Skip to content
OperationalLast ship · 4h agoIn flight · 6 engagementsReply within · 4hSenior partners onlyMMXXVIOperationalLast ship · 4h agoIn flight · 6 engagementsReply within · 4hSenior partners onlyMMXXVIOperationalLast ship · 4h agoIn flight · 6 engagementsReply within · 4hSenior partners onlyMMXXVI
SmartyDevs
Advisory · 08

Hiring engineering without the lottery.

Scorecards, interview design, candidate evaluation, panel calibration — and the mentorship of your engineering managers that compounds long after we're done.

§ 01The problem

The problem we solve

Engineering hiring is a leaky funnel run on intuition. Vague scorecards, unstructured interviews, panels disagreeing on what they're measuring. We bring structure: clear competency frameworks, calibrated interviews, debrief discipline. The result is more confident hire/no-hire decisions and better hires per interview slot.

§ 02Capabilities

What we deliver

  • 01Role scorecards with measurable competencies
  • 02Interview process design: stages, signals, debriefs
  • 03Take-home, pair-programming and system-design exercises
  • 04Calibrated rubrics for each stage
  • 05Interviewer training and panel calibration
  • 06Final-round interview support by senior partners
  • 07Compensation strategy and offer modelling
  • 08Hiring manager mentorship through real loops
§ 03Deliverables

What you receive

  • Documented hiring process your team can run
  • Calibrated scorecards for the roles you're hiring
  • Trained interviewers across the panel
  • Final-round support when consequential offers are on the table
§ 04Stack

Areas we cover

Role scorecards
Interview design
Panel calibration
Compensation modelling
Hiring manager mentorship
Final-round support
§ 05Ideal for

Ideal for

  • Founders making their first senior engineering hires
  • Engineering leaders scaling from 10 to 30 engineers
  • Companies whose previous hires didn't work out
  • Teams overwhelmed by candidate volume without structure
§ 06Process

How an engagement runs

  1. 01

    Scorecards

    Working sessions with hiring managers to define competencies and signals for the roles.

  2. 02

    Interview design

    Stages, exercises, rubrics — designed so signal is measurable and bias minimized.

  3. 03

    Calibrate

    Training and calibration sessions with your interviewer panel.

  4. 04

    Run

    We sit in on debriefs, support final rounds, mentor hiring managers through real loops.

§ 07Engagement

How to engage

01

Hiring Setup

3 — 6 weeks

Scorecards, process and calibration delivered end-to-end.

02

Hiring Manager Coaching

Ongoing

Retained coaching for hiring managers running active loops.

03

Senior Hire Support

Per-search

Final-round support and offer modelling for consequential hires (staff+, leadership).

§ 08Common questions

Frequently asked.

01Will you do the interviewing for us?

We will sit on final rounds when offers carry weight. The day-to-day is your team — we exist to make them better at it, not to replace them.

Have a problem worth solving well?

Tell us the outcome you want. We'll tell you what it takes — honestly, within a week, in writing.

Start a conversation