Open Select

About Open Select

Open Select is a specialist engineering recruitment firm working with venture-backed startups across the US and UK. We focus on the hires that define a company's technical direction: full-stack engineers, first infrastructure and DevOps hires, early AI and ML engineers, and the core product and platform teams that set the foundations for everything that follows. Founded in London in 2011. Now operating across New York, San Francisco, and the UK. We work closely with founders, CTOs, and early engineering leaders at the point where hiring decisions matter most. Post-raise, pre-scale, from the first engineering hires through the teams that take a company from Series A to Series B. We are often involved before a formal search exists, advising on team structure, sequencing hires, and helping founders avoid the early mistakes that quietly cap engineering teams later on. What makes Open Select different: Depth, not volume. Carefully curated shortlists of engineers who fit the stage, the technical challenge, and the ambition. No padding, no time-wasters. True partnership. We operate as an extension of early teams, aligned to product goals and technical direction rather than placement targets. Early-stage specialists. We understand the ambiguity, the speed, and the stakes of Seed through Series B hiring in a way generalist recruiters do not. If you are a founder building a technical team, or an engineer looking to join a high-bar startup, we are always happy to connect.