Independent tech recruiter · Bay Area

Hire senior tech talent without an internal recruiter.

I've spent 9 years recruiting in house at companies like Dropbox, Intuit, and Life360, across engineering, product, data, and GTM. I'm now aiming to work with a small number of startups that don't have an internal recruiting function. Contingency or retained, with a shortlist in 2 weeks.

The risk is on me. 90-day replacement guarantee. Contingency available. If I don't deliver, you don't pay.

Book an intro call See how I work
9 yearsin tech recruiting
2 weeksto a shortlist
90-dayreplacement guarantee
1 recruiteryou work with me, start to finish

About

Nine years in tech recruiting. Now working directly with founders.

I'm Adam, a recruiter based in the Bay Area. I started as a technical sourcer at Dropbox and went on to run full-cycle searches at Life360, Intuit, and The Black Tux. I've worked with founders, hiring managers, and candidates through every stage of the hiring process.

Now I'm aiming to work independently with a small number of startups that don't have an internal recruiter. I handle the full search: intake, calibration, sourcing, screening, coordination, and close. You get senior-level recruiting without the agency overhead or the internal headcount.

What I recruit for

Engineering: IC through leadershipProduct and designData, AI, and MLGo-to-market: sales, marketing, CS, RevOpsC-suite and VP-level rolesNon-tech roles

Who I work with

  • Startups
  • Companies without an internal recruiting function
  • Founders who want senior hiring help without a full-time hire

Who I'm not the right fit for

  • Public companies with internal TA teams
  • High-volume, low-touch hiring

Why me

Why founders work with me

One senior recruiter, accountable for your search from the first call to the signed offer.

The big one

Risk is on me.

90-day replacement guarantee. Contingency available. If I don't deliver, you don't pay.

Nine years of in-house recruiting.

Dropbox, Intuit, Life360, and The Black Tux. I've sat on the hiring side of the table, so I know what good looks like and how hiring managers actually decide.

Senior-level recruiting without the agency overhead.

You get a senior recruiter who knows your market, your roles, and your candidates, without paying for a full agency team or hiring internal TA.

I'm independent and accountable.

No account managers. No handoffs. No junior recruiters. You work with me directly from intake to close.

Fast when it counts.

Shortlist in 2 weeks from intake, and searches that have closed in days, not months.

What I'm not

I'm not a full-service agency. I'm not a staffing firm. I'm not a high-volume shop. I work with a small number of clients at a time so I can go deep on every search.

Process

How I work

From intake call to signed offer, one recruiter owns the whole search, so nothing gets lost in a handoff.

Intake call

30 min

We cover the role, the team, the must-haves, the nice-to-haves, the comp range, and the timeline.

Calibration

1 to 2 days

I write a scorecard. You approve it. We align on what "great" looks like before I source anyone.

Sourcing and screening

1 to 2 weeks

Network, LinkedIn, GitHub, referrals, and targeted outreach. You get a shortlist of 3 to 5 candidates with notes.

Interviews

1 to 2 weeks

I coordinate schedules, prep candidates, debrief with you after each interview, and keep the process moving.

Offer and close

1 week

References, comp negotiation, and offer close. I stay involved through the start date and beyond.

Works inside your stack: Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Slack, LinkedIn Recruiter.

What a scorecard looks like

Before I source a single candidate, we agree on what great looks like. Here's a sample from a Senior Backend Engineer search at a seed stage startup. Every search gets one, and you approve it before anything goes out.

Sample scorecard

Senior Backend Engineer

Approved by hiring manager
Company
Seed stage B2B SaaS, 18 employees, 7 engineers
Reports to
CTO / Cofounder
Location
Hybrid, San Francisco (2 days in office)
Comp range
$185K to $215K base plus equity
The mission

Own the core API and data layer so the product can scale from 50 customers to 500 without a rewrite.

