katie dolgin

Talent Matchmaker | Founder | Connecting Top Talent with YC/VC-Backed Startups, Scaleups | 🇨🇦 and 🇺🇸 | Hiring or looking to join a startup? DM me

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

I'm partnering with a number of high-growth, VC-backed startups from Seed through Series C that are actively hiring in Toronto, San Francisco and remote. 🚀

Some of the roles I'm recruiting for:
🔥 Growth
🔥 Account Executives
🔥 Applied AI Engineers
🔥 Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs)
🔥 Platform Engineers
🔥 Product Engineers

These are ambitious teams building exciting companies, with opportunities for real ownership, impact and growth.

And here's the best part: I can introduce you directly to the founders and hiring decision-makers. No getting lost in a pile of applications.

If you're exploring your next move, quietly looking, or know someone great who might be, send me a message or drop a comment.

I'd love to help make the right introduction. ❤️

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

🚨 HIRING: Frontier AI | SF, NYC & LA 🇺🇸
I'm recruiting for several exciting opportunities with frontier AI companies across Research, Engineering and Strategy.

These are high-impact roles for people who want to build at the forefront of AI.

🔬 Frontier AI Research

Head of Research: $500K–$800K + equity
Applied Research Scientists: $300K–$600K + equity

💻 Engineering & Strategy | $150K–$300K+
Forward Deployed Engineers
Members of Technical Staff
Strategic Project Leads

What are these teams building?
Infrastructure that makes frontier AI models more capable through reinforcement learning.

Think high-fidelity RL training environments, trajectory datasets, reward functions, evaluation frameworks and post-training research.

This is cutting-edge work that directly impacts how leading AI models learn, reason and improve.

Who am I looking for?
→ 0-to-1 builders. People who have actually built something from scratch, not just joined once the hard part was done.

→ Research talent with hands-on reinforcement learning and post-training experience, ideally from frontier labs such as OpenAI or Google DeepMind.

→ Research leaders who have built and led exceptional teams while remaining close to the technical work.

→ High-agency engineers and operators who can navigate ambiguity, take ownership and ship.

📍 Must be US-based |
🚀 0-to-1 building experience is essential

I'm looking for people who don't wait to be told what to build. They figure it out and make it happen.

Interested, or know someone exceptional? DM me directly! 😊
#Hiring #FrontierAI #ArtificialIntelligence #ReinforcementLearning #AIResearch #Engineering #Startups

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

🚨 HIRING: Applied AI Engineers | Canada & US | Remote 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
Everyone is building AI agents.
Far fewer are building agents that work reliably in production.
That's the problem my client, a $100M-backed AI company, is solving.

They're building AI-native apps for email, calendars, notes and everyday productivity.
AI that doesn't just respond to prompts.
It remembers context. Takes action. Runs multi-step workflows. Recovers when things go wrong.

I'm looking for engineers who have BUILT, not just experimented.

→ Strong Python and backend engineering
→ Hands-on LLM integration and agent orchestration
→ Tool calling, multi-step workflows and persistent memory
→ Evaluation, observability and production reliability
→ The ability to take an ambiguous problem and own it end to end
→ Bonus: TypeScript, Node.js or React

Using Claude Code or Cursor is great.
Building the systems behind AI agents is a different skill set.
Small team. Big ambition. Real technical ownership.

If you've shipped AI products real users depend on, show me.

👇 Link to apply in the comments, or DM me something you've built.
#Hiring #AppliedAI #AIEngineering #LLM #AgenticAI #SoftwareEngineering

Check out this job from Found People Inc. https://t.co/u5Ygz09HlK

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

📷
Katie Dolgin

• You

Talent Matchmaker | Founder @ Found People | Boutique Recruitment Connecting Top Talent with VC-Backed Startups, Scaleups, and SMBs | | 18 Years Building High-Performance Teams | ex-Management Consultant | 🇨🇦 and 🇺🇸
Visit my website
23h
🚨 HIRING: 2 Software Engineers | Downtown Toronto | 4 days in office
💻 Python | AI | Data
🚀 Junior + Intermediate | New Grad – 6 years

Plenty of engineers can build what's asked of them.
Far fewer can figure out what actually needs to be built.
These two work directly with investment professionals to solve real business problems.

We're hiring two engineers for a fast-growing Toronto private equity firm.

What you'll build:
→ AI-native applications that reason across financial data and documents
→ Portfolio analytics that reveal what's driving investment value and returns
→ APIs and data pipelines connecting it all

What we're looking for:
→ Production software you've personally built, shipped and supported
→ Python (or JS/TS), APIs, databases and data workflows
→ Hands-on AI-assisted development, with the judgment to tell a great demo from a dependable product
→ Strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to navigate ambiguity

Here's what matters most:
They're looking for problem solvers who ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, and own solutions from idea through production.

Skip the cover letter. DM me five lines:
The problem.
What wasn't clear.
How you figured it out.
What you built.
The impact.

Know someone exceptional? Tag them or send them my way.

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

It’s been a while, so I figured I’d reintroduce myself 👋

I’m Katie Dolgin, Founder & CEO of Found People.

I started my career in management consulting, working in San Francisco, South Africa and Toronto, before moving into search in 2006.

