How Top Engineers Get Hired in a Tough Market - Recruiter Q&A with Cubiq × CoderCo

​About This Event

​The hiring market is tough for most… but some candidates are always landing roles well above £100k+ across DevOps, AI and Robotics.

​This CoderCo × Cubiq collaborative session brings you direct access to a recruiter who hires for real, high-impact technical teams.

​In this live session, Kiera Johnson, Head of Software Recruitment at Cubiq, shares how hiring decisions are actually made when companies are competing for top engineering talent.

​This is a live, recruiter-led Q&A, grounded in real hiring experience across:

• ​AI, Robotics & Autonomy

• ​High-growth startups and scale-ups

• ​Large, established tech organisations

• ​Senior and specialist engineering roles

​No generic career advice. No LinkedIn buzzwords. Just real insight from the hiring side of the table.

Session Format:

​This session will be run as a live, recruiter-led Q&A:

​1. Introduction & Market Context

• ​Kiera’s background and the markets she hires in

• ​Nuances of hiring in AI, Robotics, and modern software roles

• ​What’s genuinely different about the market right now

​2. Targeting the Right Companies

• ​Differences in approach when targeting:

  • ​Startups and scale-ups

  • ​Larger, established organisations

• ​What candidates commonly misunderstand about each

​3. Hiring Reality Check

• ​Why applying alone is increasingly unlikely to be successful

• ​How roles are actually filled behind the scenes

• ​Where recruiters, referrals, and networks really make the difference

​4. Live Q&A

• ​In-demand hard and soft skills

• ​Role types companies are prioritising

• ​What consistently separates strong candidates

• ​Open audience questions (moderated)