Three founders. Every search.
Jay, Kenan and Luke have spent more than 40 years between them recruiting tech talent, in-house and in agencies. That has taught us what good looks like, and what gets in the way of it.
So we kept the business small. We take on fewer searches, work on every one ourselves and introduce fewer, better people. Most of our work comes from people we’ve worked with before.
- years’ combined experience recruiting tech talent
- 40+
- founders, working on every search themselves
- 3
- banks, insurers and start-ups
- UK
Meet the people behind the hires
No scripts. No agendas. We’ve spent years building relationships, not databases, so we reach people other recruiters never get to meet.
- Software engineering
- Test and QA
Jay recruits for software engineering and test teams. Candidates’ recommendations over more than a decade say the same thing: Jay understands the technology behind a role and doesn’t just match keywords on a spec.
“Recruiters get a bad rep but having dealt with them for many years, you can’t paint all of them with the same brush. Jay is without a doubt, one of the good ones.”
Staff Engineer in Test, 2019 
- Change and delivery
- Data and AI
Kenan works with clients from the first brief to the final offer. Expect straight answers about the market and a shortlist you’ll want to interview.
“Ken was the recruiter who helped me land my role. He was diligent, responsive, and made everything feel straightforward. […] It was clear he’s not just great at his job but also funny, approachable, and overall a pleasure to work with.”
Enterprise transformation and AI specialist, 2025 
- Software engineering
- Cloud, platform and DevOps
- Product and design
Luke’s background is in DevOps and cloud. He builds relationships that last beyond a single hire, because today’s candidate is often tomorrow’s hiring manager.
“Luke is one of the best recruitment agents I have ever worked with. He is very sincere and helpful in representing my interests to clients. When looking for a new role he is the first person I will call.”
QA Test Analyst
Who we recruit for
Mid-level to senior tech roles, up to heads of department, for banks, insurers and start-ups across the UK. We know the difference between a buzzword and someone who can do the job.
Software engineering
Anyone can list frameworks on a CV. We find the engineers who can tell you why they chose one.
- Back-end
- Front-end
- Full-stack
- Mobile
- QA and test automation
- Engineering managers
Cloud, platform and DevOps
A platform engineer isn’t a DevOps engineer with a new job title. We know which one your team needs.
- Cloud
- Platform
- DevOps
- Site reliability
- Infrastructure
- Network
Data and AI
A data engineer who builds pipelines isn’t a data scientist who builds models. We know which one you need.
- Data engineers
- Data analysts
- Data scientists
- Analytics engineers
- Machine learning engineers
- Heads of data
Cyber security
In financial services, knowing the regulation matters as much as knowing the tools. We look for both.
- Security engineers
- Security architects
- Identity and access
- Security operations
- Governance, risk and compliance
Change and delivery
There’s a difference between running a programme and reporting on one. We find the people who run them.
- Project managers
- Programme managers
- PMO
- Business analysts
- Delivery leads
- Scrum masters
Product and design
Good product people can tell you what they stopped building and why. That’s the first thing we ask.
- Product managers
- Product owners
- UX designers
- UI designers
- User researchers
How a search runs
The same four steps, whether you need one hire or a whole team.
We talk about the role
Not just the job spec: the team, the work and what good looks like after six months. If we’re not the right partner for the job, we’ll tell you before you sign anything.
We search where others don’t
We start with people we know and the people they recommend, not job boards. The best candidates often aren’t looking, so we go to them.
You meet a short list
No CV avalanche. We only introduce people we’d hire ourselves, and we tell you why we rate each one.
We see it through
We run the interviews, feedback and offer, and keep you and the candidate informed until the hire is made.
An agency, your own team, or us?
An honest comparison, including when an in-house team is the better choice.
- Why not just use any agency?
- You’ll meet a few of the best, all screened by us, not a pile of keyword matches. And we never send a CV without the candidate’s say-so, so you won’t see the same person twice.
- Why not hire in-house?
- An in-house recruiter costs the same whether or not you’re hiring, and only sees the people who apply. We know the whole market, we’ll tell you if your budget is below it, and you pay when someone starts. When a deadline lands, we can start straight away.
- When is an in-house team the better choice?
- When you hire the same kind of role every month, a good internal team will cost less over time, and we’ll tell you that. Our Embedded Recruiter can help you get there: an experienced recruiter inside your business who hires your first team with you.
We’ve heard what candidates say about recruiters
Today’s candidate is tomorrow’s hiring manager. So we do the opposite.
- “They never got back to me.”
- Every application gets a reply, even when it’s a no.
- “I only found out the pay at the final interview.”
- We tell you the pay before you apply. If it’s low for the role, we’ll say so.
- “My CV went to companies I’d never heard of.”
- We never send your CV anywhere without asking you first.
- “The job wasn’t what the ad said.”
- Every role we advertise is real. We tell you what we know about the team, the manager and the interviews, and what we don’t.
- “They didn’t understand what I do.”
- We speak tech. We’ll only call about roles that fit what you actually do.
- “No feedback after the interview.”
- We give you feedback after every interview.
Four ways to work with us
Contingency Search
We find the person; you pay when they start.
Exclusive Retained Search
We commit our time to one important hire.
Multiple Hire Project
We plan and run several hires at once.
Embedded Recruiter
We put an experienced recruiter inside your team.
Get in touch
Hiring, or looking for your next role? Send us a message.
What happens next
- We read every message ourselves.
- One of the founders gets back to you.
- If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so.