Nextdev is a recruiting firm that places AI-native software engineers. We work with companies of every size — from seed-stage startups hiring their first engineer to public companies adding contractors to existing AI teams. Every engineer is pre-vetted through real AI-assisted coding assessments.

How does Nextdev vet engineers?

Every engineer completes an AI-assisted coding assessment that measures how they direct AI tools — prompt strategy, debugging effectiveness, and the quality of shipped code — not just traditional algorithm puzzles. We track the skill that matters most in 2026: how productively a developer collaborates with AI.

Most clients see qualified candidates within 24-48 hours of submitting a request. Because every engineer is pre-vetted, you skip the weeks-long screening loop traditional recruiters require.

What kinds of engineers can I hire, and on what terms?

Full-stack, backend, frontend, ML, and AI infrastructure engineers across all common stacks. We place full-time hires, US-based W2 contractors for extended-workforce programs at larger companies, and remote contractors for teams hiring globally. Tell us what you need on the intake form.

How is Nextdev different from Toptal, Andela, or Mercor?

We're a recruiting firm, not a marketplace or staffing agency. Our engineers are pre-vetted specifically on AI-native skills — productive use of Claude Code, Cursor, and other AI coding tools — which is what determines engineer leverage in 2026. We focus on fit and quality, not volume matching.

AI-native engineer recruiting

Hire the top 1% of
AI engineers.

The engineers building the AI era. Matched to your team in days, not months.

Skills & Background

Salary Range

Experience

Commitment

A. M.

Exp: 7 years

Senior Software Engineer at Google with expertise in building scalable web applications. Previously built payments infrastructure at Stripe and core APIs at Plaid. Active open source contributor.

Expert inTarget Comp

ReactNode.js+1

$180k/yr

S. K.

Exp: 5 years

AI/ML Engineer building foundation models. Previously developed recommendation systems at Netflix. Strong background in deep learning, LLMs, and production ML systems.

Expert inTarget Comp

PythonPyTorch+1

$220k/yr

D. M.

Exp: 8 years

Principal Engineer at Uber building ride-matching infrastructure. Previously scaled observability systems at Datadog and built crypto exchange infrastructure at Coinbase. CNCF contributor.

Expert inTarget Comp

GoKubernetes+1

$200k/yr

E. W.

Exp: 6 years

Senior Frontend Engineer at Vercel building Next.js dashboard experiences. Previously led frontend at Shopify and built design tools at Figma. Passionate about performant and accessible web applications.

Expert inTarget Comp

ReactTypeScript+1

$170k/yr

Hire top talent from

View vetted top 1% engineers

Source, screen, & hire in under a week

Stop wasting time on bad hires and lengthy interviews. We pre-screen AI-native engineers so you only talk to candidates who can actually deliver.

S. K.

Exp: 5 years

AI/ML Engineer building foundation models. Previously developed recommendation systems at Netflix. Strong background in deep learning, LLMs, and production ML systems.

Expert in

PythonPyTorchLLMs

Full time

Available for 40+ hours/wk immediately

$220k/yr

AI Vetting Scorecard

98/100

Overall

18Tests Taken

Top 0.1%AI Mastery

Python

TypeScript

Claude

Verified via Nextdev Technical Vetting

Elite AI-Era Vetting

Our rigorous vetting process is designed for the AI developer age. We assess not just coding ability, but AI tool mastery and prompt engineering skills.

Live AI coding challenges

Cursor & Claude proficiency tests

Top 1% acceptance rate

Work Experience

Prestigious

Senior AI Engineer2022 - Present
OpenAI
- •Building large-scale language models and fine-tuning pipelines
- •Developed evaluation frameworks for model safety and alignment
- •Leading team of 4 engineers on multimodal AI projects
- •Published research on efficient model inference techniques
- •Reduced model serving costs by 45% through optimization
Machine Learning Engineer2019 - 2022
Netflix
- •Built recommendation engine serving 200M+ subscribers worldwide
- •Developed real-time personalization system increasing engagement by 12%
- •Implemented MLOps pipeline for continuous model training and deployment
- •Created A/B testing framework for ML experiments

Awards

•2023 OpenAI Research Award for contributions to model evaluation.
•2022 Netflix Tech Excellence Award for recommendation system improvements.

