Problem
Founders needed their first ML engineer to own the function end‑to‑end, while also relocating to London and working office‑based at startup pace. Previous attempts had already led to failed offers and roadmap delays, showing that this combination of requirements is rare on the market
Task
Turn this brief into a structured market search: define a clear profile for an end-to-end ML lead in London, then build a deliberately wide, curated funnel — around 230+ candidates from target companies with strong ML practices and top universities — and use it to arrive at one hire who genuinely fits the full mandate
Decision
We chose to keep strict criteria and solve it with scale: large, targeted pipeline + early focus on motivation instead of lowering the bar
Result
- ML engineer hired as the first end-to-end owner of the function, giving the founders a single point of responsibility for data, modelling and production
- Offer accepted and relocation to London completed without late-stage drop-offs
- The new hire unlocked progress on ML initiatives that had been stalled, and set the bar for subsequent technical hires