Lever

Our product & technology.

Lever is the only modern applicant tracking system built on technology that allows for real time data syncing and collaboration via operational transformation, the algorithm behind Google Docs. Lever is built on top of DerbyJs (authored by our CTO & Founder, Nate Smith), and we render JavaScript on both the client and server side. This allows engineers to work on any part of the stack. We are candidate centric and each candidate has a single source of truth profile. Our UI speaks for itself, we are built using design thinking principles and with human centered design and user empathy at the forefront. We build tools and a collaborative software for all our end users, focusing on their unique experiences. Lever is able to handle complicated and nuanced technical challenges. Email in software apps, in general is really complicated. At Lever we make it easy for anyone to jump in as you and face off when you might not have a moment to, we realize how fast-paced recruiting is and we build tools to optimize for that. Lever can thread emails, thread notes between people, make sure things are synced properly, you can send on behalf of someone, reply on behalf of them, delay send, track clicks and opens — we make sure our software is as seamless as possible.

Our approach.

At Lever, we focus on many things: design thinking, human-centered design, stellar hiring, inclusion, just to a name a few. But we also focus extensively on cross-functional empathy. We empathize so much with our customers that are fervently growing and scaling their teams that their feedback makes it into our product. But we also strive to ensure we understand our peers, their context, and their needs. It's something that has grown the incredible culture we have and allows us to make sure all feel welcome, valued, and understood. At Lever, we don't work in silos, and it's important to work well with peers as we all put our best effort forward to do what is best for Lever.

We have also, since the early days, focused on diversity and inclusion, which complements cross-functional empathy incredibly well. We formed a diversity and inclusion task force when we were a company of just ten employees, and we're so proud to continue our growing efforts as our company grows, too. From hosting D&I panels to including D&I in every new hire onboarding class, we make diversity and inclusion a priority so we can continue to do what we do already: work collaboratively together to learn, develop, grow, and produce world-class products that enable companies to achieve their own goals.

The opportunity.

Scale is everything. Every company is racing to seize millions of users and billions of clicks, and to do so means scaling your employee base faster than previously imaginable.

But with that scale come intense organizational and hiring challenges. We saw it firsthand, as our peers in Silicon Valley were starting companies, bootstrapping teams, and pressing everyone they knew for referrals. Intrepid engineering managers were hacking together custom data dashboards to track their pipelines and analyze their interviewing processes. The top-of-mind issue was not only how to recruit, but also how to recruit the best.

Out of that environment, Lever was born. We want to give companies of the future a better way to form, grow, and sustain teams of talented people, so we set out to bring world-class design and engineering to bear on the challenge of growth.

We were lucky enough to incubate within one of Silicon Valley’s fastest growing companies and work side by side with their team of 30+ recruiters, where we became intimately familiar with the daily pains of their jobs. We learned that a recruiter’s toughest problem was building trust and fostering collaboration with internal stakeholders. It was a problem that no applicant tracking system (ATS) came close to solving.

This critical insight led us to design Lever with every stakeholder in mind. Lever empowers every person in the recruiting ecosystem, bridging the gap between recruiters and hiring managers. We’re reimagining how organizations think about growth, with talent and teamwork at the center. We’re injecting values we respect – collaboration, transparency, and humanity – into the software that will power the next generation of companies.

Lever's product is leagues ahead of the competitors. Why is now the right time to join? We have a strong foundational team in place, and the platform and funding are secure. We entered the market at the right time when recruiting was at a critical inflection point (and continuing to grow 12-15% y/y). Now we're looking for top technical talent to help us scale as we move up-market.

Recruiting is an industry that has been overlooked for many years, and companies are now understanding the value of talent and how critical finding the right talent is to a business. Recruiting is becoming a strategic part of running a company, and Lever is a major player in that strategy.