Education

Prestigious

M.S., Artificial Intelligence2017 - 2019
MIT
B.S., Computer Science2013 - 2017
UC Berkeley

Scale your engineering team on demand

Scale up in days, not months

Need three more engineers by next quarter? We have pre-vetted US engineers ready to start. Bring on elite talent for key roles and ramp up for launches—all without the traditional hiring bottleneck.

Your Engineering Team

Your Team

4 engineers · 2 focus areas · Active

Frontend

Amit C.

JavaScript/TS

$145k/yr

Michael T.

TS/Node

$155k/yr

Backend

Deepak R.

GoKubernetes

$200k/yr

Priya J.

Python

$165k/yr

AI Vetting

Vetting built for the AI era

Traditional interviews miss what matters most: how engineers actually build with AI. Our three-part screening finds engineers who ship faster with modern tools.

Cursor

Claude

Codex

React

Next.js

TypeScript

Python

JavaScript

PostgreSQL

Cursor

Claude

Codex

React

Next.js

TypeScript

Python

JavaScript

PostgreSQL

Cursor

Claude

Codex

React

Next.js

TypeScript

Python

JavaScript

PostgreSQL

GitHub Analyzer

Our AI scans GitHub profiles, contribution history, and repository quality to evaluate real-world engineering output and open source impact.

AI Technical Screener

Candidates complete AI-native coding assessments through our IDE extension. We evaluate how they build with modern AI tools.

LinkedIn Analyzer

Our AI parses LinkedIn profiles to surface engineers with proven track records—verifying elite work history and education credentials.

Join the engineers shaping the AI era

Nextdev engineers work with elite AI tools, earn competitive salaries, and ship products that matter.

Access.: Get matched to full-time roles at companies building the future. Your Nextdev profile opens doors that job boards never could.
Earnings.: Top companies pay top rates for engineers who ship faster. Your AI skills are finally worth what they should be.
AI-Native.: Work the way the future works with AI tools like Cursor & Claude Code. Use the tools that make you 10x more productive.

Frequently asked questions

: Nextdev is an AI-native recruiting firm that places top-tier software engineers. We specialize in finding engineers who build with modern AI tools like Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code — the engineers companies need most right now.
: We place software engineers across the stack: full-stack, frontend, backend, DevOps, and ML/AI. Our focus is on engineers who are fluent with AI-assisted development and can ship faster with modern tooling.
: We're engineers ourselves, and we recruit exclusively for engineering roles. We understand the tools, the workflows, and what separates a great AI-native engineer from the rest. That means better candidates, faster placements, and no wasted interviews.
: We offer a 90-day replacement guarantee. If an engineer doesn't meet your expectations within the first 90 days, we will find a replacement at no additional cost based on your feedback.
: We built IDE extensions for VS Code and Cursor that let engineers showcase their AI development skills in the same environment they use on the job. Engineers who complete the technical assessment get a verified profile that helps them stand out to companies.

Nextdev

Pre-vetted AI-native engineers.
Matched to your team in days, not months.

𝕏 in

Online

v3.0.1

Join the engineers shaping the AI era

Nextdev engineers work with elite AI tools, earn competitive salaries, and ship products that matter.

Access.

Get matched to full-time roles at companies building the future. Your Nextdev profile opens doors that job boards never could.

Earnings.

Top companies pay top rates for engineers who ship faster. Your AI skills are finally worth what they should be.

AI-Native.

Work the way the future works with AI tools like Cursor & Claude Code. Use the tools that make you 10x more productive.

Frequently asked questions

Nextdev is an AI-native recruiting firm that places top-tier software engineers. We specialize in finding engineers who build with modern AI tools like Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code — the engineers companies need most right now.

We place software engineers across the stack: full-stack, frontend, backend, DevOps, and ML/AI. Our focus is on engineers who are fluent with AI-assisted development and can ship faster with modern tooling.

We're engineers ourselves, and we recruit exclusively for engineering roles. We understand the tools, the workflows, and what separates a great AI-native engineer from the rest. That means better candidates, faster placements, and no wasted interviews.

We offer a 90-day replacement guarantee. If an engineer doesn't meet your expectations within the first 90 days, we will find a replacement at no additional cost based on your feedback.

We built IDE extensions for VS Code and Cursor that let engineers showcase their AI development skills in the same environment they use on the job. Engineers who complete the technical assessment get a verified profile that helps them stand out to companies.