Lookahead

We work with Australia's best software teams across five ways of engaging.

From a single permanent hire to our team embedded in yours, your next CTO or just an AI engineer by the day.

Register as a client
Permanent hiring service card

Permanent Hiring

We hire anyone in a software team. Most of our recruiters have been developers or product managers, so we have empathy for the job, a sharp eye for what great looks like, and strong existing networks.

Roles we place

  • Software developers
  • ML engineers
  • Data engineers
  • DevOps
  • Product managers
  • UX researchers
  • Designers
  • Forward deployed engineers
Contract hiring service card

Finding the missing piece in Thinkmill's project team

Contract Hiring

Same rigour, different engagement. We source contractors who are immediately effective, technically sharp and a genuine fit for your team - not just available.

Whether you need someone to lead a project, cover a gap or add capacity during a growth period, we'll find the right person fast.

Roles like

  • Contract engineers
  • Delivery leaders
  • Designers
  • Cloud engineers
Executive search service card

Accidentally hiring a unicorn cofounder

Executive Search

Leadership hires are make or break. We run targeted, discreet searches for CTOs, VPs and senior product or engineering leaders who can lift both culture and capability.

Our approach prioritises depth over volume with calibrated shortlists, high-context briefing and close partnership through offer stage.

Technical leadership roles

  • Chief Technology Officer
  • VP Engineering
  • Chief Product Officer
  • Design Director
  • Head of Security
  • Founding Engineer
Embedded recruitment service card

Bringing the band together, fast.

Embedded Recruitment

For teams growing quickly, we embed directly into your business and run the hiring workflow end-to-end. You get dedicated sourcing, screening and stakeholder coordination without needing to build an internal recruiting team overnight.

You get a dedicated hiring team that scales up and down quickly to match your hiring pace.

Right there with you

  • Talent strategy
  • Interviewer training
  • Sourcing
  • Screening
  • Hiring ops
The Thinkmill office and team

Contract Hiring

Thinkmill are a bit of a dream team in the JavaScript community.

As a consulting company, they spin up teams quickly for companies like Atlassian and Dovetail. They have a strong permanent roster, but occasionally we help them fill critical gaps in dev and design.
Ben and Dave from Employment Hero

Executive Search

This is a project we'll never forget. Ben was the dream client and we ran a retained executive search process to hire his CTO. After an exhaustive process, Dave landed the top job. We can't take credit for Dave becoming co-founder because that was all his great work, but it still makes us proud.
The Qsic team

Embedded Recruitment

Qsic won a major contract and needed to scale their tech team quickly to deliver. Hiring an internal recruiter was an option, but they went with us because we could get started right away and get better results for the price.

We prioritised hiring an Engineering Manager and Head of Product. With those people in place, Qsic's capacity to interview increased and we went from one to four Lookahead recruiters. This allowed us to bring in the right volume of qualified candidates to meet their hiring goals. This allowed us to successfully fill various roles in software engineering, data, IT support, and customer success. This project was especially enjoyable as the seniority levels were flexible, giving Qsic the best shot at hiring for values fit. We also leveraged our community connections, working closely together to uncover warm referrals and passive talent.

AI Adult Supervision

Been Claudin'? Same here. We have a panel of senior engineers who ensure your app is architected properly, deployed securely and that you're getting the most out of these tools.

Each one we know personally, some for more than a decade. Not just technical - they can explain the hard parts clearly and build your confidence as you build your app.

How it works:

  1. 1. Book a call
  2. 2. We match you with the right engineer
  3. 3. $1800 + GST per day
  4. 4. Not the right fit? Full refund, no questions asked.
“We're building an AI Studio at Slattery — agentic systems, AI-augmented operations, a genuine transformation of how an auction business runs. Hiring for that is hard: the roles barely existed two years ago. Lookahead got it immediately. They found us our first Principal AI Engineer who is now leading the AI Studio. Finding proven AI engineering talent in this market is the hardest hiring challenge in tech right now, and Lookahead delivered. I'd recommend them to any leader building serious AI capability.”
James BrettJames BrettCTO at Slattery Grays
Two Lookahead engineers reviewing code together on a laptop

AI Contractors

AI code, human reviewed.

Been Claudin'? Same here.

We have a panel of senior engineers who make sure your app is architected properly, deployed securely, and getting the most out of tools like Claude Code and Codex.

Each one we know personally — many for more than a decade. They're experienced engineers who have seen the gotchas so you don't have to, and they can explain the hard parts clearly while you build.

How it works

  1. Book a call with us

    We'll talk through what you're building, where you're stuck, and match you with someone who's seen it before.

  2. Pay for a day

    $1,800 + GST for a day with a senior engineer — pair on architecture, security, code review, or all three.

  3. Get building

    Share your availability and we'll book the engineer accordingly. Show up, ship more than vibes.

A guaranteed match

If the first day doesn't work for you, you get your money back. We've been placing technical roles since 2012 — more than 1,000 senior engineers, designers, and product folk — so we know what good looks like, and what good looks like for your team.

Get started now Or join the waitlist for lower-cost options

Got questions or feedback? Drop us a line at hi@lookahead.com.au.