How we recruit backend developers
We started placing Java developers in London and grew into Python, .NET, Ruby and event-driven stacks as hiring needs widened, and now cover backend roles across the UK, Europe, the US and the UAE on permanent, contract and executive terms. We work in stack-specific verticals rather than broad groups, which keeps our consultants close to the real skills each team needs and lets us assess engineers, seniors and architects with accuracy.
Backend briefs often arrive labelled as full stack. Many turn out to be 80 or 90 per cent backend, with some front end work alongside. We agree that split with the hiring manager before we approach anyone, because it changes who the right person is.
Clients are often more flexible on the exact language or framework than the job advert suggests. A strong engineer may be able to move into PHP, Symfony or another Java framework.
What matters more is the kind of systems they have worked on before. Has the engineer dealt with high traffic, services that depend on each other, or systems that cannot afford much downtime? We ask candidates to talk through real examples, what went wrong and how they fixed it.
We also ask how much of their recent time went on writing code. Engineers stepping back from a lead role are often a good fit for hands-on positions. Clients want to know the real split, so we find out early.
Salary against the approved band, notice period, office days and visa sponsorship are all settled on the first call. For remote roles across Europe, that includes whether the candidate can contract through their own company. Many of our backend processes use a conversational technical interview rather than a live coding test, and candidates know the format before they apply.
