Startup hiring toolkits for 20 roles: job descriptions and interviews

Updated November 2026

A startup hiring toolkit is the set of documents one hire needs: a scorecard of four to six outcomes, a job description built from it, an interview plan that tests each outcome once, and a rubric for the debrief. Below are free toolkits for 20 startup roles, each with a copy-and-paste job description and a matching interview question set, plus three tools that turn them into finished documents.

Start with the scorecard, not the job description

Most founders open the job description template first, because the job ad is the thing with a deadline. It is the wrong end to start from. A job description written before you know what success looks like turns into a list of duties, and an interview plan written from that list tests whether the candidate can talk about the duties.

Every toolkit below is built the other way round. Each role page starts from a scorecard of outcomes for the first 12 months, and everything else is derived from it: the "first six months" section of the job description, the question themes, the work sample and the 1 to 4 rubric. If you change the scorecard, change the rest with it.

One outcome, followed through every document

Here is how that works for a seed-stage B2B startup hiring its first account executive. The account executive toolkit lists five outcomes. Take one of them, self-sourced pipeline, and follow it through the hire.

Because the same outcome runs through all four, the candidate who reads the ad already knows outbound is part of the job, the interviewer knows exactly what to probe, and the debrief compares evidence rather than impressions. A candidate who has only ever closed inbound deals will often rule themselves out at the ad, which saves both sides time.

The 20 role toolkits

Each role has two pages. The job description page holds the template, a stage-by-stage table for Seed, Series A and Series B, the scorecard and a 30-60-90 day plan. The interview questions page holds a four-stage plan, around 20 questions grouped by theme, a time-boxed work sample and the scoring rubric.

Three tools that finish the job

The toolkit pages are written to be copied. The tools below do the copying for you and fill in your details.

For planning and budgeting the hire, see the timeline estimator, the cost of an empty seat calculator and the stock option calculator on our free hiring tools page. If you are hiring in a specific sector, the startup hiring playbooks by industry show which of these roles usually comes first.

Where Funded.club fits

The toolkits follow the same order as a Funded.club search. When we run one, a dedicated recruiter agrees the scorecard with you at kick-off, refines the job description, then sources, headhunts and screens candidates against it, with the first screened candidates within 7 days and 33 days on average from kick-off to hire. We charge a low fixed fee agreed upfront, averaging 6 to 9% of salary, from $4,900 to $21,900 per hire depending on the salary band. See pricing.

Frequently asked questions

Are the hiring toolkits free to use?

Yes. Every job description template, interview question set and tool is free, with no sign-up. Copy them, edit them and use them for as many hires as you like.

Which roles are covered?

Twenty roles that funded startups commonly hire between Seed and Series B: engineering leadership and engineers, data, product and design, sales, customer success, marketing and operations.

Should I write the job description or the interview questions first?

Write the scorecard before either of them: four to six outcomes you expect in the first year. The job description and the interview questions both come from it, which keeps the ad honest and the interviews focused.

Can Funded.club run the search with these documents?

Yes. Send us your scorecard or job description and a dedicated recruiter will run the search end to end for a fixed fee agreed upfront.

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