Praxline is one person today. I write the code and run every engagement. That changes from late 2026, when the first three seats open, and only once retainer revenue can pay for a senior hire. We are not funded to grow fast, so until then, the founder does the work.
Writing down how we will hire, before doing it, has been useful. With small changes, it is also how I would suggest any founder hires a first engineer.
The three seats.
The first roles are Senior Web Operator, AI Build Engineer, and Optimisation and Analytics Lead. All three are remote and full-time. They follow the work clients actually buy: keeping websites and the connections between systems running, building AI into real day-to-day work, and finding the changes that make a website earn more.
All three are senior. There are no trainee roles, because clients pay for senior judgement on every piece of work and the price assumes it.
- Show Two or three things you've shipped.
- Talk 30 minutes on a real engagement.
- Pilot Two to four weeks, paid, on real work.
Step one: show us two or three things you've shipped.
Not a CV listing frameworks. Two or three things you built that real people used, with a sentence on what you did on each. Shipped work says more in five minutes than a CV does in an hour: what the person chose to build, how far they took it, and whether they can explain it plainly.
Step two: a 30-minute call about a real engagement.
The call goes both ways, and it is about real work. We talk through an actual engagement, with the client's name left out: what they asked for, what they needed, and where it got difficult. I want to hear how you think about a messy request. You should hear what the job is really like, including the dull parts, which is usually where the money is.
Step three: a paid pilot on real work.
Two to four weeks, paid, on a real piece of work. Not a take-home test, and not a case study written for free over a weekend. If it works for both sides, we extend. If it does not, you keep the work and we part well. Either way, your time was paid for.
Every application gets a reply within a week.
What we leave out, and why.
There is no leetcode and no case-study homework. A timed puzzle tests how someone performs under exam conditions, which is not the job. The job is reading an unclear request, asking the questions that turn it into a one-page brief, shipping in small pieces a client can approve, and writing down what was done so the next person can follow it.
Once you are in, there are no status meetings and no hourly Slack pings either. We write things down, get in touch when there is something worth saying, and judge work by what ships.
How we'd hire you, if you're hiring.
If you are a founder about to hire your first engineer, the same loop works, and it guards against an expensive mistake: hiring on the strength of a good interview. Ask for shipped work, not a CV. Spend the interview on a real problem from your own business. Then pay for a short pilot before committing to a salary.
Two to four paid weeks costs far less than the wrong hire, and it shows you something no interview can: what it is like to work together.
If you are not yet sure you need a hire at all, hire, rent, or wait is the note to read first. If you would like to be considered for one of the three seats, the careers page has the details.
