We needed extra AI engineers to keep our ambitious project running.
- Hours for perfect match
- 24
- Senior engineers
- 4
- Hr interview before the final hiring decision
- 1
The startup on a mission to energy and AI abundance
Building AI for nuclear — one of the world’s most heavily regulated industries — requires exceptional talent. The Everstar.ai team already includes nuclear domain experts and engineers from SpaceX, Tesla, Google, Microsoft, and Lockheed Martin.
But their ambitions outpaced their headcount.
Everstar.ai builds AI systems that turn weeks of nuclear licensing work into days. The U.S. Department of Energy tested their Gordian AI solution and compressed a 4–6 week document process into a single day. To keep producing high-performing products for such high-stakes clients, Everstar.ai needed more qualified full-stack engineers.
Despite being understaffed, the company was operating without an internal HR or recruiting function and needed a fast path to qualified talent that matches their high standards. The choice fell on Lemon.io, a provider of pre-vetted senior engineers with proven production-first experience.
The need for extra hands
The team looked for autonomous senior engineers with 3–8 years of commercial experience owning the entire AI lifecycle end-to-end. Candidates needed to:
- Build and deploy production-grade AI systems rather than focus solely on prompt engineering
- Quickly absorb and consolidate information across AI, physics, and nuclear domains
- Show genuine interest in solving difficult real-world math problems
For Mike Lukiman, Founding Senior Software Engineer at Everstar.ai, technical skills were only part of the equation. As AI-generated resumes and interview answers become overly common, identifying engineers with legit experience has become harder.
Mike wasn’t looking for polished responses like those from a textbook. He wanted to work with self-motivated people who could follow and support complex technical conversations, explain how they approach real-world technical problems, and demonstrate interest in the company’s mission.
Making sure developers care about what they’re doing — beyond competency — is still a hard problem. Lemon.io was able to provide such developers.
Where the magic happens
After a short discovery call, Lemon.io took over the time-consuming part of the hiring process: sourcing, screening, and vetting candidates.
Mike shared the technical requirements, experience level, and personal qualities he was looking for. In return, he received a shortlist of engineers who closely matched both the role and Everstar’s fast startup culture.
Instead of spending weeks filtering applications and conducting preliminary interviews, Mike could focus entirely on evaluating engineering judgment and team fit during a single 2-hour call.
With their entire team working on-site, Everstar.ai brought on 4 remote senior engineers within Lemon.io, their first remote hires ever.
On a final call, we were estimating the “raw force power” of engineers. We explained our stack, infrastructure, and goals to see how they tracked the conversation and how fast they understood the new context.
Why choose us
We're looking for the right developers, that perfectly suit your team
A four-step vetting process
Our proprietary process includes professional and personal tests, live interviews, and multiple background checks.
Price-quality match
The majority of developers are from Eastern Europe, where startups can stretch their budget to do more with less.
Miraculous 48-hour matching
Two days (or less) to find you a perfect developer for your startup's needs.
98% satisfaction rate
That's the percentage of clients who hired the very first dev they were offered from the platform.
Zero-risk dev replacement
You don't wait for direction. You jump in headfirst, racking up quick wins, calling out improvements, and pushing for architectural decisions that set clients up for scale.
Full-time contributors
You're looking for work you can sink your teeth into, and can commit 20 hours or more a week to see it through.
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Nutrition
We get potential candidates who are perfectly aligned with what we’re looking for, every time.
Fitness
For non-technical founder engineering is a black box. I’ve learned how important it is to have someone in my corner who can really be a partner to me. Lemon has really shown up. They weren’t just a matching tool. They really understood what I was looking for and found me someone I could trust.
Rocket hiring ride
Top-notch developers within 48 hours, hand-picked for your team.
