Not Just a Job, It’s a Ride
How we hire at Mergify
Hiring is easily one of the hardest jobs I’ve had to do at Mergify. Not because there aren’t smart people out there — there are. But because we’re not just hiring for skill. We’re hiring for mindset.
And let’s be honest: that’s a lot harder to screen for than technical chops.
When you’re building a startup, every new hire changes the shape of the team. Every person matters. You’re not adding a cog to a big machine — you’re inviting someone on the ride with you, and they’d better be ready for the speed bumps.
What We Actually Look For
At Mergify, we look for people who care. Not just about clean code or nice UI — but about the mission. The thing we’re building. The problems we’re solving. If what we’re doing doesn’t excite you, we’re not going to try to sell it to you. We want you to come in already leaning forward.
We’re looking for people who aren’t title-driven but outcome-driven. People who will get things done even when no ticket has been assigned or clear ownership has been defined yet. That happens a lot.
You need to bring ideas, not just execute someone else’s. We expect initiative, curiosity, and autonomy.
Autonomy Isn’t a Buzzword, It’s the Filter
Here’s a small story that stuck with me.
We had a candidate once who asked me during the interview, “Who’s in charge of breaking down the project into tickets?”
I said, “You are.”
That was enough to scare them off — and that’s OK. At Mergify, you’ll be expected to do exactly that. Define your work, structure your plan, ask questions when you need to — but no one’s going to hand you a Jira board and a user story spec for every task.
If that makes you nervous, we might not be the right place. If it makes you excited? You should talk to us.
Startups Are Messy. That’s the Point.
You can’t build a startup with neat little boxes around every role.
One week, you might be writing code. The next, you’re giving a talk at a meetup. The week after, you’re helping a customer figure out something weird in their CI pipeline.
We look for people who can jump between lanes without crashing the car. If you need clear job boundaries, startup life will drive you insane. But if you like wearing multiple hats (sometimes in one day), you’ll thrive here.
Hiring Mistakes: Yep, We Made Some
One of our early missteps? Underestimating how hard remote work can be — for some people.
We’re fully remote, and we love it. But not everyone is cut out for it. We’ve had brilliant engineers who struggled because they needed more structure, more hand-holding, and more real-time sync. And we’ve learned the hard way that great resumes don’t always mean great remote workers.
Now, we screen harder for that. Autonomy, again, is a big part of the puzzle.
Our Hiring Process (And Why We Meet in Person)
Our process is pretty standard on the surface:
👉 A technical test
👉 A technical interview
👉 A CEO chat
👉 An onsite interview
👉 Reference checks
We’ve documented the whole thing on our website, so there are no surprises.
But one thing we insist on: we meet you in person.
Remote or not, hiring is a human process. A real-life conversation can reveal things that a dozen Zoom calls won’t. We’ve avoided a few bad hires because we took the time to meet face-to-face.
Motivation Over Résumé
The biggest signal we look for? Why you want to join.
We try not to overexplain this part publicly, because it’s one of our most effective filters. But let’s just say: if your reason for leaving your current job is “looking for a remote job,” we’ll probably pass.
We want people who are actively choosing this kind of work, people who are ready for the ambiguity, the responsibility, and, yes, the chaos.
Hiring for Roles You Don’t Know? Brutal.
When we hired our first designer, it took us way longer than it should have. Why? Because we didn’t know how to assess the role.
If you’ve never done the job yourself, hiring for it is like ordering dinner in a language you don’t speak. You might get lucky, but you probably won’t.
We’ve learned to spend more time understanding what we actually need before we go looking for someone to do it. Sounds obvious. It’s not.
What’s Hard Now?
Right now, our biggest challenge is finding candidates who combine technical skill with startup DNA.
We’re looking for people who’ve spent a few years in early-stage companies, who know what it’s like to ship fast, wear multiple hats, and stay sane through ambiguity. Not just smart — adaptable.
If That’s You…
Then maybe we should talk. If you’re looking for more than just a job — if you want to build something, shape it, and take pride in it — you might belong here.
We’re picky, yeah. It slows us down. But we’ve learned the cost of the wrong hire is much higher than waiting for the right one.
So if you’re ready for the ride, we’re hiring.