Startups went remote, this is my playbook to find jobs there
Hey,
I'm Sergio Pereira, and this is the Remote Work newsletter 👋
Last week I answered the question "Will AI tools replace Software Developers?". It's a heated up discussion right now, I felt the need to share my optimism amidst all the doom and gloom I'm reading every day.
Today I'm telling you about the massive shift I'm seeing in Startup team compositions. Most Startups I speak with have:
• Non-technical Founders
• A small tech team of contractors in LCOL countries
• Everyone working remote
Of course this creates a big gap in tech leadership, and that's why these startups hire me (or many others) as a Fractional CTO. It's the perfect trade off to bring an experienced CTO at the cost of an inexperienced full timer. Fractional CTOs are a natural backstop for costly mistakes in hiring, product development, vendor selection, investor due diligence, etc.
However, the opportunities are beyond the fCTO role. Who are those contractors? I can tell you, because I'm many times the one who hires them:
• Senior Engineers who love to code and to be individual contributors
• Used to working part time or fixed scope engagements
• Happy to charge higher rates than they would on a full time job in their country
Not everyone loves the non-determinism, I understand that. But many people do love the flexibility that comes with a Fractional career (myself included!).
In many cases, these fractional roles end up evolving into exciting full time opportunities, in cases where the startup grows and needs a fully committed team.
So, the question is: How can you find those high paying remote jobs, either Fractional or full time?
Most times these roles aren't published on job boards, and I'm a good example of that. Every week I publish the open roles in my teams in this newsletter before I publish them elsewhere. In fact, that was the main reason why I build the JobsCopilot.
If you want a role in a startup, you need to understand a few basic things:
1/ Startups are small
Most startups don't yet have an HR team or person, it's probably the Founder who's in charge of the interview process still. Don't simply apply to the open position on their website. Go around, connect with the Founder on Linkedin and message them. They are very busy, but if you're the solution for the gap in their team you've likely skipped a line of hundreds of applicants.
2/ Founders are outspoken
Many times Founders and CTOs will simply write a post on Linkedin or X when they are hiring. If you follow companies you're interested in, or relevant people in a certain space, you might spot these opportunities before most people see them, and apply early and directly to the founder or CTO.
3/ Startup's processes are ad hoc
If you went to an interview and didn't hear anything back from them, follow up with your interviewer. Very often other priorities come up and they are just procrastinating on the recruiting process. Again, by showing up you'll likely standout, in case your profile is considered relevant for the role.
4/ Startups have their very own culture
You need to be a bit a jack of all trades, rather than a specialist in one thing. You also need to be curious about new technologies and vendors in the company's industry. And above all, you need to have a very high level of ownership and accountability. Bring all this to the interview, with concrete examples from your past jobs, and you'll be a step closer to the offer.
In case you're looking for a remote role right now, these are the open roles in my teams:
Opportunities to work with me
• React Native Engineer - 2 people to build a fixed scope app for now, but will likely evolve into fractional retainer after that.
• React.js Engineer - To build the web functionality of the above mentioned app. Also project based for now.
• Backend Engineer (Node.js + AWS) - To build the whole backend of the app from scratch. Also project based for now.
• QA Engineer - With experience in both manual and automated testing, in a mobile app context. Fractional and project based.
• AI Engineer - With experience building AI agents and genAI-enabled features. Experience in fintech or risk scoring more broadly would be great too. Fractional at first, but should evolve into full time soon.
• Mobile Engineer (iOS) - To take over the development of a native iOS app. Fractional.
If you're interested in any of these roles, simply drop me your CV/linkedin and a quick intro paragraph, as a reply to this newsletter email (or a DM on X/Linkedin).
These are just a few remote opportunities, there's thousands more out there in remote startups. Only this week I saw 160k+ new jobs being ingested at Jobs Copilot, at least 55k of those are remote jobs.
This is how the JobsCopilot works:
1/ Your auto-application profile
Once you switch to the Premium plan, you'll be prompted to fill in a profile section with your replies to common demographic questions found in job application forms:
2/ Your auto-apply flow
Besides that initial setup, you'll now find this new button in the jobs card. Just click the "Auto Apply" button on the jobs that are relevant to you, and that will trigger the auto-apply backend flow (no application is sent before your final revision):
3/ Application form is fetched and pre-filled for you
All jobs you've ticked "Auto Apply" are moved to the "Jobs to Apply" tab. And for each of them our backend pulls the application form, and our AI generates replies to each of the form questions based on the job description and your profile. Within a couple minutes you can find the pre-filled job application form in each job card:
4/ One-click confirmation
For now, I'm requiring you to review and click this submit button for every job, as I want you to feel in control of your applications, and I want to capture feedback on quality of this flow. I might make it more automated upon some configs in the future.
Once you submit a job for Auto Apply, the copilot will submit your application in the following minutes/hours (depending on work load). You'll get these messages on your email on a frequent basis, like I'm receiving on a daily basis:
Thanks for reading this newsletter until the end. You can read all past editions here. Make sure to share it with your friends and colleagues so they can read it too.
See you next Friday,
Sergio Pereira,
Startup CTO & Remote Work Lover
