What do you actually need this person to do?
We start with the work, the outcomes, and the decisions the hire will own. That sharpens the profile and helps separate essential experience from a wish list.
TALENT INTELLIGENCE
Before you hire the wrong AI or technical leader, get a clear map of the market.
I help founders and growing teams pressure-test the role, map the talent market, and identify the kinds of people worth talking to before they spend weeks chasing the wrong candidates.
Technical Talent Mapping Sprint — starting at $1,500 USD
Send a job description, a rough brief, or the problem this hire needs to solve.
EXPERIENCE BUILT AT
Google X
Meta / Facebook
Senior expertise.
Human judgment.
CLARITY BEFORE COMMITMENT
The useful answer goes
beyond a list of names.
A candidate list only helps if you’re looking for the right person. This sprint tests the assumptions behind your search before you commit more time and budget.
Does the search match the talent out there?
I research candidate landscapes and relevant companies, then examine how your title, compensation assumptions, and positioning line up with the people you want to reach.
Know where to focus before you recruit.
You get a recommended profile, sourcing direction, and practical next steps—including what to adjust if the original brief doesn’t fit the market.
WHO IT’S FOR
You have a critical hire.
You need a clearer brief.
This is a useful first step if you’re defining your first AI role, hiring a technical leader, exploring an unfamiliar talent market, or revisiting a search that hasn’t worked. Candidate outreach and a managed hiring search can be scoped separately if that’s the next step.
FICTIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS
How the research becomes a useful decision
These examples show employer groups to investigate, evidence to seek and questions that remain open. The scenarios and records are invented.
FICTIONAL DEMONSTRATION
Mapping adjacent employers for an infrastructure hire
A research map comparing adjacent employer groups, transferable infrastructure skills and evidence still to verify.
FICTIONAL DEMONSTRATION
Researching an applied AI engineer for a support product
An applied AI engineer research brief with worked evidence notes, evaluation limits and focused follow-up questions.
START WITH THE ROLE
Tell me what this hire
needs to make possible.
Send the role or a rough brief. I’ll review the fit, and we’ll agree on the scope before the paid sprint begins.
Send me the role ↗hello@cjwooden.comAlready agreed on the sprint? Go to client payments →
MORE WORK SAMPLES