How to hire a Founding Engineer
A no-nonsense founder guide to hiring a founding engineer: what the role is, where to find them, comp and equity bands, an interview loop, and a copy-paste job description.
Hiring guides
How to hire the roles that decide the company
Every guide is written for founders hiring without an in-house recruiter: when the role is actually worth hiring, 2026 salary and equity bands, the interview loop, the red flags, and a free job description you can copy.
How to hire a Founding Account Executive
A founding account executive turns founder-led sales into a repeatable motion. Hire one only after you have closed roughly 10 deals yourself. Expect a 50/50 split around £90k–£120k / $140k–$200k OTE plus 0.25%–0.75% equity, a two-quarter ramp, and a loop built on a live discovery call against your real ICP.
How to hire a Head of Growth
A startup Head of Growth owns the whole loop — acquisition, activation, retention and monetisation — not just paid ads. Hire once one channel already works and a founder is the bottleneck on scaling it. Budget £100k–£140k / $160k–$210k plus 0.3%–0.8% equity, and test them on a teardown of your real funnel data.
How to hire a Chief of Staff
What a startup Chief of Staff actually does, when to hire one, comp expectations, and a JD template that attracts operators — not project managers.
How to hire a Head of Product
Hire a Head of Product once you have more than one product surface and a founder who can no longer sit in every customer call. Expect £120k–£160k / $180k–$230k base plus 0.4%–1.0% equity at seed, a four-stage loop built around a real roadmap teardown, and a 60-day expectation of one shipped bet — not a strategy deck.
How to hire a First Product Designer
To hire a product designer at a startup, screen for shipping cadence before portfolio polish: ask what shipped, what it moved, and what they cut. Pay £75k–£110k / $130k–$180k plus 0.3%–1.0% equity for a founding designer, and run a short paid trial on a live surface of your product instead of a take-home. Most founding designers are not applying to jobs, so sourcing beats posting.
How to hire a Head of Sales
The right time to hire a Head of Sales at a startup, comp bands, interview loop, red flags, and a JD template designed to attract player-coaches.
How to hire a First Marketing Hire
Your first marketing hire should match the motion that is already working, not the gaps you feel. If founder-led content drives pipeline, hire a content-led marketer; if the product self-serves, hire growth; if you sell enterprise, hire product marketing. Budget £70k–£110k / $110k–$160k plus 0.25%–0.75% equity, and judge them on one compounding channel inside 90 days.
How to hire a Technical Cofounder
How non-technical founders find, evaluate, and lock in a technical cofounder — the equity conversation, the mutual test, and how to structure the first three months.
How to hire a Head of Operations
The scope of a startup Head of Ops, when to hire, comp bands, and a JD template that attracts hands-on operators rather than process managers.
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