Get Hiring Right.
Decode Talent is an advisory hub of engineers, technologists, HR professionals and revenue operators. We provide employment data others can't and market insights they won't.
Technology does not replace talent. Staffing doesn't fix systems.
Every month you don't have a solution for a senior talent gap, you're losing 30% efficiency, minimum. Is it a process problem disguised as a skill shortage? Are you trying to hire your way out of technology innovation?
With Decode
We've helped hire hundreds, advised many and optimized more systems than we can count on all of our fingers and toes.
With Decode
A real-time inventory index algorithm the government told us was pretty innovative, at your fingertips, to get insights you didn't think possible.
With Decode
We have a bench of advisors to make sure we conduct the highest qualification process possible. Use our experts to hire yours.
Three stages, run by someone who's done the job.
Roughly one in eight candidates who enter the process reach a client shortlist. Here's what they clear.
CPHR-Led Work Style Assessment
A proprietary workstyle assessment, quicker to complete than an intake form at the doctor's office, followed by a 30-minute interpersonal interview. Career, culture, compensation — no keyword matching, just two professionals aligning on the long-term vision of the role.
95% Retention Rate
12-month retention across all placements. We optimize for long-term fit, not placement volume. A hire that leaves in 8 months isn't a success - for us or for you.
10 Days to Shortlist
We maintain a warm pipeline of pre-vetted candidates. Most clients see a shortlist of max. 5 candidates — not 20 — within ten days of the brief.
100-Day Guarantee
If a placement isn't right, we source and vet a replacement at no additional cost, in writing on every placement. We stay accountable after day one.
Brief on Monday, shortlist in ten days.
Easy like Sunday morning.
Day 1 · Role Definition
A 45-minute call on the team, the systems and stack, the experience and how we'll measure success. We write the brief; you approve it.
Days 2–10 · Vetting
We work our network of 100,000+ first, then source against the brief. Every candidate clears all three stages before you see a name.
Days 10–21 · Shortlist to Offer
Three candidates with written assessments. You interview and decide. Most clients reach offer within a week; we handle EOR setup and the compensation conversation.
US roles, Canadian employment, no visa
We represent a small number of engineers at a time and only put you forward for roles we'd take ourselves. You keep Canadian employment and payroll; the work is US-side.
Roles You Won't Find on a Board
Direct briefs from US engineering leaders, usually before the posting goes live.
Honest Technical Feedback
You get the assessment we write about you, whether or not you're placed.
Compensation Negotiated for You
We handle the back and forth to keep both sides focused on career and culture.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to hire a Canadian software engineer?
- Ten days from an approved brief to a three-person shortlist, and two to three weeks to a signed offer. The usual delay is an unclear role definition or slow internal decision-making — not sourcing.
Do Canadian engineers need US work authorization?
- No. A Canadian engineer working remotely for a US company needs none. Employment and tax sit on the Canadian side through an EOR, direct employment, or a contractor structure — we set that up as part of the placement.
What makes you different from a staffing agency?
- A 25-year engineering leader runs the first screen on every candidate himself, you get three people instead of twenty, and every placement carries a written 90-day replacement guarantee. We cap open searches so that stays true.
Which roles do you place?
- Mid-to-senior software engineers across full-stack, backend, frontend, mobile and platform, plus engineering managers, technical leads, product, design and data. Niche domains — embedded, security, deep ML — case by case.
What happens if a placement doesn't work out?
- Inside 90 days we source and vet a replacement at no additional cost. We treat a failed placement as a signal we misread your team, and we'll tell you what we got wrong.
Resources for US Engineering Leaders
Canada vs. LATAM vs. Eastern Europe
A structured comparison across time zone, IP framework, talent depth and integration friction.
Failed-Hire Cost Calculator
Model what a mis-hire costs you in salary, ramp and lost roadmap — with your own numbers.
Salary Intelligence Calculator
See what share of the qualified candidate market your offer can reach, before you post the role.
Hire by City
Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal — what each market is actually strong at, and which roles to source where.
The right engineer
changes everything.
Tell us the role. If we can fill it, you'll have three assessed candidates in ten days. If we can't, we'll say so on the call.
Book a discovery call