Executive Summary
A fast-growing B2B SaaS company serving law firms and in-house legal teams needed a Site Reliability Engineer who could do it all: master Azure infrastructure, write PowerShell like a pro, support customers directly, and operate independently in a fully remote startup environment. Traditional job postings yielded hundreds of unqualified applicants, and prior hires had failed to meet the mark. nexus IT group became the company’s exclusive recruiting partner, sourcing 323 candidates to deliver just five highly qualified submittals—and one perfect hire who immediately became the CTO’s technical right-hand, strengthening platform reliability and accelerating the company’s architectural evolution.
Client Profile
The client is an innovative B2B SaaS provider delivering legal technology solutions to law firms and in-house corporate legal teams. As a fully remote startup, they required team members who could thrive without supervision, communicate asynchronously, and take ownership of complex technical challenges from day one.
The Challenge: The Impossible Combination
The Site Reliability Engineer role demanded a rare and difficult blend of skills that the open market could not easily supply.
- A Hybrid Skillset: The ideal candidate needed to balance SRE discipline, DevOps automation, security awareness, and customer-facing technical support experience—a combination rarely found in a single professional.
- Volume Without Quality: Traditional job postings generated high application volume but delivered almost no viable candidates, wasting the leadership team’s limited time.
- Prior Hiring Failures: Previous hires had failed due to either incorrect technical backgrounds or an inability to adapt to the autonomy required in a fully remote, startup environment.
- Enterprise vs. Startup Mindset: Too many candidates came from large enterprises where responsibilities were siloed. The client needed someone comfortable wearing many hats and operating without a playbook.
- Azure Depth + Customer Skills: Beyond general cloud knowledge, the role demanded deep Azure-specific expertise combined with real-world experience supporting customers directly.
The Solution: Exclusive Partnership and Precision Sourcing
nexus IT group stepped in as the client’s exclusive recruiting partner, taking full ownership of the search from sourcing through final screening.
- Full Ownership Model: We acted as an extension of the client’s leadership, managing the entire recruitment funnel so the CTO could focus on running the business.
- Startup-First Targeting: Our sourcing strategy deliberately targeted candidates from smaller companies with proven startup experience, prioritizing professionals who had already demonstrated success in unstructured, high-autonomy environments.
- Technical Depth Validation: We focused intensely on Azure-heavy SRE and DevOps professionals with strong PowerShell scripting capabilities—a non-negotiable requirement for the role.
- Customer-Facing Experience Emphasis: Beyond infrastructure skills, we prioritized candidates who had directly supported customers, ensuring the hire could interface effectively with client-facing teams and even end users when needed.
- Remote-Ready Screening: Every candidate was evaluated for their ability to succeed in a fully remote culture, including communication style, self-management, and asynchronous collaboration skills.
- Curated Excellence: From an initial pool of 323 sourced candidates, we delivered only five highly qualified submittals—ensuring every interview was meaningful and aligned with the client’s needs.
Results & Metrics
The numbers tell the story of a quality-over-quantity approach that delivered exactly what the client needed.
- Candidates Sourced: 323
- Qualified Submittals: 5
- Number of Hires: 1
- Fill Approach: Highly selective, quality-over-quantity screening
The Outcome
The client successfully hired a Site Reliability Engineer who met every core requirement and exceeded expectations for cultural and operational fit.
- True Technical Partnership: The new hire immediately partnered with the CTO as a technical right-hand, taking ownership of infrastructure scaling and security initiatives.
- Customer-Ready Support: With direct customer-facing experience, the SRE enhanced the company’s ability to provide technical support and communicate complex infrastructure topics to clients.
- Architectural Advancement: The hire strengthened platform reliability and actively supported the company’s transition toward a more scalable, multi-tenant, containerized architecture.
- Efficient Leadership Investment: By receiving only five highly vetted candidates, the client’s leadership team invested their time where it mattered most—interviewing true contenders rather than screening unqualified applicants.
Client Testimonial
“Finding the right SRE was critical for our growth, but traditional job postings brought us hundreds of unqualified candidates. Working with Nick allowed us to focus only on candidates who truly fit our technical needs and startup culture. The process was efficient, thoughtful, and ultimately led to a hire we’re excited about.”
— CTO, Legal Technology SaaS Company
About nexus IT group
nexus IT group is a specialized technical recruiting firm that partners with organizations to build elite, high-impact technology teams. We combine deep market knowledge with a rigorous process to deliver candidates who drive long-term success.