Hiring at Kilo Speed: The Process Reflects the Job
The best engineers we’ve hired could feel from the first conversation that Kilo Code is different, because the hiring process is different.
Our record is 48 hours from first conversation to offer.
Yes, this sounds like a flex, but I share it as signal about what we think hiring should feel like.
Most hiring processes are slow by design: multiple rounds, take-home projects, panel interviews, week-long delays between steps. More data points means better decisions (or so the logic goes). What actually happens is that great candidates accept other offers, mediocre candidates learn to perform the process, and everyone walks away a little worse for it.
We’ve designed for the opposite.
Four steps. That’s it.
The Kilo hiring process consists of three interviews, followed by a paid trial.
1. A conversation with me
After reviewing an application, I’ll reach out to set up time for us to talk. I don’t want to give away exactly what I’m looking for, but I’ll say this: it’s a friendly conversation, and usually that’s enough for me to know whether we should keep going.
2. A 25-minute technical interview with one of our engineers
We have engineers in EMEA and in the Americas who conduct interviews, so scheduling moves fast regardless of where you’re based.
The technical interview has a reputation for being a trap—a series of puzzles designed to see how you perform under artificial pressure. Ours is a real conversation with someone who does the work, mirroring the experience of how we actually operate. (Even candidates who don’t move forward often say it was the best technical interview they’ve been through.)
3. A final meeting with Scott, our CEO
At this point, we know a lot. The final conversation is about fit in the fullest sense—making sure we all feel good about moving forward together.
4. A paid trial
After the final meeting, if we’re moving forward, we make an offer—contingent on a 3-5 day paid trial. Candidates can start the trial right away, or if they’re currently employed, they schedule a few days off to do it. Either way, the trial is the final step: a short period of real work, together, before we both commit fully.
Why we designed it this way
I want to hire great people. Putting someone on a defensive back foot from their first interaction with us is a bad way to start.
A gotcha interview says: we test you before we trust you. It says: your job, from the first conversation, is to prove yourself to us. It frames the relationship as adversarial before it’s even begun.
Working at Kilo is a give-and-take. We want your best ideas, and we want to give you ours. We’re going to push each other, disagree, and figure things out together. If we don’t establish that from the very first conversation—if the first experience a candidate has with us is being tricked into a wrong answer in a 45-minute whiteboard session—why would that dynamic change just because they’re suddenly inside our Slack instead of outside of it?
The technical interview is designed to feel like working here. The engineer on the other side isn’t evaluating you from behind a rubric. They’re exploring a problem with you because that’s what our team does every day.
Speed and signal aren’t in tension
There’s a common assumption that speed comes at the cost of rigor. That if you want to hire well, you need time—more conversations, more data, more deliberation.
We think defaulting to more rounds and more hoops to jump through reflects a process that isn’t confident in what it’s measuring. At Kilo, we talk about Kilo Speed—a state of effortless flow where there are no unnecessary dependencies, blockers, or friction. It’s how we build our product, but it’s also how we hire.
When you know what you’re looking for and you’ve designed the process to surface it quickly, 48 hours is enough. A strong conversation, a collaborative technical, plus one final meeting gives us what we need. A slow process doesn’t make decisions more rigorous; it just adds steps that don’t tell you anything new.
The engineers at Kilo own their work end to end. They manage their own product areas, shipping features, working directly with community feedback and internal priorities simultaneously.
Why Our Engineers Own a Number, Not Just a Codebase
I interview a lot of engineers for Kilo, and something they always want to know is why and how engineers at Kilo own a whole product area. At most companies, this would be the job of at least 2-3 people, so how can one engineer do it all?
That requires someone who thinks clearly, communicates well, operates with autonomy, and wants to build things that matter. You’re never going to identify that person based on their performance on a data structures exam (no matter how much pressure you put them under).
A 25-minute collaborative technical tells you more about a candidate’s character than a four-hour take-home ever could.
What this means for candidates
If you apply to Kilo and we’re interested, you can expect a real conversation, a real technical, and a real decision—made quickly, by people who’ve actually talked to you.
We won’t make you wait a week between steps, or send a templated rejection letter six weeks later. We respect that you have other conversations happening, other opportunities moving, a life that doesn’t pause while we deliberate. And if we get to the end and we’re both feeling excited, we’ll ask for 3-5 days of your time: a trial period where you do real work (for real pay) with the team. It’s the most honest signal available, for both sides.
“Surviving” our process isn’t the point: we’re trying to find someone who wants to build with us. Those are different things, and the interview should reflect that difference from minute one.
What we’re looking for
If you’re an engineer who wants to own something real, work without unnecessary layers between you and the product, and operate in an environment where speed and quality aren’t mutually exclusive—let’s talk.
The bar may be high, but the process is fast, and the relationship starts from the very first conversation.
Interested in joining Kilo? Apply here.
