Technical Researcher / Sourcer (Remote)

Our client is a US-based boutique recruiting firm that partners with high-growth, venture-backed startups — early-stage startups through growth-stage companies — to solve their hardest hiring challenges in Engineering, Product, and Design. They are not a volume shop. They run a select number of searches at a time, and every engagement is approached with a true research-driven methodology.

As the Technical Researcher / Sourcer, you are a headhunter. You find the engineers, product designers, and product managers who are not looking — before other search firms know they exist. You build target company maps, run LinkedIn Recruiter and GitHub searches, and identify the top 1% of passive talent for every search. You work closely with recruiters and managing partners to translate client briefs into actionable research, then execute that research with depth, precision, and speed. If you have only ever worked from a queue of inbound applicants, this is not the role for you.

If you love the investigative side of recruiting, are obsessed with data integrity, and genuinely enjoy spending hours mapping a niche market, this role was built for you.

Key Responsibilities

Market Mapping

• Execute deep-dive research to visualize talent ecosystems within specific sectors including a range of high-growth verticals including AI, climate/energy, fintech, security, and enterprise SaaS.
• Identify where top Engineering, Product, and Design talent is concentrated — mapping team structures, reporting lines, and headcount at target companies.
• Track talent movement, promotion patterns, and organizational shifts at high-talent-density startups.
• Deliver market maps that give recruiters and clients a clear, actionable picture of the available talent landscape.

Proactive Headhunting (not Inbound Recruiting)

• Proactively identify passive candidates — engineers, designers, and PMs who are not looking — before they are on anyone else's radar. This is not a role for someone who processes inbound applicants.
• Use LinkedIn Recruiter at a power-user level — precise Boolean searches, filters, and platform features to identify candidates not surfaced through standard searches.
• Cold-headhunt engineers from GitHub — mining contributors to specific open-source projects, verifying identity through cross-platform research, and reaching them with personalized outreach that references their actual work. Layer in patent databases, academic publications, and conference speaker lists for the harder searches.
• Prioritize quality over quantity — every candidate on a list should belong on it.

Deep Market Intelligence

• Go beyond candidate identification to provide intelligence that helps clients make smarter hiring decisions.
• Research headcount trends, funding rounds, team growth trajectories, and competitor hiring activity within target sectors.
• Identify which companies are scaling, which are contracting, and where top talent is likely to become available.
• Deliver research outputs that add strategic value — not just names and contact details.

Data Integrity & Documentation

• Maintain accurate, well-organized, and immediately actionable Google Sheets across all active market maps and candidate lists.
• Ensure all data is consistently formatted, up-to-date, and clearly documented so the recruiting team can act on it without cleanup.
• Build and maintain source tracking, search methodology notes, and candidate status documentation for every active search.
• Treat data hygiene as a professional standard, not an afterthought.

Collaboration & Communication

• Work closely with recruiters and managing partners to translate search requirements into targeted research strategies.
• Participate in search kickoff calls and debriefs to ensure sourcing efforts are aligned with evolving client needs.
• Communicate research findings clearly and proactively — including market constraints, talent availability, and competitive dynamics that may affect the search.
• Flag candidate quality issues, pipeline gaps, or market realities early enough to adjust strategy.

Required Qualifications

• Deep, hands-on experience sourcing Engineering, Product, and Design talent within the US venture-backed startup ecosystem (early-stage startups through growth-stage companies). Strong skill matters to us more than years on a resume — most successful candidates in this seat have 3+ years focused in this exact ecosystem, but if your work speaks for itself, we want to hear from you.
• Proactive headhunting reflex — you have personally identified passive candidates on non-LinkedIn platforms (GitHub, Crunchbase-fed target lists, conference speaker lists) before they were on your LinkedIn radar. If your primary experience is qualifying inbound applicants or running LinkedIn keyword searches, this role is likely not the right fit.
• LinkedIn Recruiter mastery — advanced Boolean, Projects, Spotlights, InMail response tracking, and populating Current Company filters with 100+ target companies at a time.
• Startup fluency — familiarity with venture-backed company culture, high-talent-density organizations, and what it takes to attract talent in this environment.
• Analytical mindset — genuine satisfaction in researching a niche and building a comprehensive, well-sourced list of 100 precisely matched candidates.
• Strong data organization skills — your spreadsheets are clean, logical, and immediately useful to anyone who opens them.
• Clear, professional written English and reliable daily overlap with US Mountain Time hours.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building market maps or talent ecosystem analyses for a specific sector (a specific high-growth vertical such as AI, climate, fintech, security, or enterprise SaaS).
• Depth in patent-database sourcing (Google Patents inventor / assignee searches) or academic-publication mining — you have identified engineers by digging into their published work.
• Background at a boutique or retained recruiting firm — experience with a research-driven search methodology.
• Familiarity with funding stages and venture ecosystem dynamics.
• Experience delivering candidate intelligence reports or market briefings to recruiting leadership or clients.

Tools & Software

• LinkedIn Recruiter — primary platform for Boolean searches, Projects, Spotlights, and Current Company filters. You know it at power-user depth.
• GitHub — proactive identification of passive engineers via contributor analysis, PR discussions, and Advanced Search filters. This is a headhunting tool, not a candidate-verification tool.
• Crunchbase — building target company lists by funding stage, sector, geography, and recency; exported and fed into LinkedIn Recruiter's Current Company filter.
• Google Sheets — market map and candidate list management.
• Patent databases (Google Patents, USPTO) — identifying engineers via patent filings using inventor and assignee searches. Especially useful for deep-tech, security, and infrastructure roles.
• ATS or CRM platform as assigned.

What Makes You a Great Fit

• You treat every search like an investigation — you don't stop when the obvious candidates are found.
• You have cold-headhunted engineers from GitHub, patent databases, or conference speaker lists — and you have the DMs to prove it. Your outreach references the person's actual work, not a template.
• Your lists are curated, not padded — every name on a candidate list belongs there and you can defend why.
• You are genuinely curious about markets, companies, and talent ecosystems.
• Your data is always clean — the recruiting team can open your work and act on it immediately.
• You communicate what you are finding in real time — including tight markets and talent constraints.

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