get hired at
HiringCafe
A job search engine that indexes company career pages directly
- —
- SCLNCSG+1
- San Francisco
- Tech
Open roles at HiringCafe
6 positions we're tracking, re-checked daily
- apply ↗
Founding Machine Learning / AI Search Engineer ($160K–$310K + equity)
san francisco, usaMid-levelfirst seen today - apply ↗
Founding Backend / Infra Engineer ($160K–$300K + equity)
san francisco, usaMid-levelfirst seen today - apply ↗
Founding Full-stack / Product Engineer ($130K–$300K + equity)
san francisco, usaMid-levelfirst seen today - apply ↗
ML Engineer, Inference & Model Deployment ($250K–$310K + equity)
san francisco, usaMid-levelfirst seen today - apply ↗
Founding Growth Hacker ($130K–$300K + equity)
san francisco, usaMid-levelfirst seen today - apply ↗
Founding Head of SEO ($130K–$300K + equity)
san francisco, usaSeniorfirst seen today
Know when HiringCafe is hiring before anyone else
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window, and where we put you in it.
From $5.99/week, cancel any time.
- live
- +2h+2hrole spotted & verified1
- +4h+4hyou get the alert1
- day 3day 3you've applied~8
- day 7+day 7+hits the job boards250+
What HiringCafe is building
HiringCafe is a job search engine, not a job board, and the distinction is the product. Instead of waiting for employers to post or pay to sponsor listings, it crawls company career pages directly and builds its own index, currently 5.7 million live jobs. The company claims that's up to 400% more listings than some of the largest US job boards, because those boards mostly surface what employers pay to promote. The new layer is the AI Talent Agent. A candidate uploads a resume, sets preferences, and the agent searches the index continuously on their behalf, matching roles against their background and filtering out suspected ghost jobs: stale or fake postings where nobody is actually hiring. It's free to job seekers. The company started as a viral spreadsheet of startup jobs Ali Mir put together in 2022. Hamed Nilforoshan paused a Stanford CS PhD to join, and the product grew to 2M+ monthly active users on word of mouth and Reddit alone.
Why this matters
Hamed's framing is that the job hunt is broken "because legacy platforms operate on advertising, not search." If employers pay for placement, candidates only see paid placement, and everyone piles into the same small set of listings. HiringCafe's own analysis puts sponsored listings at 20-40% of open roles, with the other 60-80% sitting on company career pages (that's the company's claim, not an independent study). Crawling career pages at scale used to be an ops-heavy scraping problem. LLMs make it much cheaper to normalize millions of messy, unstructured postings into something searchable, which is part of why a young team could build an index this size. Having ZipRecruiter and Indeed people on the cap table is a tell about who sees the threat.
Investors: Spark Capital (lead), Nonfiction Capital, Silicon Gardens, Angels from ZipRecruiter and Indeed
Hiring outlook
Explicit and live. Their Ashby board lists eight roles, almost all 'Founding': ML/AI search, backend/infra, full-stack, ML inference, growth, marketing, SEO, and recruiting, all in Cupertino with published comp.
Working at HiringCafe
HiringCafe is a Tech company based in San Francisco, USA. Working at a Tech company at this stage means opportunity to shape your role based on the company stage.
San Francisco, USA is where most HiringCafe positions are located.
How to actually get hired at HiringCafe
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
HiringCafe runs an applicant tracking system, but hiring managers still work referrals first. A cold application to HiringCafe isn't dead, it's just fourth in line behind internal referrals, sourced candidates and recruiter pipelines.
Who to contact at HiringCafe
- Who decides
- the hiring manager
- Best channel
- LinkedIn or direct email
What to show them
Take 50 real HiringCafe results for one query, label them by hand for relevance and ghost-job likelihood, and propose one ranking or filtering change with before/after precision numbers.
