Most teams discover too late they hired for interviews, not reality. We deliberately pressure-test candidates before your business does it for real. Zero tolerance for untested engineers.
Most embedded roles are actually three roles stitched together. Generalist agencies can't spot the difference. Keyword screening misses determinism, debug craft, and worst-case judgment. You find out after hardware lock.
Schedule slip, integration defects, rework, team attrition, and delayed revenue. A $160k engineer who churns at month 8 easily exceeds $250–400k in total impact once hidden costs are counted.
Engineers turned recruiters. We interrogate competence, pressure-test candidates against real-world constraints, and surface risks in the brief — not after hardware lock or field deployment.
90-day free replacement guarantee on every permanent placement. We push back on ~40% of briefs. Scope first, search second. We'd rather advise you to pass than push you into a bad fit.
Deep passive talent networks across every embedded and electronics niche. 60% of our placements are engineers not actively on the job market.
We deep-dive into your technical stack, risk profile, team structure, and ownership boundaries — not just the JD. Non-negotiables vs. teachables defined before sourcing begins.
We target passive and active candidates with real engineering experience. No CV spray. 60% of placements aren't on job boards. Rapid calibration shortlist of 3–5 profiles within the first week to align on bar, compensation, and market reality.
3–5 pre-qualified candidates. We manage offers, handle negotiations, and provide check-ins at weeks 2, 6, and 12 to surface drift early. We're not done when the offer letter is signed.
Before you recruit, fix the role. Most hiring fails not because of bad candidates — but because the role itself is undefined, mis-scoped, or carries hidden risks nobody named before the search began.
75–90 minute working session. Fee credited in full if we run the retained search. You leave with a role scope document, failure map, and a functioning interview scorecard — not a pitch deck.
Right for critical hires where stakes are high, the system is complex, or previous searches have failed. Not a free consult. If the hire doesn't make sense, we'll tell you.
Ownership boundaries, system interfaces, constraints, and the real definition of "done" for this hire. In writing.
Where this hire will fail inside 12 months if you recruit as-is, and exactly what needs to change before you search.
A scorecard and technical screen structure that tests embedded engineering behaviour, not keywords or vibes.
| Criterion | Generalist Agency | RunTime |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate assessment | CV keyword matching | Technical competence interrogation |
| Shortlist volume | 10+ CVs, low signal | 3–5 pre-qualified, high conviction |
| Role scoping | Accepts any job spec as written | Challenges and pressure-tests the spec |
| Engineering depth | No engineering background | Engineers turned recruiters |
| Placement guarantee | None | 90-day free replacement |
| Post-placement | Done at offer letter | Check-ins at weeks 2, 6, 12 |
"Finally a recruiter who actually understands what an embedded Linux engineer does. The shortlist was the best quality we'd seen in three years of trying to fill this role."
"RunTime saved us months of frustration. Their first candidate was technically strong, culturally aligned, and ready to lead from day one. Night and day vs any other agency."
"Our robotics team went from 2 to 8 engineers in under a year. RunTime understood our technical culture from day one and never sent us a single bad CV."
Submit a brief and a RunTime consultant responds within one business day. No obligation — just a direct conversation about your role.
Right for teams with a clear role definition ready to receive candidates. We respond within one business day.
A RunTime consultant will be in touch within one business day.
Meanwhile, explore active roles at jobs.runtimerec.com.
RunTime Recruitment · Engineering hires that ship and stay.