Data before opinion.
Every recommendation we make traces back to a dataset. We're happy to share methodology, sources, and confidence intervals. If we don't have the data, we say so — and we go get it before we advise.
"How much does it actually cost — in money, time, and risk — to hire the person you say you need?"
We kept asking the same question: where is the actual data? It usually didn't exist — or existed in fragments no one had connected.
Every recommendation we make traces back to a dataset. We're happy to share methodology, sources, and confidence intervals. If we don't have the data, we say so — and we go get it before we advise.
We don't simultaneously advise a company on hiring and a candidate on negotiating against them. Conflicts are obvious if you look — we look. Our roster is curated, not maximized.
"Senior engineers in Europe" is not a market. "Senior backend engineers, 5–8 years, Berlin-Mitte commute or fully remote, equity-tolerant" is. We work at the level where decisions actually get made.
If your hiring plan is unrealistic, we'll tell you before we take the engagement. If a candidate's target role isn't achievable in their timeframe, we'll say so. Comfortable advice is rarely useful advice.
Czech tax structures matter for Czech hires. German works councils matter for German ones. We don't paper over jurisdictional reality with generic frameworks — we work with the law that actually applies.
We charge for engagements with defined deliverables and defined success criteria, not for time on a meter. If we finish faster than expected, you don't pay more. If we miss a milestone, that's our problem.
Eight years building talent intelligence functions for European scale-ups before founding E&F. Believes most "war for talent" stories are bad measurement dressed up as drama.
Background in software engineering and career transitions. Has personally consulted on 200+ candidate journeys, mostly into senior IC and engineering leadership roles.
Joined from a London compensation consultancy. Specialises in Central European tech markets and cross-border salary benchmarking. Reads tax codes for fun, apparently.