Make the first hire fit the actual job.
A founding engineer can mean the first technical employee, an early specialist or someone joining an established founding team. Start by naming the responsibility: product discovery, architecture, customer implementation, research or delivery. Then decide what the founder will own alongside them. A compelling title cannot make up for an unclear working relationship.
A useful starting brief
- What exists today: an idea, prototype, live product or paying customers?
- Which decisions can this engineer make without founder approval?
- How will product, customer and engineering work divide across the team?
- What are the salary, equity, location and working arrangements?
Thoughtful introductions
We look for relevant evidence of building and judgement. Competition results can reveal problem-solving depth; founder experience can provide evidence of ownership. Neither replaces a conversation about the product, the people and the work. We explore what a candidate has actually done and why this particular early-stage role makes sense for them.
Every search is led by a senior specialist, from brief to start date. Scope, fees and expectations are agreed before the search begins.
Experience behind the search
Before founding Corellia Talent, our founder placed an ICPC World Finalist into a founding engineer position in London. He also placed a YC founder into a pre-seed-backed London startup and a former founder who raised $4.5 million into a seed-stage New York startup.
These examples reflect our founder’s personal recruitment career, before founding Corellia Talent. Read about our founder’s background or explore the placement accounts.
Questions about the search
How is a founding engineer different from a CTO?
A founding engineer is often an early hands-on builder. A CTO role can include technical strategy, leadership and wider organisational accountability. Agree the decisions and responsibilities first, then choose a title that accurately represents them.
Do you only work with pre-seed companies?
No. We support technology startups and scaleups at different stages of growth. This service focuses on early engineering hires; our wider engineering searches cover senior specialists, Staff and Principal Engineers, and technical leadership.
Which markets do you cover?
Our focus is London, New York and San Francisco. We agree the location, working arrangement and practical hiring constraints before starting the search.