Insights
Field notes on hiring scarce technical talent — compensation, recruiting models, and how to reach the engineers who aren’t looking.
- Compensation
Cleared & Defense AI/ML Engineer Salary Guide (DC & Northern Virginia, 2026)
Clearance level, not just seniority, is the single biggest multiplier on engineering compensation in the DC market. Here is how the numbers break down in 2026 — and why the posted salary band is almost never the real one.
- Hiring Strategy
Retained vs. Contingency vs. Embedded Recruiting: Which Model Should You Use?
Most hiring teams choose a recruiting model by habit or by whoever emailed them last. The three models solve genuinely different problems. Here is a straight comparison and a simple way to pick.
- Technical Hiring
How to Hire FPGA Engineers (When Almost None of Them Are Looking)
FPGA engineering is one of the tightest talent markets in tech: a small population, deeply specialized, and almost entirely passive. A job posting will not reach them. Here is what works instead.