What Founders & Hiring Leaders say about working with us...
Hear from the founders and hiring leaders we’ve helped make critical technical hires across NYC and SF.
"Working with StellarSearch to find our first founding engineers was awesome. They quickly honed in exactly on what we're looking for and was tireless in finding us incredible talent; Good communication, high hustle and all around a pleasure to work with. Thank you Liam!"
"It’s honestly night and day compared to where we were before, after working with 4–5 other firms. My Co-Founder is very happy, and we’re happy to serve as a reference for other customers. We’re growing quickly and expect to hire at least 10 engineers this year.
Even though we’re bootstrapped and careful with hiring, the trajectory is very strong. Thanks for the effort, there will be more roles for you to help us with"
You’ve been sending us great candidates and tracking everything well. Thanks, Liam.
"Liam, and the StellarSearch team have been amazing at sourcing us extremely high quality product engineers. We've hired 4 engineers through them so far, and will no doubt continue relying on them for our engineering pipeline for the considerable future. Liam really took the time to understand our company and the type of engineer we're looking for.
I'm not really sure how he does it, but he continues to find us top tier talent that fits exactly what we're looking for. He's extremely open to feedback, and together we've developed a really strong pipeline process. I'd say we probably hire 1 in 10 engineers Liam sends us, which is an insane hit rate.Really can't recommend him enough!"
"Liam, Founder of StellarSearch, was a pleasure to have in my organization and a true leader on the team. He has an exceptional ability to quickly understand client needs, both their immediate priorities and long-term goals, and translate that understanding into results.
They consistently deliver on their commitments, often going above and beyond to ensure successful outcomes for his clients. Their reliability, follow-through, and focus on delivering real results made them one of the most trusted partners for the team."
"StellarSearch's ability to build lasting relationships that result in successes are unmatched. In sales, and in recruiting, one of the hardest skills to master is to be able to see the potential in clients before they sign on the dotted line. In other words, to see the value beyond the data.
Liam has mastered this skill, and it was a pleasure to be able to watch him work. I'd be hard-pressed to find a more consistent and compassionate person than Liam."
"Team, thanks for the great push. I am properly drowning in calls, and a lot are very high calibre. Continue giving me more"
What engineers say about working with StellarSearch...
Hear from engineers we’ve helped navigate and land roles at leading AI startups.
"I had a great experience working with StellarSearch. He was extremely responsive throughout the entire process, even late at night, and always made time to answer questions or check in. What really stood out was that he felt genuinely invested in my success. This really wasn't a typical recruiter relationship at all. He wasn’t relying on automation or generic messages, and it never felt transactional.
They were supportive, encouraging, and honestly felt more like a friend who were rooting for me to land the role. Now that we’re working closely together to help accelerate our hiring process, that same level of care and responsiveness has carried over. They're a great partner to work with and someone I genuinely enjoy collaborating with. I’d strongly recommend them."
"StellarSearch are excellent recruiters. Super punctual, amazing with follow ups, super insightful and helpful. They were motivating, kind and really went above and beyond to make me feel taken care of. Super informational and intelligent.
Definitely the kind of recruiters we need on the field."
"Some of the best recruiting I've ever experienced; exceptionally responsive and communicative with regards to any questions I had and was very proactive in providing relevant information.
They did a great job explaining roles, companies, and interview processes and was friendly + supportive throughout."
"The team reached out to me with some opportunities when they started StellarSearch. Everything they found was very relevant to my skill set and after our first conversation, Liam reverted with plenty of opportunities, all perfectly aligned with everything I was looking for.
He is extremely smart, has great hustle, very professional and highly empathetic. I would definitely recommend working with him. Fantastic experience, fantastic relationship."
