Verified capability
Owns complex backend systems from technical decision through production release.
Evidence-led engineering hiring
16 Signals reads real engineering work and shows you what it says — strengths, risks, and the questions worth asking next.
Skip the investigation. Start with the evidence.
16Signals turns years of engineering activity into one organized hiring brief—showing what is already proven, what remains uncertain and exactly what to investigate in the interview.
16SignalsCandidate 02 / 18⌃⌄
Senior Backend Engineer · Candidate brief
Alex Morgan
16Signals examined 18 months of engineering work across four repositories and organized the strongest evidence for this role.
Ready for interview46 source artifacts linked
Hiring briefSource evidence
Unproven area
Technical leadership is visible; sustained mentorship is not yet proven.
Interview focus
Test how they make architecture decisions when delivery speed and system flexibility conflict.
45-minute interviewPrepared from evidence
Confirm roleTest unknownsDeep dive
Every conclusion remains connected to the work behind it.
How to use 16 signlas?
01 / 03
Between screening and the technical interview, 16Signals turns real-work evidence into a sharper, more relevant conversation.
POSITION 01Useful · partial
First context
Screening / HR
Useful context. Still only part of the picture.
- 01Relevant context
- 02Communication and motivation
- 03Role and team fit
POSITION 02Evidence layer
The missing middle layer
16Signals
16Signals adds real-work evidence after screening and before the technical interview.
- 01Validates screening claims
- 02Prioritizes interview attention
- 03Prepares a more informed interview
Supports human review · Helps prioritize attention
POSITION 03Deep · costly
Deeper review
Technical interview
Adds depth and discussion—later in the process.
- 01Technical depth
- 02Problem-solving discussion
- 03Late and expensive
- 04Still partly gameable
THE MISSING PIECE
Before the technical interview.
Interviews are expensive. Take-homes are gameable. Resumes are weak. 16Signals adds real work evidence before you spend more time.
Polished claims
01
Resumes can be polished; work history is harder to fake.
Talk vs. doing
Gameable tests
Faster focus
Verify early
Know what to ask
Research
Evidence, examined.
Original research on how real engineering work can make hiring faster, more accurate, and easier to verify.
Evidence systems
Why proof beats opinion in technical hiring
A practical account of how work evidence reduces interview noise without reducing engineering judgment to a score.
Read research
Signal quality
What makes a talent signal trustworthy?
The conditions a hiring signal must meet before it can support a consequential decision about an engineer.
Read research
Decision science
Explainability in hiring: fact, inference, recommendation
A method for separating observed work from interpretation, so every conclusion remains open to review.
Read research
Methodology note
Why “insufficient evidence” is a trust feature
Responsible evaluation should expose what cannot be proven—not fill the gaps with confident prediction.
Read researchWalk in already knowing where to go deeper.
The applicant pile arrives already sorted.
Each layer removes a different hiring risk, until your team is left with people worth speaking to.
01
01
Proof of Work
We separate shipped work from polished claims, so the shortlist starts with evidence instead of presentation.
Verified before the first interview.
02
02
Real Contributions
Commits, projects, ownership patterns, and technical context are mapped before anyone reaches your calendar.
Verified before the first interview.
03
03
Consistency
Seniority, depth, and trajectory are checked across time, not guessed from a single resume snapshot.
Verified before the first interview.
04
04
Anti-Fraud
Borrowed work, inflated authorship, and weak provenance are flagged early, while strong candidates keep moving.
Verified before the first interview.
05
05
Technical Signals
The output is a verified brief: strengths, risks, and interview probes ready for your engineering team.
Verified before the first interview.
01
Send the candidate pool.
Applications, work links, GitHub profiles, and role context become a clean evidence set.
Claims splitSources mappedRole context
02
16 Signals verifies what is real.
Independent checks score authenticity, depth, ownership, collaboration, consistency, and AI-assisted work.
16 checksRisk flagsConfidence score
03
Receive the shortlist.
You get verified engineers, concise briefs, and targeted interview probes for the gaps that still matter.
Shortlist readyBrief includedInterview probes
Book a call
See what real work reveals before the interview.
Bring us a role and your current hiring process. We will show where 16Signals fits before your next hiring cycle.
Explore a real report