How We Hire and Work at CityScout

Output is the standard

We evaluate people primarily by the useful, reliable work they produce.

Hours worked, meetings attended, messages sent, and lines of code written are incomplete measures. We care about whether someone can understand a problem, make sound decisions, deliver a complete result, and create durable value for customers and the company.

At CityScout, strong output can include:

• A feature that solves a real customer problem
• A data pipeline that runs reliably
• A scraper that handles the behavior of its source system
• A more accurate project, company, or contact record
• A sales process that consistently creates qualified opportunities
• A customer insight that changes the product roadmap
• An internal workflow that removes recurring manual work
• Tests, documentation, and observability that make future work safer and faster

Volume alone is not the goal. Work that is brittle, inaccurate, poorly understood, or expensive to maintain is weak output. We expect urgency, judgment, and quality together.

Ownership means carrying work through

Ownership begins with understanding the objective and continues through delivery, verification, and follow-through.

People at CityScout are expected to resolve routine ambiguity, identify dependencies, communicate meaningful risks, and take responsibility for what happens after their work is released. They should ask for context when a decision could materially affect customers, data integrity, security, or another part of the company.

We value people who can move independently while keeping the right stakeholders informed. Ownership includes knowing when to decide, when to ask, and when to escalate.

Build leverage into the work

We expect people to look for ways to increase the value, reach, and repeatability of their work. Leverage can come from software, automation, better data, reusable processes, clear documentation, or a decision that prevents the same problem from returning.

AI agents and MCP-enabled systems are important high-leverage tools at CityScout. Engineers use them to explore repositories, implement features, write tests, investigate failures, and document systems. Commercial and operations teams use them for research, analysis, workflow automation, customer preparation, CRM maintenance, and internal tools.

The goal is better output with less repeated effort. The person directing a system remains accountable for its accuracy, security, judgment, and final result.

Evidence matters more than pedigree

Degrees, previous employers, and years of experience can provide useful context. They do not replace demonstrated ability.

We care more about what a candidate has built, improved, sold, learned, or taken responsibility for. We look for people who can show how they approached a difficult problem, what decisions they made, what happened, and what they learned from the result.

For early-career engineering roles, one to two years of professional experience is common. Exceptional candidates may have more, less, or a different path entirely. AI fluency, rate of learning, technical judgment, and production-quality output carry more weight than time served.

Communication is operational work

Good communication is part of producing a good result.

CityScout works across software, data, customers, municipalities, and real estate markets. Important context often crosses functional boundaries. Team members should be able to explain decisions clearly, document what others need to know, surface risks early, and adapt their level of detail to the audience.

Strong communicators do not create unnecessary process. They make collaboration faster and decisions better.

Remote-first requires clarity

CityScout is a remote-first company. We hire people who can manage their responsibilities, protect focused work time, communicate progress, and create clarity without constant supervision.

We use asynchronous communication where it improves speed and concentration, and we establish recurring collaboration windows where live discussion is more effective. Important decisions, requirements, and operating knowledge should be documented so the company does not depend on who happened to attend a meeting.

Remote-first work still includes direct customer contact, team collaboration, and in-person time when it creates real value. Roles with travel requirements state them clearly.

Our hiring process is practical and fast

Our process is designed to evaluate the skills each role requires. It generally includes:

1. 1

   Introductory conversation: A 30 to 45 minute discussion about the candidate's work, goals, and potential fit with CityScout.

2. 2

   Practical assessment: A time-boxed exercise based on realistic work for the role. Candidates may use the AI tools and professional resources they would normally use.

3. 3

   Work walkthrough: A conversation about the candidate's decisions, process, tradeoffs, verification, and understanding of the result.

4. 4

   Final conversation: A direct discussion about role scope, expectations, working style, and mutual fit, followed by a prompt decision.

We do not add interview stages simply to create the appearance of rigor. The objective is to gather enough relevant evidence for both sides to make a confident decision.