Unlocking a stalled pipeline to find a Founding AI Engineer for a revolutionary scientific visualisation platform

📍 USA  ·  🎯 Founding AI Engineering  ·  ⚡ VC-backed startup  

THE CHALLENGE

BioRender is a revolutionary scientific visualisation platform transforming the way researchers create and communicate scientific figures. When they came to us, they were struggling to scale their ML/AI team. The brief required an uncommon combination: deep experience building highly scalable AI solutions, paired with the mindset and adaptability of a founding-team hire.

The role had proven uniquely difficult. Their pipeline had stalled, existing candidates weren’t hitting the bar, and the process needed a fresh approach.

WHY AMIGOS?

BioRender engaged us because of our growing track record placing AI Engineers at US startups. Having recently worked across a range of similar mandates, we had direct access to/ could quickly reach the calibre of candidate this role demanded. Our focus on the US startup ecosystem meant we weren’t starting from scratch; we were activating an existing, relevant network.

OUR APPROACH

We started with an in-depth onboarding process to understand where previous candidates had fallen short and what the team was really looking for beyond the job specification. With that understanding in place, we ran a dual-track search, activating our existing network of senior AI engineers while executing laser-focused outreach to passive candidates who wouldn’t be visible through conventional channels.

THE RESULT

We achieved an immediate uplift in the quality of candidate submissions. From an almost stagnant pipeline, we rapidly stimulated the process, delivering a strong shortlist of engineers that BioRender progressed to interview and ultimately scaled their ML/AI teams. The engagement demonstrated what a well-networked, specialist recruitment team can do when a generalist approach has run out of road.