Tech recruiters, ranked.

A tech recruiter fills software engineering, infrastructure, security, product and engineering leadership roles. Good ones understand the stack well enough to screen for it, know what candidates are paid, and can approach engineers who aren't looking.

Contingency fees are commonly quoted at around 15–25% of the hire's first-year base salary. Searches for CTOs and other engineering leaders are often retained at around 25–35% of first-year cash compensation. Check whether the fee is calculated on base salary alone or includes bonus and equity.

Contingency suits one or two roles where you can brief several firms. Retained suits senior or hard-to-fill roles where you want one firm's full attention. For a hiring push of many roles, some tech recruiters work embedded in your team for a monthly or hourly rate instead of a fee per hire.

Ask for recent placements at your level and in your stack, who does the technical screening, how many open roles each recruiter is working, and what the guarantee is if a hire leaves early. Our rankings favour firms that specialise, so the top of each city list is a good place to start.

On public data only: the share of each firm's job ads that are tech roles, how many it is actively recruiting for, and its track record. Data and AI recruiting is ranked as a separate specialty. No firm can pay for placement.