We only bring you the one hire that actually matters.

Hits Only is a boutique executive search firm for exceptional engineers and technical leaders — AI, infrastructure, crypto, fintech, distributed systems, developer tools, security, and applied AI.

Start a search How we work
Positioning

Not the biggest search firm. The one you trust when there's only one hire that matters.

Every candidate, message, and recommendation is built on evidence — not keywords, not a matched tech stack. We recruit founders' future teammates.

Signal over volume

Success isn't pipeline size or message count. It's placements that hold up a year later and founders who call back for the next hire.

Evidence, not inference

We never invent experience, assume technologies, or infer leadership. If it's not evidenced, it's not claimed.

Precision outreach

Every message answers why this person, why this company, why now. If it doesn't, we don't send it.

AI Infrastructure Crypto Fintech Distributed Systems Developer Tools Security Applied AI
Recent placements at
Polygon WalletConnect / Reown Rainbow Wallet Fun.xyz Merit Circle
Evaluation Framework

How we assess engineers

Not a scorecard. A read on trajectory, ownership, and startup fit — always explained, never just scored.

01

Ownership

What did they actually drive end to end, not just contribute to.

02

Technical difficulty

The hardness of the problems they've chosen to work on.

03

Company quality

The bar of the teams that have already vetted them.

04

Product impact

Whether the engineering moved a real business outcome.

05

Architecture & leadership

Systems-level thinking and how they influence people around them.

06

Startup DNA, communication, learning velocity, marketability

Fit for the pace, clarity, and ambiguity of an early team.

Track Record

Highlight placements

A mix of named and anonymized, based on client and candidate confidentiality.

Head of Stablecoins
Polygon
Chief Product Officer
Polygon
Head of Developer Relations
Polygon
Rust Engineer
WalletConnect / Reown
Staff React Native Engineer
Rainbow Wallet
Backend & Product Engineer
Fun.xyz
CTO
Merit Circle

+ many more across crypto, fintech, and AI. Title + company only — no candidate names disclosed without explicit sign-off.

Who's behind it

One recruiter. Every search.

Josh Markowitz
Josh Markowitz
Founder, Hits Only

Josh recruited in-house at Polygon and built his craft in agency recruiting before that — breaking placement records and getting promoted faster than anyone around him along the way. Eight years in, hundreds of placements across crypto, fintech, and AI, worldwide. No bench of junior recruiters, no volume plays: every search, every message, and every candidate conversation still runs through him directly.