Hiring in Berlin means navigating a startup-dense market where tech talent is plentiful but competition for senior engineers and product leaders is fierce. Cost of living remains lower than Munich or Hamburg, but salaries for in-demand roles have climbed steadily. Time-to-hire stretches when candidates have multiple offers; remote-first expectations are standard across most sectors. Berlin's talent pool draws from across Europe, but retention depends on clarity around equity, mission, and work structure. Raffi, an agentic AI recruiter, handles the screening and interview scheduling for candidates who apply to your roles, letting your team focus on final-round decisions and offer negotiation. When you post a job through Workable, Raffi automatically ingests applications, runs structured interviews asynchronously, and feeds qualified candidates into your calendar—removing the administrative friction that stretches time-to-hire. In Berlin's fast-moving market, that speed matters. You're not paying per hire; you're paying for the platform to accelerate your existing applicant flow. Whether you're hiring across Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, or distributed across Germany, Raffi integrates with Google Calendar to book interviews without back-and-forth. For teams hiring multiple roles in parallel—common in Berlin's startup scene—the system scales without adding headcount to your recruiting function.
<60 sec
Application to first contact
10-15 min
Per applicant interview
$0
Hire fees, ever
Raffi calls every applicant for a 10-15 min structured interview. Not just the top 5 résumés — every one. Result: nobody good slips through.
Conversational AI interview, rubric-anchored scoring, transcripts you can read. You get a top 3-5 shortlist while competitors are still scheduling first-rounds.
SaaS pricing from $199/mo. No 15-25% of first-year salary, no per-hire kickback. Cancel anytime.
Berlin's 2026 hiring market remains tilted toward software engineering, data science, and product roles, though funding tightness has slowed some deeptech hiring. Fintech and climate tech remain active sectors. Time-to-hire for mid-to-senior engineering roles averages 4-6 weeks; for junior roles, 2-3 weeks. Talent supply for frontend and full-stack developers remains high; backend specialists and machine learning engineers command longer pipelines. Remote-friendly job descriptions attract stronger candidate volumes. Salary growth has plateaued compared to 2021-2023; candidates increasingly value equity clarity and mission fit. Attrition risk is highest in the first six months without transparent onboarding and role clarity.
Berlin hiring demands fluency in both German and English; most tech roles accept English-only candidates, but German language is a competitive advantage for customer-facing or ops roles. Remote work is assumed; office commute is rarely a draw. Salary expectations are transparent—candidates cross-reference glassdoor and comparable roles in other German cities. Top sectors are software development, fintech, climate tech, and hardware manufacturing. Candidates expect equity or meaningful bonus structures; base salary alone is rarely enough. Interview processes should be efficient; lengthy multi-round loops lose candidates to competing offers.
Yes. Raffi operates in 30+ languages and supports candidate calls in any timezone via self-booking — there's no per-city integration. If you can post a role from Berlin, you can run Raffi from Berlin.
Raffi is calibrated against the major AI-in-hiring frameworks (EU AI Act + NYC Local Law 144) and discloses AI use to every candidate before the call. For Berlin-specific work permits and right-to-work checks, those happen outside Raffi — we screen, you verify eligibility before extending an offer.
No. Most Berlin tech roles operate in English. However, German language proficiency is valuable for roles in operations, compliance, or customer-facing functions. Clarify language expectations in your job posting to attract the right applicant pool.
Standard German notice periods are 2 weeks; many candidates at startups negotiate shorter periods. Senior candidates often negotiate 4 weeks. Clarify your start date early; long delays lose candidates to competing offers.
Equity is expected in early-stage and growth-stage companies; candidates actively ask for vesting schedules and options pools. For candidates from outside tech, salary is more weighted. Be explicit about equity terms in your job posting.
Agentic recruiting is recruiting done by an AI agent that takes action on your behalf — not a chatbot or résumé summarizer. Raffi calls every applicant for a structured 10-15 minute interview, scores them against your rubric, and hands you a ranked top 3-5. The work happens autonomously.
Most agencies charge 15-25% of first-year salary as a placement fee — a $90k hire runs $13-22k. Raffi is SaaS at $199-599/mo plus per-action credits, typically landing under $10k/year for a team hiring 12 people. Same shortlist quality, no placement contract.
About 25 minutes to onboard, post your first role, and have Raffi ready to interview applicants. No engineering work, no integration project. Connect your work email, paste a JD, you're live.
Free $25 starter credit. No credit card. Screening live by tonight.