Startup Hiring in the UK — Where Founders Post Jobs

UK startup founders post jobs on a small set of free channels (LinkedIn, Hacker News Who's Hiring, founder personal networks, Twitter/X, Indie Hackers, Wellfound), graduating to paid boards (Otta, Welcome to the Jungle, LinkedIn promoted, GeraJobs, Indeed sponsored) only once the warm-network channel runs dry — usually around hire five. The free channels fill pre-seed and seed roles the fastest; paid channels are necessary once you need to hit a 6-week timeline or hire outside your immediate network.

The four phases of startup hiring in the UK

Founders we've talked to consistently describe four phases, each with a different best channel:

• Phase 1 (founder + first 2-3 hires): 100% network. Founder's Twitter/X, LinkedIn, investor intros, co-founder's ex-colleagues. Paid boards are almost never used here.
• Phase 2 (hires 4-10): Network runs thin. Add Hacker News Who's Hiring, Otta / Welcome to the Jungle, Wellfound, and low-cost flat-rate boards (GeraJobs £29/month). LinkedIn promoted posts start here.
• Phase 3 (hires 11-30): Structured hiring. Dedicated recruiter, Workable or Greenhouse ATS, LinkedIn Recruiter seat (£700-£1,200/month), Otta subscription, agency relationships.
• Phase 4 (hires 30+): Employer brand. Careers page matters. Contribute to meetups, sponsor conferences, run campus recruitment. Job boards become one of many channels.

Free channels — where it actually works

• Founder's personal Twitter/X post: still the highest signal-to-noise channel for technical pre-seed/seed hires. Post the role, pin it, reply to every DM within 24 hours.
• Founder's personal LinkedIn post: larger audience than Twitter for non-technical roles; works well for commercial, ops, sales, marketing hires. Employee-referral mechanic amplifies reach.
• Hacker News Who's Hiring: first-of-the-month thread. US and UK startups compete on the same thread; if you follow the format (Company | Role | Location | Tech | Link) you get serious technical applicants within 72 hours.
• Indie Hackers: #hiring topic; good for bootstrapped, product-led startups.
• Wellfound (ex-AngelList): free core plan; works best for early-stage with public compensation bands and equity.
• Company careers page + GitHub profile + Twitter profile: the base layer every other channel points back to.
• Investor lists: most UK investors (Seedcamp, Notion, LocalGlobe, Balderton, Passion, Hoxton, Index, Accel) maintain portfolio-only job boards and will promote to their LP network. Free.

Paid channels — ranked by £/hire

1. GeraJobs (£29/month, 10 posts): cheapest flat-rate for a startup running 2-10 active roles. UK + international coverage with AI-matched applicants. Free for applicants, so volume is strong. Works well for remote-friendly roles.
2. LinkedIn promoted jobs (£8-£20/day): fastest volume; targets passive candidates. Good for London-specific roles. Budget £150-£500 per role.
3. Otta (from £299 per role): highest-quality UK applicants for product/engineering/design roles. Pre-filtered for startup-curious candidates.
4. Welcome to the Jungle (from £420/month): similar audience to Otta, stronger in continental Europe.
5. Indeed sponsored (£0.10-£5/click): widest reach but less startup-curious audience; good for ops/commercial/customer-service roles.
6. Totaljobs / Reed / CV-Library (£150-£300/role): volume UK boards; better for non-technical roles.
7. Hired / Dice / Stack Overflow (£varies): sender-pays for technical roles; Hired works inverse-auction style.
8. Agency recruiters (15-25% of first-year salary): last resort. Reserve for roles where time-to-hire is the binding constraint and a £15,000 fee is cheaper than a 12-week vacancy.

Writing a job description that converts

Most UK startup job descriptions are too long, too vague, and don't surface the three things candidates need to know first: the salary band, the working model (remote/hybrid/office), and the company's funding and runway.

• Lead with salary band. "£80,000-£110,000 + equity" — no "competitive", no "DOE". Salary transparency is now table stakes and required by law in some EU jurisdictions.
• State the working model in the title or first line. "Fully remote UK" / "Hybrid 2 days London" / "On-site Edinburgh".
• Name the funding round and runway. Strong signal of stability. "Series A, 18 months runway, 15 people."
• Keep it under 600 words. Role, responsibilities, requirements, nice-to-haves, interview process, compensation, benefits. Candidates stop reading past 600 words.
• Describe the interview process — 4 stages / 3 weeks / what each stage entails. Reduces no-shows and dropouts.

What to pay your first five hires

UK startup compensation benchmarks (Seedcamp / Balderton / Notion Capital 2026 comp surveys averaged):

• First engineer (founding): £70,000-£95,000 base + 0.5-2% equity.
• Second / third engineer: £75,000-£110,000 base + 0.25-0.75% equity.
• Head of product (seed): £85,000-£125,000 base + 0.5-1.5% equity.
• Head of sales (commercial): £75,000-£120,000 OTE + 0.25-0.75% equity.
• Head of operations: £65,000-£95,000 + 0.1-0.5% equity.

London premium: add roughly 10-20% base on top of these ranges for London-based roles competing with corporates and US scale-ups.

A practical 30-day hiring plan

1. Day 1: Write the JD (600 words max, salary + work-model up top). Post to founder LinkedIn + Twitter. Email 20 people in network.
2. Day 2-3: Post to Hacker News Who's Hiring (if it's first of the month), Wellfound, Indie Hackers, GeraJobs.
3. Day 4-7: If warm-network hasn't surfaced 3+ strong candidates, add LinkedIn promoted (£250 budget) and Otta (£299).
4. Week 2: Run screens. Aim for 5-8 first-round calls.
5. Week 3: Technical interview + on-site / remote loop.
6. Week 4: References + offer + close. If no hire in 4 weeks, review JD, widen salary band, re-post.

Related reading

• Free vs Paid UK Job Boards Compared
• How to Find UK Tech Jobs in 2026 (Complete Guide)
• Visa Sponsorship for Skilled Workers: 2026 Landscape