I’m also a McGill grad in Mathematics and Anthropology, which probably explains why I’ve always approached recruiting a little differently: part pattern recognition, part people judgment, part problem solving. Found People

For the past 18+ years, I’ve been helping startups, growth companies and larger organizations find the people who actually move the needle.

Today, most of my work is across AI, engineering, ML/data, product, marketing, sales and leadership in Canada and the US. Found People has made 500+ placements, and a huge amount of our work comes from repeat clients and referrals. Found People
I’m less interested in filling seats than finding the right fit.

The people I spend most of my time talking to usually aren’t actively applying anywhere. They’re strong at what they do, curious about what else is out there, and would move for the right problem, team, ownership and upside.

And that’s still my favourite part of recruiting:
Finding someone exceptional before they’re looking.
Understanding what would genuinely excite them.
And making an introduction that can change the trajectory of a career, or a company.

If you’re quietly wondering what’s next, or you know someone exceptional I should meet, DM me.

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

Have you ever built a data platform from scratch?

Not inherited one.
Not maintained one.
Built it.

I'm hiring the first dedicated data platform engineer at a DefenseTech startup putting smart sonar buoys in the ocean. The buoys listen below the surface, stream acoustics over satellite, and ML turns it into tracks on a map: submarines, underwater drones, surface traffic.

The backend exists. Nobody owns the data. The ML team needs clean, labeled, reproducible datasets. That's you.

~15 people from SpaceX, Anduril, Palantir, Saronic. Buoys already in the water. $28M raised.

You should be able to tell me:
- What existed before you arrived
- What you designed
- What you built yourself
- Who depended on it
- What broke as it scaled
- What you'd do differently now

If your answer to "who depended on it" is an ML team, even better.

📍 Remote OK, LA strongly preferred
💰 $200–240K USD + 0.25–0.5% equity
🇺🇸 US Citizenship required

DM me.

#hiring #dataplatform #dataengineering #defensetech

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

I’m looking to connect with talented people in NYC, SF and Washington who are open to joining high-growth startups backed by YC and top VCs.

Currently looking for:
• Software Engineers
• Product Engineers
• Forward Deployed Engineers
• Growth Leads
• Account Executives
• Strategy & Operations

Compensation: $150K–$500K+ depending on role and experience.

If you’re exploring your next opportunity or know someone who is, I’d love to connect. ❤️

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

Most engineers with "AI" on their resume have never shipped an AI product to real users.
I'm looking for the ones who have.

I'm hiring Senior Applied AI Engineers for a seed-stage startup building AI-powered coaching for leaders.

$180K–$210K USD + equity · Fully remote (US )

Their thesis: AI shouldn't replace the human coach. It should make the coach better.

You'd be building:
→ AI agents and AI-native product experiences on foundation models
→ Workflows that make human coaches sharper, not redundant
→ 0→1 products with real customers, not sandboxes

Who fits:
→ 8–10 years in, with real startup ownership
→ Full-stack, product-minded, and you've shipped AI into production
→ Comfortable making calls with founders on incomplete information

The test: can you walk me through an AI product you personally owned? The idea, the technical calls, the launch, and what happened when real users got their hands on it.

If yes, DM me. If you know someone who can, send them my way.

#hiring #AI #startups

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

Perplexity's CEO said AI would make recruiters obsolete within six months.

That was 14 months ago.

Today Perplexity is hiring a Technical Recruiter. $160K–$200K.

Anthropic just posted a Head of EMEA Recruiting. £185K–£220K.

I've been saying the same thing since the first "recruiting is dead" headline landed. Usually to people who assumed I was in denial about my own job.

Recruiting is judgement. Reading people. Knowing when something doesn't add up. Knowing how to close the person everyone else wants.

AI will change recruiting. It won't replace great recruiters.

Even the AI companies seem to agree.

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

Hiring exceptional Forward Deployed AI Engineers in DC.

Early-stage AI company. Real U.S. Government deployments. Agentic systems. High ownership.

Looking for:

Python
LLMs / RAG / agents / tool use
FDE or applied AI experience
Strong technical judgment
Comfortable with customers
Clearance / GovTech / defense = huge plus

$150K–$250K + equity
DC | In person
DM me if this sounds like you.

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. is hiring! Apply now for the position of Sr UX/UI Designer https://t.co/yW0BPPTGLC

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. is hiring! Apply now for the position of Customer Success Manager https://t.co/l9amdoMGN7

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. tech client is hiring! Apply now for the position of VP Engineering https://t.co/BII0c560yY

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC.'s client is hiring! Apply now for the position of Account Manager https://t.co/7lUVVFHeb9

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. is hiring! Apply now for the position of Product Manager https://t.co/3kTNjIaHuX

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. tech client is hiring! Apply now for the position of VP Engineering https://t.co/BII0c560yY

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. is hiring! Apply now for the position of Recruiter https://t.co/haTOPOZld7

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC.'s client is hiring! Apply now for the position of Account Manager https://t.co/7lUVVFHeb9

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. is hiring! Apply now for the position of Private Wealth Specialist https://t.co/TUAzljlzx3

[katie dolgin @katiedolgin]

FOUND PEOPLE INC. tech client is hiring! Apply now for the position of VP Engineering https://t.co/BII0c560yY