Hire senior AI-native engineers
An AI-native engineer is a full-stack developer with solid fundamentals in code quality, systems design and security, who directs coding agents on how to produce output and validates that output before it ships.
feature/checkout-v2Agent building the payment form against the specWritingfix/order-syncAgent tracing a production bug from the logsTracingreview/pr-212Agent reviewing a teammate's pull requestReviewingtest/e2e-checkoutAgent writing end-to-end tests for the flowTesting
01
Verification replaced typing as the constraint
Writing code stopped being the hard part and checking it became one. A strong AI-native engineer spends less time at the keyboard and more time deciding what to delegate, what to keep and what to throw away.
02
Delegation is now a technical decision
The engineer decides what goes to an agent and what stays with them, and that judgement determines the quality of the output. A wrong call shows up later, when someone has to maintain the code.
03
Weak and strong output looks identical at first
Someone who uses AI tools well and someone who just uses them a lot can look the same in an interview. The difference appears three months in, when the codebase has to be lived in.
How we assess AI-native engineers
Every engineer works through a fundamentals assessment with AI tools switched off and a second assessment with their own agents running. For AI-native engineers, these criteria carry the most weight.
- AI output verification
An AI-native engineer has to catch what the agent got wrong before it ships, so we test this at full weight in the second assessment.
- Tool orchestration
Deciding which tools to invoke, in what order and with what context is where skilled and frequent usage diverge in practice.
- Debugging
Production fixes are part of the role, so the engineer has to trace and resolve issues whether the original code was human-written or agent-generated.
Two sixty-minute assessments in a real codebase
The first assessment runs with AI tools switched off, the second assessment with their own agents running. An AI-native engineer has to pass both at full weight, and you see both scorecards before you meet them.
How we vetAssessment 1 · AI tools off
The fundamentals assessment
The engineer gets a codebase they haven't seen, a handful of tickets including one production bug, and sixty minutes to work through them. It runs like a normal working session, with no AI tools allowed.
- 01Communication
- 02English level
- 03Prioritisation
- 04Debugging
- 05Context-switch hygiene
- 06Technical understanding
Assessment 2 · Agents on
The AI-native assessment
The engineer gets a fresh set of tickets in the same kind of codebase, plus whatever AI coding tools they'd normally use. The assessment shows what they do when an agent is doing most of the work: whether they plan first, whether they read what comes back, and whether they can explain a change they didn't type.
- 01AI output verificationWeighted most
- 02Tool orchestrationWeighted most
- 03Spec-driven development
- 04Prompt and context engineering
- 05AI-accelerated debugging
- 06Context-switch hygiene
Hiring with Miyagami
- One senior engineer, full-time, at a fixed monthly fee
- Employment, payroll and compliance included, no recruitment fee
Timeline
- Three-month minimum
- Wrong fit: we replace at our cost
What is an AI-native engineer
An AI-native engineer builds production software with AI tools as a core part of how they work every day. This entry covers what that looks like in practice.
AI-native engineer vs AI engineer
AI-native engineer and AI engineer are not the same role. This entry explains the difference, the overlap, and when you need which.
What is agentic coding
Agentic coding is when an AI agent writes, runs, and revises code autonomously across multiple steps, with minimal human input per cycle.
Questions about hiring AI-native engineers
How much does it cost to hire a senior AI-native engineer?
A senior local hire in the Netherlands costs about €12,200 a month all-in, based on a senior software engineer median salary, statutory employer contributions and an amortised recruitment fee. Through us you pay a fixed monthly fee with employment and compliance included, and the pricing calculator shows the two side by side.
How long does it take to hire an AI-native engineer?
You get a shortlist in five working days and a first commit three weeks later. A local senior hire in the Netherlands typically takes 4 months.
What do you test an AI-native engineer on?
Engineers take both assessments at full weight, with the emphasis on AI output verification and tool orchestration. In those two areas, someone who uses the tools well and someone who just uses them a lot look identical in an interview and very different three months in.
How is an AI-native engineer different from an AI engineer?
An AI engineer builds AI: models, pipelines, retrieval and evaluation. An AI-native engineer is a full-stack developer who builds your product with coding agents and validates what they produce. We place both, and the assessment for AI engineers adds two criteria for model-layer work.
Which AI tools do they use?
They use whatever your team uses. Most work with Claude Code, Cursor or Codex, run agents in separate git worktrees and keep the repo set up for the next agent with reusable commands and a tight CLAUDE.md.
Who owns the code an agent writes?
You do, and so does the engineer who merged it. If they merge it, they own it: tests, observability, rollout and the debugging after release. Code and IP transfer to you on payment.
AI-native engineers by market: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, France, Denmark, Switzerland, United States, Canada
Get a shortlist within five working days
You share the roles and the stack in a short form or a thirty-minute call. Within five working days you get named senior engineers to review, each with both scorecards.
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