SortIQ was founded on a simple premise: the best recruiting happens when recruiters have convesations about roles they truly understand and enjoy. Every team is different which makes getting to know the people on the team and the people we place our top priority.
Our team has advised and placed people at all levels for all kinds of software centric companies nationally since 2004. Startups in Angel, Seed, Series A-D, M&A, and pre-IPO stages. Government contractors with 0 through their 100th hire after winning their first prime contract. Growth and late stage software companies, and major companies that you have heard of and maybe a few you haven't.
The company began as staffmagnet, LLC in the basement of a townhome here in the DMV after some blogging and event attendance led to three startups asking for help finding Ruby on Rails and JavaScript developers with experience scaling web applications. After siting in on nearly every tech, startup, developer and designer event in the area, Robert started connecting people and organizing, co-organizing, and supporting events including DC Barcamp, Facebook Developer Garage, Widget Dev Camp, Startup Weekend, the DC Ruby User Group, Refresh DC, and Startup Open Mic Night. He did not do it alone, there was a lot of support, encouragement and help from other founders and event organizers. Startup Open Mic rapidly evolved into the Social Matchbox Startup Product Launch event series and Founders Board which helped launch companies from Opower (then Positive Energy) to Living Social (then Hungry Machine) as well as help them to meet Venture Capitalists and other investors.
Today, our main focus is DMV People Operations, Technical Recruiting, Community Engagement, and Software Engineering-all services our founder has provided since 2008 in addition to operating a Software As A Service company based in College Park, MD that was an early pioneer in Natural Langauge Processing based approaches to recruiting software that defines AI based recruiting software today.
Team
Robert, a 3x technical founder, has 21+ years experience recruiting developers and has been builidng software longer. He holds certifions inlcuding Scrum Master, Web Application Architecture, People Analytics, and SAFe 6. His past ventures include a DMV based software startup focused recruiting firm and a Software As A Services company serving major companies and the higher education sector. When he isn't helping clients scale their teams, Robert is working on a variety of software applications ranging from a React/Vite/Django SaaS to native Mac OS apps. He enjoys spending time with his two kids, mentoring his daugther's STEM teams, cycling, and scuba diving.
Mission
To bridge the gap between exceptional technical talent and the companies that need them. We believe that when the right people come together, extraordinary things happen.
We're not just filling positions—we're helping build the teams that will create the ext generation of technology solutions.
Values we stand by.
Integrity
- Honest communication with all parties
- Transparent processes and expectations
- Ethical business practices
- Commitment to our promises
Excellence
- Continuous learning and improvement
- Attention to detail in every interaction
- High standards for ourselves and our work
- Commitment to exceptional outcomes
Partnership
- Collaborative approach to problem-solving
- Long-term thinking in all relationships
- Mutual success as our primary goal
- Support that extends beyond placement
Authenticity
- Liked by developers for taking the time to know things
- We don't try to do it all
- No games or gimmicks
- Unvarnished is better than packaged to close
Impact
- Every hire on a team is part of the same mission and can make or break it
- We focus on the right people, not the most likely to accept your offer
Zero bullshit
- No sales voice
- Just solid recruiting
Track Record
Our team has successfully placed hundreds of engineers, developers, and technical leaders across a wide range of companies—from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 enterprises.
Our placements have gone on to lead successful exits, build industry-changing products, and create the technical foundations for rapidly growing companies.
But more than individual success stories, we're proud of the lasting relationships we've built. Many of our clients return to us repeatedly as they grow, and candidates we've placed often recommend us to their networks.