What success looks like
TimeframeOutcome
30 daysShips first production feature, fully onboarded to the codebase and deploy process
90 daysOwns the API layer end to end, leads one architecture decision with a written design doc
6 monthsCuts p95 API latency in half, mentors 1 to 2 mid-level engineers
Must haves
  • 5+ years backend experience, with at least 2 at a startup under 100 people
  • Production experience with Python or Go and PostgreSQL
  • Has designed and scaled APIs serving real customer traffic
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and shipping without a dedicated PM
Nice to haves
  • Event driven architecture (Kafka, SQS)
  • Prior early engineer or founding team experience
  • B2B SaaS or fintech domain experience
Dealbreakers
  • Only worked inside large company infrastructure with dedicated platform teams
  • Needs a fully defined roadmap to be productive
  • Comp expectations above $230K base
Competencies and who evaluates them
CompetencyWhat we're looking forInterview stage
Technical depthDesigns systems that hold up under growthTechnical screen, system design
OwnershipTakes problems end to end without being askedHiring manager interview
CommunicationExplains tradeoffs clearly to non engineersCofounder interview
Startup fitThrives with speed, ambiguity, and small teamsRecruiter screen, all stages
CoachingMakes the engineers around them betterTeam panel
Rating scale
  1. 1Strong no: clear gaps on must haves
  2. 2Lean no: some strengths, meaningful concerns
  3. 3Lean yes: meets the bar, minor questions remain
  4. 4Strong yes: exceeds the bar, a great hire

Decision rule: We move forward only if no interviewer scores a 1 and the average across competencies is 3 or higher. Every interviewer submits written feedback within 24 hours.

Every scorecard is built from scratch with you during calibration. This is a sample, not a template.

Guarantee

The risk is on me.

Every search is backed by the same promises, in plain language.

No hire, no fee

On contingency searches.

90-day replacement

If the hire leaves or doesn't work out, I replace them free or refund the fee.

Shortlist in 2 weeks

Or we reassess together.

Transparent fees

Published below, no hidden markups.

Direct access

You work with me, not a junior.

How it works: If you hire someone I place and they leave within 90 days, I'll run the search again at no cost. If I can't replace them, you get a refund per the agreement.

Pricing

See exactly what you'd save

Drag the salary, pick the level. My fee next to a typical agency's, no fine print.

$160,000
My fee$24,00015% · due only on hire · net 15
Typical agency$36,00022.5% (midpoint of 20 to 25%)
You keep$12,000per hire, same search

Agency comparison uses 22.5%, the honest midpoint of the standard 20 to 25% contingency range for tech roles, not a cherry-picked worst case. Director+ searches are quoted individually.

Most common

Standard roles

15% of first-year base

Contingency. Nothing owed unless you hire. 90-day replacement guarantee.

Hard to fill

Senior, Staff, and leadership

18% of first-year base

Contingency. Same process, same guarantee, for the roles where a bad hire costs the most.

By invitation

Retained

Custom quoted after a first placement

Once I've proven the work on a contingency search: dedicated capacity and predictable pricing.

Terms in plain language

Non-exclusive

Keep your team and other recruiters in the mix.

Fee only on hire

No retainers or deposits on contingency.

Net 15

Invoice on start date, due in 15 days.

Candidate ownership

Only for candidates I introduce, for 6 months.

What's included

  • Intake and scorecard
  • Sourcing and screening
  • Shortlist of 3 to 5 candidates
  • Interview coordination
  • Offer and close support
  • 90-day replacement guarantee

What's not included

  • Employer branding
  • Comp benchmarking reports
  • High-volume hiring (10+ roles at once)

FAQ

Questions founders ask

Anything else, ask me on an intro call.

Do you have client testimonials?

My track record is nine years of in-house recruiting at Dropbox, Intuit, Life360, and The Black Tux. I'm happy to walk you through past searches on an intro call.

Why work with an independent recruiter instead of an agency?

You get one senior recruiter who owns your search from intake to close. No account managers, no junior sourcers, and no handoffs where context gets lost.

What roles do you fill?

Engineering (IC through leadership), product, design, data and AI, GTM, and C-suite and VP roles, plus non-tech roles.

What stage companies do you work with?

Startups, primarily. Companies without an internal recruiting function.

Where are you based?

The Bay Area. I work with startups wherever they're based.

What's your fee?

15% of first-year base for standard roles and 18% for senior, staff, and leadership roles, due only on hire. Retained is quoted after a first placement. See Pricing for the full terms.

What's the guarantee?

90-day replacement or refund.

How fast can you shortlist?

2 weeks from intake.

Do you work with ATS tools?

Yes: Greenhouse, Lever, and Ashby. I work inside your system so you keep every candidate record.

Can you handle multiple roles at once?

Yes, depending on scope. I take on a limited number of clients at a time so I can go deep.

Have a role you need filled?

Book an intro call, send me the job description, or take 5 minutes with my role intake form. I'll come back with a plan and a timeline.

Book an intro call Fill out the intake form Email me a role

adam@adamgoodsonrecruiting.com · LinkedIn · Bay Area