We build your team so you can focus on building your product.

We work with you as partners to help improve your processes, right-size each role, and build a sustainable team. We’re considered in who we send, keeping our shortlists short. We care about software and understand that each team builds in their own way.

Recruiting as it should be

Technical and personal

We know what it takes to build great software. With first-hand industry experience, we understand what a talented and diverse team can accomplish.

Honest and pragmatic

We love our clients, but no company is perfect. We let candidates know what’s great about a job and where the potential skeletons are. Helping both sides go in with eyes open boosts retention and trust.

All about community

We’re at all the developer conferences and meetups because they’re our scene. Our recruiters are in constant contact with the tech community and get to know great people long before they need our help.

A process that works

We make sure your criteria fits the priorities of suitable candidates in the market. What makes this role unique & compelling? What level is the role really? What will make people want to stick around? Our vast industry knowledge helps to align what you’re looking for with the right talent.

We take an objective look at your hiring process to see if you’re set up for success. We help you find the balance between being thorough and being fast enough to remain competitive. We give you tools and techniques to reduce unconscious bias.

We’re always in contact with tech professionals At any given time, we know a bunch of talented people who are actively looking for work. They seek us out and want to know when certain roles come up.

While not all roles are advertised, this can be a great source of candidates, particularly those overseas or looking to relocate who might be outside our existing network. We frame each role in a way that attracts a diverse range of qualified candidates, avoiding cliches, red flags, and potential inherent prejudice.

We’ve been focused on hiring developers for years, giving us a rich database to draw from. With strong technical fluency, we use advanced candidate sourcing tools and techniques, allowing us to uncover passive candidates.

It’s one thing to find the right candidate, but another thing entirely to get them over the line. The hard work is done upfront to ensure we’re putting forward candidates who are up to the challenge, communicating your company’s value every step of the way (as well as complexities like IP clauses and ESOPs).

Placement is just the beginning. We check in at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months to see how both client and candidate are going. It’s part of the reason our candidates stick around. It also gives us valuable feedback for future hires. The more we can learn about an environment first-hand, the better we can articulate it to future candidates.

Lucky to have worked with the best

How we helped Sendle scale

Their challenge

After raising $20m in Series B funding, Sendle needed to double their engineering team. It had to be done quickly without diluting their high standard for engineering talent.

Our solution

We worked partially on-site, taking responsibility for the entire candidate funnel. We helped define each role and create effective assessment rubrics. We trained interviewers so it wasn’t all on Sean the CTO’s shoulders. By spreading the interview load we also created redundancy in the process and brought more of the team along for the hiring journey. We helped drive adoption of their ATS across the team and ran sessions to rethink their careers page.

Proudly Est. 2012

Our first placement was the first technical hire for a startup (👋 Airtasker) and the second was a lead developer with the ABC.

More than a decade later, we’re still happily working with a diverse range of organisations, pairing them up with the missing pieces of their team puzzle.

You could be a corporate or a startup. Legacy code everywhere or a 100% buzzword compliant stack. Based in an office or a remote work pioneer. If you’re building a product and care about your people, we’re keen to help.

What our clients say

Melanie Cole
Car Next Door

As a Talent Acquisition Manager, I’ve always been hesitant working with recruiters but have had such a great experience working with Lookahead. Through their specialised focus, and relationship with the engineering community, they have brought some amazing people into our business. They took the time to understand our culture and roles on a fundamental level, and because of this, we have found success in partnering with them and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

Kris Howard
AWS

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve recommended Lookahead to both candidates and hiring managers. The team is honest and reputable, and they genuinely care about supporting the Aussie tech industry. I’ve only ever heard good things back from the folks I’ve sent their way.

David Banham
notbad.software

I’ve worked with Steve for many years on both sides of the fence. I’ve hired teams through him and been placed with his clients for consulting work. Steve is good people. He takes his work seriously, works hard and chooses the people he works with carefully. I’ve never come across a recruitment agency that has anything like Lookahead’s reputation amongst technical candidates. They have access to candidates nobody else does.

Principles we stand by

Be a trusted advisor

We inform and empower developers, teams, and hiring managers to get the best outcome for all parties. Unerringly honest, we have the tough conversations to manage expectations and keep everyone in the loop.

Empower each other

We’re always transparent, sharing candidates, tools, and techniques. We learn together and we play as a team.

Quality over quantity

We’re discerning about the clients and candidates we take on. We do less so we can do it better, with greater focus.

Play the long game

We build lasting relationships, prioritising long-term engagements over short-term transactions. Because we’re invested in your success, we function as partners, not vendors.

Cultivate community

We actively support Australian developer communities. That means regularly sponsoring meetups, events, and being active participants and organisers.

Team Lookahead

Steve Gilles
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Fiona Chan
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Debbie Teakle
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Sarah Jacob
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Maureen Gilles
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Andrea Mitchell
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Part of something bigger

Memberships

We’re the first company to take the talent partner pledge in Project F's Program 50/50. We’re also proud supporters of EFF, the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.

Sponsorships

We love being part of community meetups and industry events. In the past we’ve sponsored SydJS, ReactConf AU, SydCSS, JSconf, RubyConf, CSSconf, Cocoaheads, RMIT Hackathon, MusesJS, Code Heart Design, React Sydney, Sydney Tech Leaders, Debugging Diversity, Technologists Who Give a Sh*t&CampJS.

Any questions? We’ve got answers! Get in touch.

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The Lookahead office is located on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and pay our respects to elders past, present, and future.
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