Software Engineer Hiring Checklist

The hiring manager writes the job description against your engineering ladder — IC3 vs IC4 vs Staff each carry different scope and impact expectations. Be explicit about must-have languages and frameworks (e.g., Go + Kubernetes, not 'modern backend stack'). Vague JDs produce a noisy top-of-funnel that wastes recruiter time.

Decide which signals each interview slot covers — system design, coding, behavioral, hiring manager — and lock the rubric in your ATS (Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever) before any candidate enters the funnel. Calibrating mid-pipeline is how you end up rejecting strong candidates because interviewers used inconsistent bars.

Post to LinkedIn, the careers page, and any niche boards relevant to the stack (Hacker News Who's Hiring, Rust Jobs, etc.). Brief sourcers on dealbreakers — visa sponsorship, remote/hybrid, comp band — so they don't pipeline candidates you'll reject in the screen.

Recruiter triages the queue daily — aim for under 48 hours from application to disposition so candidates don't go cold. Filter on the must-have signals from the rubric, not on credentialism (a CS degree from a top-20 school is not a must-have unless you said so explicitly).

Confirm motivation, comp expectations, work authorization, location, and notice period. Log the disposition and notes in the ATS the same day — the technical screen scheduler depends on it. Comp mismatch surfaced here saves four hours of panel time later.

Use whichever screen format your team has calibrated — a 90-minute CoderPad pairing screen or a time-boxed take-home (cap at 4 hours; longer ones bias against candidates with caregiving responsibilities). Same prompt for every candidate at this level so scores are comparable.

The screening engineer submits a written scorecard within 24 hours of the screen — code quality, problem decomposition, communication, and edge-case thinking. 'Borderline' should trigger a second screener review rather than a default-reject; calibration drift is real.

Coordinate the four slots within a single day or split across two half-days — system design, coding, behavioral, and hiring manager. Confirm interviewers are calibrated for this level; pulling in an uncalibrated panelist is the most common source of inconsistent debriefs.

Senior engineer or staff+ runs this slot. Use one of the team's standard prompts (URL shortener, rate limiter, notification fan-out) — not a problem the candidate happens to have solved at their last job. Probe tradeoffs: consistency vs availability, read vs write optimization, blast radius of a bad deploy.

Mid- or senior-level engineer pairs on a real-codebase-shaped problem in CoderPad or a sandboxed repo — not a Leetcode hard. Look for incremental progress, willingness to ask clarifying questions, and how the candidate handles a hint. Silent struggling for 45 minutes is a no-hire signal regardless of whether they finish.

Cross-functional interviewer (PM, designer, or skip-level) probes collaboration, conflict, ownership, and how the candidate handles disagreement with a tech lead. Use STAR-format prompts and document quotes verbatim — vibes-based feedback in the debrief is how bias creeps in.

The hiring manager covers role-fit, motivation, and the candidate's questions about the team. Save 10 minutes at the end for a candid pitch — at this point in the loop the candidate is often interviewing competing offers, and the HM call is your closing window.

Every interviewer submits their scorecard before reading anyone else's — Greenhouse and Ashby both enforce this. Anchoring on a colleague's strong-hire vote is the single biggest distortion in panel feedback. No verbal-only debriefs.

Hiring manager facilitates; each panelist summarizes their signal in 90 seconds before discussion opens. If there's a split (one strong-no among three strong-yes), discuss the dimension that's in conflict — don't average. Document the decision and the reasoning, since this is also your audit trail if a rejected candidate disputes the outcome.

Two references minimum, ideally one former manager and one peer. Ask for specific anecdotes, not endorsements — 'tell me about a time the candidate disagreed with a technical decision' surfaces more signal than 'would you hire them again'. Document quotes in the ATS.

Recruiter delivers the offer verbally first, then sends the written offer letter the same day. Cover base, equity (with strike price and vesting cliff), sign-on, and start date. Set an explicit response window — 5 business days is standard; open-ended offers stretch into competing-offer auctions.

Trigger the Checkr or HireRight package contingent on the signed offer. For roles touching customer data or production access, run the more thorough package (criminal + employment + education); a basic package is fine for most ICs. Average turnaround is 3-5 business days — start the day the offer signs.

Trigger your new-hire onboarding checklist — laptop provisioning, SSO/Okta account, GitHub org invite, on-call shadow rotation, and buddy assignment. Equipment ordered on Day 30 typically arrives in time for a Day 45 start; if start date is sooner, escalate to IT.