Hiring software engineers, data scientists and other specialized talent remains one of the most persistent challenges in recruiting. These roles are highly competitive, candidate-driven and often require niche skills that general job boards fail to surface effectively.
To fill hard-to-hire positions, companies increasingly rely on hiring platforms built for specialized recruiting. These platforms combine targeted job distribution, curated talent networks, AI-powered sourcing and employer branding tools to help hiring teams connect with qualified candidates faster.
Best Platforms for Hiring Software Engineers and Data Scientists
- Built In
- Turing
- LHH
- Arc
- Wellfound
- SeekOut
- Andela
- hireEZ
- Eightfold AI
- daily.dev
Built In is an employer branding and recruitment platform that helps companies attract and convert specialized talent, including software engineers, data scientists and other highly-skilled professionals. The platform combines job distribution with structured employer profiles that highlight culture, compensation, benefits, leadership and growth opportunities, giving candidates deeper context when evaluating roles. A core component of the platform is its Employer Brand Reputation (EBR) framework, which helps organizations measure and understand how they are perceived across AI-powered search and answer engines that increasingly influence how these tech-savvy candidates research employers. These insights surface perception gaps around leadership, work environment, career growth and innovation, giving hiring teams actionable data to strengthen visibility in competitive talent markets.
Best fit for: Enterprise companies and SMBs hiring specialized roles that want to improve employer visibility and application quality through integrated branding and job distribution.
See how your employer brand is performing in AI tools like ChatGPT and Google.
SeekOut is an AI-powered talent sourcing platform designed to help recruiters identify and engage hard-to-find candidates, including software engineers, data scientists and other specialized technical professionals. The platform aggregates data from multiple sources and enables advanced filtering by skills, experience, diversity attributes and technical contributions such as patents or open-source work. SeekOut also provides talent insights and analytics to support strategic workforce planning for difficult-to-fill roles.
Best fit for: Enterprise and mid-market recruiting teams that need advanced sourcing capabilities to uncover passive technical talent beyond traditional job boards.
Andela is a global talent marketplace that connects companies with vetted software engineers and technical professionals across Africa, Latin America and other emerging markets. The platform focuses on long-term placements for roles in software engineering, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, data engineering and AI. Andela handles sourcing, technical screening and compliance logistics, enabling companies to access distributed technical talent beyond traditional hiring markets.
Best fit for: Organizations seeking to expand their engineering teams with vetted global talent across multiple time zones and emerging tech hubs.
Turing is a talent marketplace focused on connecting companies with remote software engineers and developers from a global network. The platform uses AI-driven vetting and matching to assess technical skills, experience and role fit before introducing candidates to employers. Turing manages sourcing, screening and administrative logistics, positioning itself as a structured pathway for hiring full-time remote engineering talent across frontend, backend, mobile, DevOps and AI roles.
Best fit for: Companies seeking pre-vetted remote software engineers with a streamlined hiring and onboarding process.
LHH is a global talent solutions provider that delivers recruitment services across professional and specialized roles, including technology, data and digital positions. Through its recruitment and talent advisory divisions, LHH supports companies with permanent placement, contract staffing and executive search, along with workforce planning and talent strategy. Its technology hiring capabilities span software engineering, cybersecurity, data analytics and IT leadership, supported by global sourcing infrastructure and market insights.
Best fit for: Enterprise and mid-market organizations seeking full-service recruitment support for specialized technology and data roles across multiple regions.
Arc is a remote talent marketplace focused on connecting companies with vetted software developers and technical professionals worldwide. The platform sources and screens candidates across frontend, backend, full stack and DevOps roles, with an emphasis on remote-ready engineers. Arc manages technical vetting and matching while offering flexible hiring models, including full-time, part-time and contract placements.
Best fit for: Companies looking to hire vetted remote software developers through flexible engagement models.
Wellfound is a hiring platform focused on startups and growth-stage companies, with a strong concentration of software engineers, product managers and data professionals. Candidates build profiles that highlight technical skills, startup experience and compensation preferences, enabling direct connections between hiring teams and talent. The platform supports transparent salary ranges and equity details, which can be especially important when competing for in-demand technical roles.
Best fit for: Startups and high-growth companies hiring software engineers or data talent who are specifically interested in startup environments.
hireEZ is an AI-driven outbound recruiting platform built to help teams source and engage hard-to-find talent, including software engineers, data scientists and other technical specialists. The platform aggregates candidate data from multiple public and proprietary sources, enabling recruiters to filter by skills, tech stacks and experience level. hireEZ also includes outreach automation, CRM functionality and talent analytics to support proactive hiring strategies for competitive technical roles.
Best fit for: Recruiting teams that rely on outbound sourcing to engage passive technical candidates at scale.
Eightfold AI is a skills intelligence platform that uses machine learning to match candidates to roles based on capabilities, career trajectory and potential rather than keyword alignment alone. The platform supports both external recruiting and internal mobility, helping organizations identify qualified candidates for complex roles such as software engineering, data science and AI development. Eightfold’s analytics layer provides insights into skills gaps and workforce planning, which can be valuable when hiring for specialized technical positions.
Best fit for: Enterprise organizations adopting a skills-based hiring approach for complex and hard-to-fill technical roles.
daily.dev is a developer-focused platform that aggregates programming news, open-source updates and technical discussions into a personalized feed used by software engineers and other technical professionals. Companies can use the platform for employer branding, targeted job promotion and direct engagement with an active developer audience. Because the user base is composed primarily of practicing engineers, it offers a niche channel for reaching technical talent where they already consume industry content.
Best fit for: Companies looking to promote engineering roles and build visibility directly within an engaged global developer community.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are software engineers and data scientists hard to hire?
These roles require specialized technical skills that are in high demand and short supply. Many qualified candidates are passive and not actively applying through traditional job boards.
Are general job boards effective for technical hiring?
General job boards can generate volume but often lack the filtering, niche targeting and technical validation needed for highly specialized roles.
What is the best way to attract passive technical candidates?
Combining AI-driven sourcing, strong employer branding and presence in developer-focused communities increases visibility with passive candidates.
Do AI recruiting platforms help fill hard-to-hire roles?
AI platforms can surface candidates based on skills, experience and inferred expertise, helping recruiters identify talent that may not appear in traditional searches.