A cold email that works at HiringCafe
What HiringCafe screens for
Spark Capital leading a pre-seed for a company with 2M MAU and zero marketing spend is a bet that distribution is already solved and the job now is infrastructure. The hiring list says the same thing: crawlers, recommender systems, inference, and SEO. Every role is 'Founding' and the comp bands run up to $300K+, which means they're hiring a first team, not backfilling. The candidate's edge is obvious and unusual: you can dogfood the product to find the job, then show them what their index missed.
A tailored CV beats a generic one. Use HiringCafe's job description language to clear filters.
Don't make these mistakes
Don't open with how much you hate LinkedIn and Indeed. Every candidate says it, and Ali and Hamed built a 2M-user product off that exact sentiment on Reddit. It's their origin story, not a differentiator. Hamed has an ICML Best Paper and a Nature paper, so vague 'I'm passionate about AI matching' reads as noise. Talk precision/recall, dedup, and freshness.
Mistakes that kill HiringCafe applications
Generic CVs stand out at a -person company — and not in a good way. Fastest path to rejection.
Don't open with what you want. Open with what HiringCafe is dealing with right now — Hamed's framing is that the job hunt is broken "because legacy platforms operate on advertising, not search, and what you'd do about it.
Most Tech applications get ghosted. A day-five follow-up can double your response rate.
Applying to HiringCafe? Get the contact, not the form.
The HiringCafe interview process
We don't yet have verified candidate reports for HiringCafe. What follows is the typical process for a -person Tech company, so treat it as a model, not confirmed detail.
Interview stages
- 1
Recruiter Screen
Phone or video · 30 min
What it testsBasic qualification and logisticsUsually run byRecruiter or HR - 2
Hiring Manager Interview
Video call · 45 min
What it testsRole fit and experience deep-diveUsually run byHiring manager - 3
Technical/Functional Round
Video call · 60 min
What it testsSkills assessment and problem-solvingUsually run byTeam members - 4
Final Round
In-person or video · 60 min
What it testsCulture fit and cross-functional alignmentUsually run bySenior leadership
HiringCafe interview timeline
Timeline: ~14 days. That's about average than the Tech median (14 days at people).
Interviewed at HiringCafe?
Tell us how it went: stages, questions, timeline. Takes 90 seconds and it's how this page stays accurate for the next person.
HiringCafe jobs, frequently asked questions
How many jobs does HiringCafe have open?
6 open roles at HiringCafe, last checked September 29, 2026.
Does HiringCafe hire remotely?
All current HiringCafe roles are based in San Francisco, USA.
What roles is HiringCafe hiring for?
HiringCafe is hiring across Engineering, Design. The most recent opening is Founding Machine Learning / AI Search Engineer ($160K–$310K + equity).
How do I apply for a job at HiringCafe?
Use the apply links above, or check our guide to getting hired at HiringCafe.
Does HiringCafe respond to cold emails?
Response rate data for HiringCafe not yet confirmed.
Who is the hiring manager at HiringCafe?
At this size, hiring is usually run by the hiring manager.
How competitive is it to get hired at HiringCafe?
Expect 100-250 applicants in the first two weeks for Tech roles at this size. Apply within 72 hours for best odds.
How many rounds is the HiringCafe interview?
4 stages: Recruiter Screen, Hiring Manager Interview, Technical/Functional Round, Final Round.
Is the HiringCafe interview hard?
Focus on relevant experience and culture fit, not puzzles. Final Round is reportedly the most challenging round.
Does HiringCafe give a take-home task?
No, HiringCafe does not include a take-home stage.
How long does HiringCafe take to get back to you?
Around 14 days across the full process.
What should I prepare for the HiringCafe interview?
relevant experience and culture fit is the priority. Show you can work autonomously — that matters more than algorithms at people.
Where is HiringCafe based?
HiringCafe is headquartered in San Francisco, USA.
Get HiringCafe roles before they're posted
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window, and where we put you in it.
From $5.99/week, cancel any time.
- live
- +2h+2hrole spotted & verified1
- +4h+4hyou get the alert1
- day 3day 3you've applied~8
- day 7+day 7+hits the job boards250+
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