Junaid
Full-stack AI engineer · Tech lead
Built an AI basketball-scouting platform from scratch as tech lead: frontend, backend, AI agents, and deployment. Rebuilt a legacy MVP into production.
- Python / FastAPI
- Next.js
- AWS + CI/CD
- OpenAI + Anthropic
For founders who built it with Claude or Codex
Get the App You Built With Claude Production-Ready With a Vetted Senior Engineer on Retainer
We match you with a proven engineer who audits what you built, fixes the security, hosting, and backups, and keeps shipping for you. Part-time or full-time, paid directly, no hourly billing.
Get matched now
No sales call · Matches in one business day · Month to month
- candidates screened by Talented
- 37,000+
- candidates screened by Talented
- make it into the pool
- < 3 in 100
- make it into the pool
- founders have hired through Talented
- 50+
- founders have hired through Talented
Sound familiar?
It runs your business. That’s the dangerous part.
“It shows it’s working. It isn’t.”
Hard-coded numbers you told Claude to remove a dozen times. Features that look done and quietly aren’t. You can’t tell which parts are real anymore.
“It’s still running on a Mac mini.”
No real hosting, no backups, no security review. Your team can’t even get access yet, because one phishing email could make it do anything.
“You’re the only one who understands it.”
When Claude says “do it this way,” you’re too tired to argue, so you let it. Every rabbit hole costs you a night, and the business still needs you in the morning.
Inside the pool
Watch them before you talk to them.
Shahnawaz
Senior backend engineer · Architect
Since 2011. Led a custom ERP for a US ecommerce company for eight years, then architected a real-estate CRM serving ~50,000 users.
- Laravel / PHP
- Python
- React
- AI integrations
Raymond
Full-stack AI engineer
Built an escrow platform nearly solo: backend, APIs, database, webhooks, CI/CD, and frontend. Diagnosed why a client’s AI voice agent stopped booking calls.
- TypeScript
- APIs + webhooks
- AWS / GCP
- Claude + Codex
Ashar
Senior full-stack lead
Architected an ecommerce platform for farm equipment that supports $5M+ in annual sales, then led the team that runs it.
- React / Next.js
- Node / NestJS
- FastAPI
- AWS / Azure
What it takes
to get in.
Five stages, each built from a test a founder asked us for. AI is allowed at every step. We grade what it can’t do for them.
01
Invited, never applied
Top finalists and referrals
02
The hardest thing they shipped
Recorded, end to end
03
The broken repo
Find it, fix it, catch the AI
04
Senior engineer review
Defend the fix, live
05
The paid build
Shipped to a real URL
Most don’t.
Fewer than 3 in 100 make it through Talented’s screening
How it works
Checkout to shipping in about a week.
Day 0
Tell us what you built
Two questions and your details. No sales call to book.
Day 1
Your matches arrive
Full profiles of the engineers who fit what you built: recorded interview, what they’ve shipped, English level, and their monthly rate.
Day 2
Pick up to three
They read your brief and opt in, so everyone you talk to already wants the work.
Days 3–4
Your top 2 audit your system
Each one does a short paid audit of what you built and sends you a prioritized fix list. You keep both lists either way.
Day 5
Retain the one you trust
Part-time or full-time, month to month, paid directly to them. They start at the top of their audit.
Every week after
A ship log, not a status meeting
What shipped, what’s next, what’s blocked. You review it in two minutes.
Who’s behind it
One of us finds the engineers. The other one knows what good code looks like.
Zack Allen
Founder, Talented · Finds the engineers
- 37,000+ candidates screened in three years
- Hires placed for 50+ founders
- Runs a $1M+ business on automations his team built
Zach Sents
Founder, Automate.ax · Vets the engineers
- 10+ years developing software
- Built two automation platforms from scratch (WorkflowDog, Automate.ax)
- Reviews every engineer’s code before they get in
“Surpassed my expectations, beating out a much larger recruiting agency.”
Spencer, Ballard House
“I expect to have major pieces of my companies run from the people I’ve hired through him.”
Tim, Aballo Group
“Working with Talented was a breeze. I would highly recommend it.”
Zach, Red Light Systems
Fair
questions.
Do I have to get on a sales call?
No. Two questions, your details, and your matches arrive within one business day.
I don’t have full-time work. Is this for me?
Yes. Most founders start part-time on a monthly retainer and move to full-time when the backlog grows. No hourly billing.
How do I know they’re not just pasting Claude?
They get in by finding and fixing bugs in a broken codebase, including one an AI wrote, and defending the fix to a senior engineer live. Then they audit your system before you commit.
Is it safe to give them access?
Start narrow: the audit works from a copy or read-only access. Once you retain someone, they get their own logins and keys you can revoke. The retainer template includes an NDA and IP assignment, so you own the code.
What if it doesn’t work out?
Swap to another engineer free for 90 days. If you don’t retain anyone, you get a full refund.
Get matched this week.
Two questions. Your matches arrive within one business day, and every interview unlocks.