The Senior Gold Rush and the Forgotten Mid-Level Engineer
Aggressive recruiting inflates senior titles and salaries — while strong mid-level engineers get overlooked. Why role fit beats title inflation, and how to hire for team balance.
Tech Recruitment Built Around Engineering Talent
We find engineers who fit the role and the team, then prove it technically before you meet them. Permanent in-house hires from Poland and the EU — 2–4 vetted finalists, not a stack of CVs.
Roles We Commonly Place
We specialize in software engineering roles across all seniority levels — from individual contributors to technical leads.
Backend Engineers
Java, Python, Go, Node.js, Scala
Frontend Engineers
React, Vue, Angular, TypeScript
Full-Stack Engineers
Various stacks; specify your requirements
DevOps and Platform Engineers
Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS, GCP
QA Engineers
Selenium, Cypress, Appium, manual and automated
Technical Project Managers
Agile, Scrum, JIRA, cross-functional team leadership
Industries We Hire For
FinTech
Compliance-aware engineers experienced in secure transaction systems and regulated environments.
EdTech
Product-minded engineers who understand learning experience design and platform scale.
Applied AI & Automation
ML engineers, data scientists, and MLOps specialists with production deployment experience.
Flexible Hiring Options
We place engineers as permanent members of your team. Three employment paths are available depending on location requirements and whether you have a legal entity in the candidate's country.
Work from EU
Remote Hire
Your new hire works remotely from within the EU under your direct employment. EU-compliant contract, full IP ownership, no relocation logistics. The engineer sits on your payroll and org chart from day one.
Best for: Companies with established remote workflows who want to hire fast without opening a local office.
In Your Location
Local Hiring
We source and screen engineers who match your specific location requirement — on-site in your city, hybrid within commuting distance, or a defined country. The same five-stage technical vetting applies regardless of geography.
Best for: Companies that require engineers to work on-site or within a defined geographic area, and want technical screening handled before the first interview.
Hire Without a Local Entity
Employer of Record (EOR)
We recruit and formally employ the engineer in Poland on your behalf — local employment contract, payroll, statutory contributions, and IP assignment included. You manage the work day-to-day; we handle local compliance.
Best for: UK and Scandinavian companies that want nearshore permanent headcount without opening a Polish subsidiary.
The Hiring Process
1
Day 1
Define the Role
Share the role requirements: tech stack, seniority level, team context, and whether it is remote or relocation. We ask the questions most recruiters skip — the ones that actually predict a successful hire.
2
Week 1
Source and Screen
We start with our vetted partner network, then extend to active sourcing when the role requires it. Every candidate undergoes a technical assessment and soft-skill interview before you see them.
3
Week 2
Your Interview
You receive a shortlist of 2–4 technically vetted candidates, each with our written assessment notes. You conduct your own interview to evaluate cultural fit and role specifics. We facilitate scheduling, provide context on each candidate, and debrief with you after.
4
Week 3-4
Offer and Onboard
We support the offer negotiation, contract finalization, and onboarding handoff. For EOR hires, we coordinate local employment setup in Poland through to the first working day.
What Makes D-Factor Different from a Recruitment Agency
Engineers Screen Candidates, Not RecruitersEvery candidate is evaluated on actual code quality, system design thinking, and domain knowledge by senior engineers — not keyword-matched by an HR generalist with no technical background.
Curated Network, Not a Job BoardWe source from D-Factor's vetted partner network and active search — not an open CV database. Every finalist passes the same five-stage evaluation used across our placements. You receive a shortlist of 2–4 technically qualified candidates per role, not a volume dump.
Six-Year Average Engineer TenureEngineers we place stay. A six-year average tenure across our placements signals we match for long-term fit — same team, same culture, no churn cycle. That outcome starts at the screening stage.
Free Replacement if the Hire Doesn't FitIf a placed engineer does not work out during the probation period, we source a replacement at no additional cost. You carry zero recruitment risk from day one.
