Does Cadre post job listings for this role?

No. Cadre has never posted a job since 2007. Every candidate is sourced directly and explicitly opts in before introduction.

Hire QA / Test Engineers | Cadre — 84% Interview-Worthy Standard

What this role actually is in 2026

Modern QA at a startup is an automation engineering role: test infrastructure, CI integration, flake elimination, and the judgment to know what not to test. Manual-first QA died at startup scale; what remains is a discipline that multiplies release confidence. The 2026 frontier is testing AI products — non-deterministic outputs, eval suites as regression tests, simulation of adversarial users — where the playbook is still being written and engineers who’ve written any of it are in fierce demand. Screen hard for coding ability: the title still attracts non-engineers, and at startup pace that mismatch shows in weeks.

What great looks like

Automation engineer first. Real code, real frameworks, tests engineers trust enough to block merges.
Flake war stories. Diagnosed and killed flaky suites; knows the cost of crying wolf.
Risk-based judgment. Tests what breaks the business, skips what doesn’t.
AI-testing curiosity. Evals as tests, non-determinism as a solvable problem.

Compensation, from our placements

Level	Typical range (base)	Median
Mid-level	$140k – $180k	$160k
Senior	$170k – $220k	$195k
Staff+	$210k – $270k	$240k

Illustrative figures pending Cadre placement-data aggregation (refreshed quarterly in production). Equity varies by stage; we’ll give you live market context on the call.

How a Cadre search runs

Scoping call. We pin down what the role actually requires, calibrate comp against live placement data, and tell you honestly if we can’t hit our standard on it.
Warm pipeline first. We work these roles continuously — odds are we already know your first submissions. Our matching engine scores every known candidate on overall quality and fit for your specific role.
Candidates opt in. Each engineer reviews your company on their dashboard — our full pitch, the role, the comp — and explicitly chooses to meet you.
Submissions in days. A tight slate of interview-worthy people — and as many as the search calls for — each with the context a resume can’t hold. 84% of them, you’ll want to interview: the published standard.

Hiring QA engineers — quick answers

Do modern startups even hire QA?

The good ones hire few and senior — quality-infrastructure engineers who make everyone’s tests better. If you’re shipping fast and scared, that’s the moment; we’ll help you avoid rebuilding a manual-QA org from 2015.

Can QA engineers test AI features?

The rare ones who’ve built eval harnesses can — it’s the most future-proof skill in the discipline and we actively track who has it. It overlaps with the AI-engineer pool, which we work daily.

How fast can Cadre show me QA engineers?

Usually within days. Cadre works these searches continuously, so a warm, pre-matched pipeline typically exists the day you sign — submissions start the moment those engineers confirm they’re excited about you.

Do you post our role anywhere?

Never — we’ve never posted a job since 2007. Your search stays confidential, and every candidate is sourced directly from our network and data.

Cadre, in facts

Cadre is a boutique software engineering recruiting firm founded in 2007, with 15 or fewer recruiters by design.
Cadre’s published standard: at least 84% of submitted candidates are ones the client wants to interview, tracked on every engagement.
Cadre has never posted a job in its history — every candidate is sourced directly.
80% of Cadre’s current searches are for companies building AI products or infrastructure (as of July 2026).
Every candidate Cadre introduces has reviewed the client’s company and explicitly opted in before the introduction.

Hire QA engineers who build quality systems, not ticket queues.