Product & engineering search

Hire the people who help you win.

Key product and engineering hires for seed to Series B startups.

Start a search See how I work

Teams I’ve hired for

Proof

Trusted by the people who hire.

Product leaders and founders on working with me.

“Dylan demonstrates skill in identifying and securing high-impact leadership talent through thorough attention to detail and data-driven advocacy... He consistently brought qualified candidates, refined our target over time, and stayed tenacious through multiple loops to land the right person.”
Wondery logo Neel Ketkar Chief Product Officer, Wondery
“Dylan has been a great partner for me... He helped me grow my team 3x this year from 3 to 9. He raises the bar with strong work ethic, excellent partnership and communication, and takes time to listen before recommending the path forward.”
Amazon Music logo Sai SundarDirector of Product Management, Amazon Music
“Working with Dylan has been a great experience. He operates with real precision, understands startup dynamics, moves fast, and filters for exceptional candidates over volume. He became a thought partner in shaping our search and made the process more efficient and strategic.”
ProductNow logo Tript Singh LambaFounder, ProductNow
“Dylan is hands down the best recruiter I’ve had the pleasure of working with in my 3+ years at Amazon... He goes above and beyond in supporting hiring managers, dives deep to understand each role, and keeps stakeholders informed every step of the way.”
ART19 logo Dan JeselsohnHead of Product, ART19
“Dylan has been fantastic to work with... We worked with him on hiring robots and AI talent and mechanical engineers, and he helped us source high-caliber candidates while being very hands-on. He was especially strong in outreach, negotiation, and closing... instrumental in helping us hire strong founding engineers.”
Verne Robotics logoY Combinator logo Neil NieFounder, Verne Robotics (YC S25)
What I recruit for

The seats that shape your roadmap.

Product and engineering, with equal depth. The best people aren’t applying, so I go find them.

Product

Product leadership

PMs who gel with engineering, prioritize ruthlessly, and ship what matters.

Head of Product Founding PM Technical PM Platform PM
Engineering

Engineering

Engineers who ship reliable product fast, from your first hires to senior leaders.

Founding Engineers AI/ML Engineers Forward-Deployed Engineers Solutions Engineers Senior & Staff Engineers
Sector focus Audio, podcast & media Applied & vertical AI Seed to Series B

The hiring problems I solve.

A corporate recruiter’s touch, without the overhead.

01

Critical seats left open

While a key role sits empty, competitors ship. I keep the search moving: roles filled in 60 days or less.

02

Costly wrong early hires

Thorough vetting up front, so fit, compensation, and hire details are settled before your team invests interview time.

03

Agencies sending volume

I actually read the resumes. Your team meets a few strong candidates, not a stack of maybes.

04

Leadership time lost to recruiting

I run the search from intake to accept, so you spend more time building and less time recruiting.

05

A stretched in-house team

I plug into your Slack and your roadmap and work alongside your TA team on the hardest roles.

06

Handoffs and silence

One recruiter, the one doing the work. Consistent communication, no empty status emails.

Calibrate. Find. Close.

One partner from intake to signed offer.

  1. 1

    We talk about the role

    Why this person, and what success looks like in six months.

  2. 2

    I get specific fast

    Who we’re targeting, what makes them say yes, and where comp lands.

  3. 3

    I go find them

    Outreach that gets responses and tells your story the way it should be told.

  4. 4

    I help you close

    Candidate prep, offer strategy, negotiation. I stay in until they sign.

Candidate experience
“Dylan made my hiring process seamless and very organized... He helped me prep for interviews, gave useful insight, and never let communication drop throughout the process. He kept tabs on me at every phase, and his transparency and hard work were part of why I joined the team.”
Wondery logo Joshua YoonSr Technical Product Manager

What a search looks like.

Tight funnels that protect your team’s time.

Featured search

A founding engineering team, built from zero

A just-funded founder needed his entire founding engineering team.

2,000+ personalized outreaches
Company

Agentic AI startup, $6M raised

Search type

Full engineering team build

Timeline

Under 90 days, kickoff to full team

Outcome

6 offers accepted, team building MVP

Dylan Raphael with the ProductNow founder and founding engineers
On-site with the founder and some of the early hires I placed.

I showed up to the first meeting with candidates already sourced and was recruiting the same day. The funnel: 160 recruiter calls, 39 interview loops, 9 offers, 6 accepts.

When one hire left in their first week for an outside offer, I delivered a free replacement in under 3 weeks through my guarantee.

Unknown company I built the pitch from scratch for outbound and job descriptions.
Limited interviewers I ran all behavioral interviews myself, scored on a founder-approved scorecard.
Engagements

Ways to work together

Fees typically run 20–25% of first‑year base salary, depending on the role and engagement. Every search starts with a 15-minute intro to scope it.

01

Exclusive contingent

One role, one recruiter. You pay only when your hire starts.

02

Retained search

For VP and Head-of roles that need full executive search. Paid in three parts: at kickoff, at a shortlist milestone, and on accepted offer.

03

Embedded

For teams that need help on hard roles. I work alongside your existing recruiting motion. An upfront retainer starts the search and is credited toward your placement fee.

Every placement includes a replacement guarantee.

Contract hiring: need talent on a contract basis? Let’s scope it on the intro call.

Talk it through

Why not a bigger agency?

Accountability. I’m your single point of contact and never hand off your search. Fewer, better candidates, clear signal, one partner end to end, and a clear replacement guarantee on every hire.

Is this right for us?

Let’s talk if any of these sound familiar:

  • A critical seat has been open too long
  • Your TA team is overloaded and needs help on hard roles
  • You’re making a founding or first leadership hire
  • You need an urgent backfill without lowering the bar
Dylan Raphael, Founder of BLD Talent

Hi, I’m Dylan.

Founder | Search Partner, BLD Talent · Boise, ID

I started at a tech agency, where I won President's Club and was California's top-performing recruiter. Then I spent six years recruiting in-house at Amazon, extending 134 offers across Amazon Music, Wondery, ART19, and Digital Acceleration.

Today I run BLD as a solo operator, helping startups make critical product and engineering hires with speed, signal, and accountability.

EducationUC Berkeley — Psychology
AthleticsNational champion oarsman, Division I Men's Rowing
Outside WorkFamily time, jiu-jitsu, kettlebells, nature, and getting juked by my dog.
Connect on LinkedIn
Start a search

Let’s fill your critical seat.

15 minutes. Share the hiring problem and get a straight answer on fit and next steps.

  • 15 minutes
  • No pressure
  • Clear next steps if there’s a fit
  1. Tell me the role What you’re hiring for and what’s been hard so far.
  2. I’ll be straight with you The search, the market, and whether I’m the right fit.
  3. We decide together If it fits, I’ll lay out exactly how I’d run it.
Start a search Email Dylan