New comment by _zachs in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2026)"

MeritFirst | Senior Software Engineer | Austin, TX (ONSITE) | Full-time

MeritFirst helps companies hire on demonstrated ability instead of pedigree. Candidates take realistic work-sample assessments, and employers get a signal they can trust more than a resume. We are backed by 8VC and Slow Ventures.

The hard part is building a signal good enough to influence real hiring decisions: fair to candidates, predictive for employers, explainable, and hard to game.

What you'll build:

- The product candidates use to prove what they can do

- The product employers use to find and hire them, and the scoring behind it

- The engineering bar the next hires will inherit, and helping us hire them

Stack: TypeScript, React, Next.js, Postgres.

We want people who have built and run real production software, debug from evidence, and do not need a fully specified roadmap. Early engineers, technical founders, and senior ICs do well here.

We use AI to move faster and to understand code better, but we do not blindly ship what it writes. You are expected to know and own every line you commit.

Start with the assessment: https://www.meritfirst.us/candidate/tests/40bfae94-dbf6-43fd...