Kraken

Kraken is the trusted and secure digital asset exchange, on a mission to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency for financial freedom and inclusion.

Total hires

Avg. embedded cost per hire

$14.9K

Estimated contingent cost per hire

$59.8k

Avg. savings per hire

$37.9k

Total estimated savings

$1.4M

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How Kraken Scaled One of the Largest Rust Engineering Teams During the Web3 Hiring Boom

The engagement

As interest in digital assets exploded, Kraken needed to rapidly expand its engineering organization while maintaining an exceptionally high hiring bar. Over a 10-month partnership, Invenio embedded directly into Kraken's recruiting team, completing 36 technical hires and saving an estimated $1.4M in recruiting fees.

Specialization

The challenge wasn't simply hiring engineers - it was hiring highly specialized backend and infrastructure engineers with Rust expertise during the peak of the web3 hiring frenzy, when demand dramatically outpaced supply.

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The Challenge

Market conditions

Kraken entered one of the most competitive hiring markets in tech history - the peak of the web3 hiring boom - competing against aggressive crypto startups for scarce, highly specialized talent.

Hiring objectives

Rapidly scale the engineering organization to meet explosive product demand.
Build out Rust engineering capability at scale.
Compete against well-funded crypto startups for a thin pool of qualified candidates.
Maintain a world-class technical hiring bar throughout.

Teams supported

Rust Engineering
Backend
Infrastructure
Platform
Distributed Systems

Why Embedded Recruiting

How Invenio operated

Invenio embedded directly into Kraken's recruiting function, partnering with recruiters, engineering leaders, and hiring managers across the organization.

What we built together

Rust-specific sourcing strategies and global talent maps.
Technical calibration loops to maintain hiring bar consistency.
Interview support and structured candidate closing processes.

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The Outcomes

Results delivered

36 engineering hires completed across Rust, backend, infrastructure, platform, and distributed systems teams.
Helped scale one of the industry's largest Rust engineering teams during the most competitive period in web3 hiring history.
Reduced dependency on traditional contingency agencies, cutting recruiting costs by 72%.

Fee Comparison

Contingency Cost

$1.9M

Invenio Cost

$537K

Total Savings

$1.4M

Cost Reduction

72%

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Founded

2011

Employees

500+

Industry

Financial Services, Crypto

Funding

$1.7B

Investors

Jane Street, DRW Venture Capital, HSG, Oppenheimer Alternative Investment Management, Tribe Capital

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hires

$682K

saved

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