Senior developer hired in nine weeks for an Eschborn software firm

Situation

A software company in Eschborn with 45 staff builds payment software for regional banks. Its senior backend developer left in the spring. The role had been open for five months. Two job boards had produced 31 applications, four interviews and no offer. The managing director had one quote from a recruitment agency on the table: 25 per cent of the first-year salary, around €18,750 on a €75,000 package, payable on the start date. The team was covering the work with overtime and a delayed release.

Approach

We started with a half-day role definition with the managing director and the lead developer. The output was a one-page role profile: what the person will own in the first year, the three skills that decide success, and a salary band of €72,000 to €78,000. We rewrote the job description in plain language and checked it against the equal-treatment rules, so nothing in it excluded people by age, origin or background.

Then we searched directly. Job boards had already failed here. From public sources we built a list of 140 profiles: developers in the Rhein-Main area with Java or Kotlin experience in payments or banking. We approached 62 of them personally, each with an individual message. 18 replied and 11 wanted a first conversation.

We ran the first interviews ourselves against a fixed scorecard, so every candidate answered the same questions and was scored on the same criteria. Six candidates went on the shortlist, each with a written profile. The client interviewed all six in weeks six and seven, and the final three completed a work sample. We handled the reference conversations and the salary discussion. The client’s own adviser drafted the employment contract.

Result

In this scenario the client signed an offer in week nine with a developer from a Frankfurt fintech. Salary: €76,000, inside the band. Start date three months later, which is the usual notice period in this market. The runner-up was told the same day, with a reason.

The whole process cost €9,500. A contingency recruiter at 25 to 30 per cent would have charged €18,750 to €22,500 on the same salary. The saving was between €9,250 and €13,000. No job-board fees were needed, because every candidate came from direct approach.

The client keeps the role profile, the scorecard and the interview questions. The next backend hire runs on the same material.

What it cost

€9,500 fixed price for the key-hire package in the €60,000 to €100,000 salary band: role definition, job description, direct search, first interviews, shortlist with profiles, reference checks and support through to the signed offer. The price was quoted before the work started and did not depend on the salary agreed. Job-board fees, had any been needed, are billed separately at cost and sit outside the fee. The engagement is covered by our 100% money-back guarantee: full refund on request within 14 days of delivery.

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