01
The re-screening tax
When the hire is your most senior technical person, there is often nobody in-house senior enough to screen them. Founders read every CV themselves and end up judging technical depth by how well someone presents.
CTO and VP Engineering recruitmentClients in the UK, Europe and USA
A leadership CV shows titles. It can’t show you how they decide.
Your next technical leader will own your architecture, team and delivery. Our CTOs interview every candidate on the decisions they will actually make, so you spend your time on the finalists.
Where your hiring time goes
02
The CV stopped being evidence
- The CV saysMicroservices, cloud platforms
- It can’t tell youWhether they would keep a monolith when it is the better choice, or where your current architecture will hit its limits.
- The CV saysBuilt and led engineering teams
- It can’t tell youHow they structure a team, assess senior engineers and push back on an unrealistic deadline.
- The CV saysCertifications, compliance, audits
- It can’t tell youWhether they can get you audit-ready without turning process into theatre.
If you run hiring for engineering
You need CVs that pass engineering’s interview, so you can send a shortlist it trusts. An engineer reads every CV before it reaches you. Fewer CVs, but better ones.
58%
of HR and recruitment leads who use agencies say the main reason engineering rejects agency candidates is that the CV looked good, but the person couldn’t do the job.
What the CV can’t tell you, and our interview does
A developer or CTO who works in the stack interviews every candidate. Each of these is a question you would otherwise only answer in your own interview.
Technical judgement
Whether they can critique a real architecture, find its likely scaling limits and explain when they would keep a monolith instead of introducing services.
Delivery under pressure
How they would design safe deployments, respond to a production incident and decide which security or reliability work must interrupt the roadmap.
Building the team
How they structure teams, assess senior engineers, challenge unrealistic deadlines and explain technical risk to founders, boards and product leaders.
Commercial and governance
Whether they can support fundraising, pitch the technical vision and run client demos without overselling, and own certifications, compliance and audit readiness where the role needs it.
What every shortlisted candidate has to show
Still understands the detail
They can go below the slide: what the platform, data and cloud services are doing, and how they would investigate a failure with the team.
Sets the standard for AI use
They can explain how their team uses AI productively, how generated code is reviewed and tested, and how confidential data stays protected.
Candid about risk and gaps
They tell founders and boards what they know, what they have not done before and where the plan is weak, rather than hiding risk.
How we take the screening off your desk
We recruit CTOs, VPs of Engineering and Heads of Development with direct input from experienced CTOs. The assessment covers technical judgement, team leadership, delivery discipline and the commercial side of the role, including fundraising, pitching, client demos, certifications, compliance and audits.
Either way you get about 3 to 5 screened CVs a week, per role.
Route 1: we screen, you run the deep interview
We do
- Source candidates for the role
- A technical screen of every candidate, run by a developer or CTO who works in your stack
- A CTO approves every CV before it reaches you
You do
- Run the deep technical interview with the shortlist
- Make the offer
Route 2: we run the deep interview too
We do
- Everything in Route 1, including the technical screen of every candidate
- A 1.5 to 2 hour live-coding, architecture and implementation interview with your final candidates
- A written assessment of each candidate after the interview
You do
- Meet the candidates who passed
- Make the offer
Teams we have hired for
What clients say
“Metamindz helped us recruit our now CTO, reviewing CVs as they came in and then putting the CTO through a thorough 90-minute live 360 technical test. Feedback from our now CTO of the test was glowing and comms from Metamindz throughout the entire process were excellent. Highly recommend!”
Rupert Boddington
Co-Founder, Pockla
“Worked with Lev and Max. We worked with MetaMindz to help us interview and assess software engineering candidates. They were professional and great from the outset and throughout, great speed too. Would 100% recommend and we will be working with them again.”
Alexander Bushe
CEO, Fuller Focus
“We found it really easy working with Lev and the team to hire for our lead developer role and despite it still being early days, our new hire is making an impact already!” source
Billy Whiffen
Google review
Case study
Five hires, and management time back for building product
- 5
- hires across engineering and leadership roles
- ~90
- candidates reviewed for eLocker's team
- 80%
- retention: 4 of the 5 hires still in place, one left after more than a year due to career growth
Tech lead
Brought a collaborative management style across departments, and a sales background that helps with both commercial and technical decisions.
Impact as described by Billy Whiffen, eLocker.
What it costs
£5,000
Fixed fee for your first role
15% to 17%
Commission on each further hire
Included
- Sourcing and screening
- A technical screen of every candidate by a developer or CTO
- A CTO approves every CV before you see it
- About 3 to 5 screened CVs a week, per role
- No exclusivity required
- A 3 to 6 month guarantee, depending on seniority
Optional extra
Deep technical interview (Route 2)£300 an hour
A 1.5 to 2 hour live-coding and technical grilling session per final candidate.
All fees exclude VAT.
Tell us about the roleFrequently Asked Questions
Our recruitment team works alongside experienced CTOs and senior developers. Technical leadership candidates are assessed by people who have made architecture, hiring and delivery decisions themselves.
Yes. We adapt the interview to the role, including architecture discussions, technical deep-dives and practical leadership scenarios based on the decisions the candidate will own.
Yes. Where relevant, we assess how candidates support fundraising, pitch the technical vision, lead client demos and own certifications, compliance programmes and audit readiness.
We work with companies in the UK, Europe and the USA, and source candidates from a global talent pool, wherever you need to hire from, for remote and location-specific roles.
Looking to hire?
Give us a few details about the role and your hiring plans. We'll assess your needs and get back to you with a practical next step.
Related technical recruitment
View all technical recruitment expertiseTechnologies in briefs we have recruited for
Listed for reference. We use these to scope the brief with you. A keyword on a CV is where screening starts, and the interview decides whether the candidate can do the work.
Architecture
- Cloud platforms
- Microservices
- Monorepo architecture
- Database performance optimisation
Delivery
- CI/CD
- Infrastructure
- InfoSec
- Observability
- Certifications
- Compliance
- Audits
Leadership
- Team design
- Technical assessment
- Product delivery
- Stakeholder communication
- Fundraising
- Pitching
- Client demos
Soft skills and working style
- Strategic judgement
- Candour
- Coaching
- Stakeholder alignment
- Calm accountability
- Fundraising and pitching
- Client demos
- Compliance ownership
Teams usually bring us in for: A first senior technology leader. Leadership for a growing engineering team. A replacement or succession hire.