screening without babysitting.
02
The JD is a mess (on purpose)
The role mixes backend, product judgment, and maybe AI — and generalists keep sending the wrong shape of person.
03
Burned before — or introducing carefully
Demo-fluent candidates with thin production depth — or you’re a fund/studio intro’ing a search and need someone who won’t spam or waste founder time.
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 — not greenfield-only demos.
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 end-to-end 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, eval harnesses, cost/latency tradeoffs, safe production integration.
LLMRAGAgents
05
Tech Lead / Staff (backend/AI)
Second-CTO energy. Owns early architecture and standards.
Good looks like: architecture ownership; mentors juniors later; unblocks the founding team now.
ArchitectureLeadership
WHY NOT JUST…
Same founder hours. Very different hiring output.
| 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 this tradeoff already feels familiar — talk to us.
30 minutes. Fit check. Clear next step — scoped engagement or a clean pass.
WHY ENGINEER-LED
We evaluate talent the way a hiring engineer would — not a generalist desk.
01
Engineering judgment
We probe architecture tradeoffs, production scars, and AI systems depth — not résumé keywords.
02
Narrow specialization
Founding and senior backend/AI only. Prefer 3–5 strong profiles over 100 résumés.
03
Automation for leverage
Search and triage can be automated. Final judgment stays with people who understand the work.
04
Output you’d defend
Written brief, risk-called shortlist, feedback loops — concrete outputs, not a black box.
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 — a shortlist narrative you’d defend.
- 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 — the core deliverable.
04
Market context
Qualitative comp and market discussion — figures once scope is clear.
05
Interview coaching
Loop design help for first / early technical hires.
06
Structural SLA
Written response windows and feedback commitments attached at engagement.
COMMERCIAL · HYBRID · SCOPE FIRST
Scoped engagement first. Numbers on the call — clarity in the agreement.
Hybrid model: a scoped engagement fee plus success on hire. We don’t run until scope and commercial outline are written. 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.
Brand-safe outreach
Human outreach. Honest feedback. Your brand — and any intro partner’s 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 — including on partner intros.
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 people who’ve shipped the stack — 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 screens candidates the way a hiring eng would — depth over keywords.
BackendFull-StackAI SystemsDevRelStartupsProduct
FOCUS
Role calibration, technical screening, AI/backend depth checks, shortlist quality.
Owns client experience, search operations, and partner-safe candidate experience. Keeps process clear for founders and respectful for candidates — feedback loops, pacing, no black-box silence.
Client successSearch opsProcessCandidate UXPartnerships
FOCUS
Engagement clarity, candidate experience, SLA discipline, intro/partner 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. Intro partners stay informed.
FAQ
Straight answers before you book.
Do you only work with AI startups?
AI and early product companies are the core. If the role is founding/senior backend with real systems depth — talk to us.
How is this different from a recruiting firm?
Narrow niche, engineer-led evaluation, 3–5 defended profiles over résumé volume, written scope before we run.
Will you spam candidates / my network?
No. Human outreach, honest feedback, no spray-and-pray — so founder and partner brands stay intact.
How fast do you shortlist?
Written structural SLA at engagement — not vanity public numbers.
What does it cost?
Hybrid: scoped engagement + success on hire. 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 and can advise on early interview loops.
Can a fund, studio, or accelerator intro us?
Yes. Warm intros welcome. We protect the recommender’s brand: fit check first, no spam, clear pass if we’re wrong.
Ready for a shortlist you’d put on a call?
Book a discovery call. In ~30 minutes we’ll say if we’re the right partner — or give a clean pass.
Book a discovery call