D-Factor IT Recruiting vs. Standard Agency
What separates technical recruitment from generic headhunting.
| Feature | Generic Agency | Job Board | Internal HR | D-Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who Screens Candidates | HR generalists | No screening | Internal team | Senior engineers |
| Talent Pool Quality | Open database | Self-selected | Network-limited | Five-stage vetting; 2–4 finalists per role |
| Technical Assessment | CV review only | None | Varies | Code quality + system design |
| Employer of Record (EOR) | No | No | No | Yes — hire in Poland, no subsidiary needed |
| IP and Contract Clarity | Standard terms | None | Internal | EU-compliant, 100% client IP |
HRS·EOR
Hire Nearshore Without Opening a Local Entity
Many UK and Scandinavian companies want permanent nearshore engineers but do not want the cost and delay of setting up a local legal entity in the candidate's country. With D-Factor's Employer of Record service, we recruit and formally employ the engineer in Poland on your behalf — local employment contract, payroll, statutory contributions, and IP assignment included. You manage the work day-to-day; we handle the local compliance. If the candidate is based elsewhere and needs to relocate to Poland, we can support that process as part of the EOR onboarding — invitation letters, document legalisation, and first-day coordination. When you are ready to transfer the hire to your own entity, the path is built into the contract.
| Self Setup | D-Factor EOR | |
|---|---|---|
| Who employs the engineer | Your new local subsidiary (months to register, per country) | D-Factor — local contract, payroll, IP assignment from day one |
| Time to first working day | Months (entity registration, tax, banking, HR admin) | Weeks — recruitment + EOR onboarding run in parallel |
| Recruitment included | No — separate process | Yes — same CTO-curated screen, 2–4 finalists |
Not staff augmentation. Not a dedicated team. EOR = your permanent headcount, employed locally through D-Factor.
Five-Stage Technical Vetting
Every candidate who reaches your shortlist has cleared the same structured evaluation. Here is what that process looks like before you see a single CV.
01
Source Credibility
We start from our vetted nearshore network — active professionals with verified track records — not open job boards or cold database pulls.
02
Role Alignment
Each candidate is assessed against your specific requirements — tech stack, seniority level, team context, and employment path (direct hire or EOR). Candidates who do not match the brief on all dimensions are filtered here.
03
Engineer-Led Technical Interview
A senior engineer — not a recruiter — conducts a structured technical interview covering architectural thinking, domain knowledge, and hands-on problem solving relevant to your stack.
04
Practical Assessment
Candidates complete a practical evaluation — code review, system design exercise, or a take-home task calibrated to the role level. This separates people who talk well from people who ship.
05
Finalist Curation
The CTO reviews all assessment outputs and curates a shortlist of 2–4 candidates. You receive our written technical assessment alongside each profile — not a stack of CVs with a covering email.
Experience That Shows in Results
14+
Years in IT recruitment
~2 mo
Average time to first day
6 yr
Average engineer tenure
From Our Blog: HR & Recruitment
The Modern IT Hiring Process: From Role Brief to Signed Offer
A practical five-stage pipeline for hiring software engineers in 2026 — role definition, sourcing, technical screening, client interviews, offer, and onboarding — with realistic timelines.
What a Good IT Recruiting Partner Should Do (and Most Agencies Don't)
A credible technical recruiting partner extends your engineering judgment — not your inbox. Here is what to expect, what most agencies actually deliver, and how to tell the difference.
Dedicated Team vs. Outstaffing: What Scale-ups Get Wrong
Most scale-ups try outstaffing first. Here is why it works at the start and fails at scale — and what a dedicated development team actually changes.
Developers on Demand vs Freelancers: What's the Real Difference?
When you need an extra engineer fast, two paths appear: hire a freelancer or go through a Developers on Demand service. Here's how they actually compare.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from a standard recruitment agency?
Why only 2–4 candidates per role?
How long does the full hiring process take?
Where do you source engineering candidates?
What is the difference between permanent placement and Employer of Record (EOR)?
Can you employ engineers in Poland if we have no local company?
How is EOR different from outstaffing?
Do I need IT Recruiting, Outstaffing, or a Dedicated Team?
What if the hire does not work out after they start?
Can candidates interview us before accepting?
Do you support engineer relocation?
Do you recruit non-technical or generic HR roles?
Get in touch
Contact us
Leave your request in the form or book a call with our specialists. After that you can get a free consultation on your project or direct access to our verified staff database.