"As a candidate, I am very happy to write this recommendation for StellarSearch. Their clear and concise communications, timely follow-ups, and ability to bring relevant opportunities based on my Al skill set have been outstanding. Their professionalism and dedication ensure a smooth and efficient recruitment process. They possesses excellent communication skills, promptly responds to inquiries, and consistently matches candidates with suitable opportunities. The team are exceptional recruiters who understands the Al industry well, and I have been thoroughly impressed by their professionalism and dedication to both candidates and employers."
"StellarSearch were extremely helpful and attentive during the entire hiring and interview process, checking in and going above and beyond when trying to resolve any issues that came up.
Would highly recommend."
"StellarSearch was wonderful to work with. I owe my current job to them. They first reached out to me about this role while I was on holiday and was extremely patient with me and respectful with my time. Never failed to follow up, and never did so in a way that made me feel pestered.
One of the most effective recruiters I've ever worked with."
"StellarSearch reached out about a founding engineer role and did exactly what a good recruiter should do: asked thoughtful questions, communicated clearly, and actually understood what both sides were looking for.
They were persistent without being pushy, followed up consistently and thoughtfully, and ultimately connected me with a role that's a great fit. I'm very grateful they reached out."
"Working with StellarSearch was great; the entire process was smoother and quicker than I anticipated. Thanks to the guys, I had a chance to talk to various companies, found one I really liked almost immediately, and secured a role with them within the week. Liam’s a sharp and genuine guy, I gladly recommend him."
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Frequently Asked Questions
Most of our clients already have founders, internal talent teams or both actively recruiting.We’re useful when the people you want aren’t applying.We map the market, identify candidates who match the actual bar - not just the job description - and approach them with enough context to get them interested.The goal isn’t to replace your recruiting function. It’s to give you access to people you weren’t reaching without us.
We don’t qualify candidates purely against a checklist.
We look for evidence: what they personally built, how much ownership they had, the calibre of people they worked alongside, how quickly they progressed, what they’ve built outside work and whether they can explain their decisions in depth.
For technical searches, that means understanding the difference between contributing to an impressive system and actually owning the difficult parts of it. Every candidate we introduce comes with context on why we think they clear your bar.
We tell you quickly.
Because we map the market from the beginning, we can usually see whether the issue is sourcing, compensation, location, interview process or simply an unrealistic profile.
We’ll bring that data back to you and recalibrate rather than spend six weeks quietly sending increasingly weaker candidates.
We will tell you. Fast.
Because we map the market from the beginning, we can usually see whether the issue is sourcing, compensation, location, interview process or simply an unrealistic profile.
We’ll bring that data back to you and recalibrate rather than spend six weeks quietly sending increasingly weaker candidates.
We’re best at finding unusually high-agency people for early-stage companies - founding engineers, ex-founders, early employees, exceptional individual contributors and people with strong evidence of 0-1 ownership.
Most are already employed and not actively applying to jobs. We recruit across Engineering, AI/ML, Product, Design and GTM, primarily for Seed–Series C startups in SF, NYC, and London.
The best people aren't applying. And finding them isn't the hard part - convincing them to move is.
We build relationships with exceptional engineers, founders, researchers and operators before there's necessarily a role to sell them.We know what they're optimising for, where they want to go next, and what it takes to get them genuinely excited about an early-stage company.
Our search goes beyond titles and keywords too - looking for ex-founders, unusual trajectories, side projects, open-source work and other evidence of exceptionalism traditional sourcing misses.
We don't just put great people in your pipeline; we help you hire people who weren't looking to consider you.
As much or as little as you need. At the simplest level, we source, qualify and close candidates.
For companies where we’re deeply embedded, we also help define profiles, calibrate compensation, design interview processes, coordinate candidates, manage offers and advise founders on close.In practice, we often operate as an extension of the founding team rather than an external agency.
We work across retained, embedded and success-based search.The right model depends on whether you’re making one critical hire or building an entire team.
For higher-volume clients, we typically structure an embedded partnership with a monthly fee + reduced success fee. For individual searches, we offer retained or success-based structures.We agree everything upfront - no hidden costs or surprise fees.

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