01
The re-screening tax
Plenty of JavaScript developers have written an Express route. Fewer can explain what an overloaded endpoint does to everything else. Telling them apart takes an engineer, so every CV comes back to you for a second read.
Node.js developer recruitmentClients in the UK, Europe and USA
Node.js is on the CV. Can they explain an overloaded endpoint?
Node.js is easy to list and hard to judge from a CV. A developer reads every one before you do, so the candidates you meet understand asynchronous systems, data and production failure.
Where your hiring time goes
02
The CV stopped being evidence
- The CV saysNode.js, NestJS, Express
- It can’t tell youWhether they understand the event loop, asynchronous failure handling and what to do with CPU-heavy work.
- The CV saysPrisma, TypeORM
- It can’t tell youWhether they can read the queries their ORM generates and diagnose degraded performance.
- The CV saysBullMQ, Temporal
- It can’t tell youHow they keep jobs idempotent and stop retries from causing duplicate effects.
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.
Runtime behaviour
Whether they can explain the event loop, asynchronous failure handling and framework lifecycle, and reason through CPU-heavy work or an overloaded endpoint.
Data access
Whether they understand ORM-generated queries, transactions, indexes and cache invalidation well enough to diagnose incorrect data or slow queries.
Services and queues
How jobs stay idempotent, retries avoid duplicate effects and API contracts evolve safely while workers and dependent services run different versions.
What every shortlisted candidate has to show
Knows what the runtime is doing
They can explain what Node.js and their framework do underneath, and how they would investigate a failure without copying fixes from an AI assistant.
Uses AI with engineering discipline
They can explain how they check generated code and tests, keep confidential data out of prompts and stay accountable for what reaches production.
Honest about what they have not done
They say plainly what they know, what they have not done before and when they need help.
How we take the screening off your desk
We recruit Node.js developers across NestJS, Express and TypeScript. A developer screens every candidate on asynchronous behaviour, service and API design, persistence, queues, testing and the operational decisions behind maintainable Node.js systems.
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
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
Yes. Our Node.js recruitment experience includes both NestJS and Express, with TypeScript and JavaScript.
Yes. We can assess queue design, retries, idempotency, scheduling, failure handling and observability. Relevant briefs have included BullMQ and Temporal alongside API and microservice work.
Yes. We test data modelling, query behaviour, transactions, performance and whether an abstraction suits the system. Relevant experience includes Prisma, TypeORM and Mongoose across relational and MongoDB-based applications.
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.
Runtime and frameworks
- Node.js
- NestJS
- Express
- TypeScript
- JavaScript
Data access
- Prisma
- TypeORM
- Mongoose
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- Redis
Services and queues
- RESTful APIs
- Microservices
- GraphQL
- BullMQ
- Temporal
Soft skills and working style
- Systems thinking
- Ownership
- Careful judgement
- Incident composure
- Collaborative API design
Teams usually bring us in for: An API-focused product team. An integration or event-driven platform. A TypeScript team sharing code across frontend and backend.