Hiring Support for Start-ups and Growing Businesses.

Hiring your first engineers, or building an early team while running the company, is a second job.

We support founders and VC-backed businesses with targeted headhunting across software engineering, AI, data, product, commercial, operations and finance.

You work directly with a recruiter with 20 years’ experience, from the initial brief through to accepted offer. No junior handoffs, no pile of irrelevant CVs and no reliance on job-board applicants.

See our FAQs at the bottom of the page to answer all your questions, or you can email us at hello@differentialrec.com

How we help.

  • You deal with a senior consultant start to finish. No handoffs, no juniors, to make sure you get the best candidates, and they have the best hiring experience.

  • You're one of a small number of clients we take on at any one time, so every search gets proper attention.

  • You see the best candidates in market, not just those applying to job ads.

  • You have the benefit of working with a recruiter with 20 years of deep recruitment experience across technology and data recruitment, alongside commercial, operations, and finance hiring.

Flexible Support depending on what you need.

Not every growing company needs, or can justify, a traditional recruitment search.

Support can include:

  • A complete contingent search

  • Candidate sourcing and screening

  • A qualified shortlist for your team to approach

  • Embedded recruitment support for a defined period

  • Reduced commercial terms for multiple hires from the same search

We agree the scope and cost before any work begins, so you only pay for the level of support you need.

Areas of Expertise.

  • Software Engineer, Software Developer, Cloud Engineer, Tech Support, Infrastructure Engineer, Data Analyst, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, Cyber Security, QA/Automation Testing, DevOps Engineer

  • Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, Operations Director, Head of Operations, General Manager, Operations Manager, Programme Manager, Project Manager, Business Operations Lead, Office Manager, Executive Assistant

  • Chief Revenue Officer, Sales Director, Commercial Director, Head of Sales, Head of Business Development, Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, Account Director, Account Manager, Business Development Representative, Sales Executive

  • Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director, Financial Controller, Head of Finance, Finance Manager, Management Accountant, Financial Accountant, FP&A Manager, Finance Business Partner, Senior Bookkeeper, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable

FAQs.

  • Every placement comes with a rebate period. If someone leaves within the agreed window, you get a replacement search or a proportionate refund. We'll spell this out in writing at the start.

  • Most searches produce a shortlist within two to three weeks.

    Time to hire depends on your interview process, but out average time to offer currently stands at 19 days

  • No. Our deepest specialism is technology recruitment, but we also place across operations, commercial, sales, and finance for growing businesses.

    If you need someone and we're not the right fit, we'll tell you honestly.

  • We have a proper conversation about the role and what good looks like for you, we go and find candidates directly rather than waiting for applications, and we shortlist only people we'd genuinely recommend.

    You interview, we handle offer and onboarding logistics.

  • If you're getting strong candidates from your own network or adverts, you probably shouldn't.

    Where we earn our fee is on the searches where the best people aren't applying to ads, usually because they're already employed and not actively looking.