Engineering Recruitment Agency for Employers Hiring Engineers Worldwide
Alliance places permanent engineers across mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, process, instrumentation, and project disciplines, screened by recruiters who can read the drawing and check the software. India, the Gulf, Europe and beyond. Permanent placement only.
We focus on the engineering capability your project actually requires, checking technical experience, project scope, industry exposure, software proficiency, certifications, and availability before a candidate reaches your hiring team.
You receive a qualified permanent shortlist built around the role—not a volume of CVs.
16+ Years Of Experience
550,000+ Placements Delivered
36+ Countries Served
350+ Expert Teams
50+ Top Level Positions
What Does an Engineering Recruitment Agency Do?
An engineering recruitment agency sources, technically screens and places engineers, working to a brief defined by discipline, sector, software, standards and project type rather than by job title alone.
Job title is the least useful field on an engineering CV. A “Design Engineer” might be doing 3D modelling in SolidWorks for automotive components or piping layouts in SP3D for a refinery. They are not interchangeable, and a recruiter who cannot tell the difference will send you both.
That is the practical test of any engineering agency, and you can apply it on the first call: ask which software and which design codes the role actually requires. A generalist will ask you to spell them. A specialist will already know which ones matter for that discipline.
Alliance places permanently. Every engineer we place joins your payroll on a permanent contract. We do not provide contract engineering staffing, contingent labour or engineering manpower supply, which is a large part of this market and not a part we operate in.
For vehicle and component engineering roles, see our automotive recruitment.
Screened on Discipline, Not on Keywords
Most engineering recruitment agencies match on years of experience and a software list copied from the job advert. The result is a shortlist that satisfies the filter and fails the technical interview. We screen on the discipline, the design codes and what the candidate has actually produced, and we tell you where each one is weak before you spend an engineering manager’s afternoon.
How Long Does Engineering Recruitment Take?
We send a shortlist within 24 to 48 hours of an agreed brief.
Engineering management and head-of-function searches: shortlist within 10 to 21 days of an agreed brief.
Time from shortlist to offer depends on your interview rounds and the candidate’s notice period. Overseas hires also need visa and documentation time, which we scope with you at the brief stage.
How Much Does an Engineering Recruitment Agency Cost?
Our fee is agreed in writing before the search starts and is payable on placement, so you pay only when we place an engineer.
What We Offer on Engineering Mandates
Screening against the design codes your work is actually governed by
ASME, API, IEC, Eurocodes, BS, IS or AWS depending on the discipline. An engineer who has only worked to one code set will say confidently that codes are codes. They are not.
Software verified by use, not by CV listing
AutoCAD, SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, Revit, STAAD, ETAP, ANSYS, SP3D, PDMS, Primavera. “Familiar with” and “has delivered production drawings in” are different claims and CVs use the same word for both.
Chartership and licensing checked against the destination
CEng or IEng in the UK, PE in the United States, PEng in Canada, and the local equivalents in the Gulf. A role that requires a sign-off authority cannot be filled by someone who does not hold it, however strong they are otherwise.
Discipline defined at brief stage, before sourcing
Mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, process, instrumentation and control, piping, QA/QC, HSE or project. Getting this wrong is the most common cause of a failed engineering search.
Technical assessment
Where the role warrants it, candidates complete a technical assessment before they reach your interview panel.
A 90-day replacement guarantee
On permanent placements: if the engineer leaves within 90 days of accepting the offer, we find a replacement at no extra charge.
Our Engineering Recruitment Process
Technical Brief
Discipline, sector, project type, design codes, software, chartership requirement, and salary band. We benchmark the salary against live placements in that discipline and market, and tell you in week one if the number will not fill it.
Sourcing and Discipline Screening
Sourced against the discipline rather than the title. Software and code exposure verified. You receive assessed profiles with the technical detail attached, not CVs.
Shortlist With Technical Reasoning (24 to 48 Hours After the Agreed Brief)
Three to five candidates with written assessment against each technical criterion, including where each one falls short. Expect us to present a candidate who misses one stated requirement and explain why, because rigid software filters are how good engineers get screened out.
Technical Interview Support
Scheduling, candidate preparation and feedback in both directions. Engineering candidates read a disorganised process as a signal about engineering standards inside the business, and they withdraw on it.
Offer, Counter-Offer and Start
Offer structuring, counter-offer management and notice navigation. In tight disciplines, counter-offers are the normal outcome rather than the exception. We manage that from first contact, not from offer day.
Onboarding and Follow-Up
We stay involved through the candidate’s start date, confirming joining arrangements, resolving early concerns and keeping communication clear between the engineer and your hiring team.
Need a Technically Credible Engineering Shortlist?
Not getting technically credible shortlists? Send us the discipline, the codes and the software, and we will tell you whether the role is fillable at your salary before you commit.
Disciplines, Sectors and Markets We Recruit In
Mechanical
Design, maintenance, HVAC, rotating equipment, production and manufacturing engineering.
Electrical and instrumentation
Power systems, controls, automation, PLC and SCADA, and E&I project roles. See our electrical recruitment agency desk.
Civil and structural
Design, site engineering, quantity surveying and infrastructure delivery.
Process and chemical
Process design, plant operations, safety and commissioning.
Piping and layout
Piping design, stress analysis and 3D plant modelling for process industries.
Project, planning and QA/QC
Project engineers, planners, cost engineers, QA/QC and HSE.
Engineering management
Engineering managers, design managers and heads of engineering.
Software and systems engineering
Where the discipline is closer to technology than to plant. See our software engineer recruiter practice, and for hardware, electronics and embedded engineers, our hardware recruitment agency service.
Sectors
Oil and gas, power and utilities, manufacturing, construction and infrastructure, automotive, aerospace, marine, water, mining and agriculture. See our oil and gas recruitment, power plant recruitment, manufacturing staffing, construction recruitment, marine engineering recruitment and agricultural engineering recruitment desks.
Who We Serve
Employers who keep receiving technically wrong shortlists
These shortlists usually come from a generalist agency matching on job title. You want a recruiter who asks about design codes before sourcing.
Companies hiring a discipline they do not already employ
For example, a first structural engineer or a first instrumentation lead, where nobody internally can assess the candidates.
Businesses recruiting engineers from India into Gulf, European or African operations
Both the technical screening and the mobilisation need handling.
Project-driven employers with a fixed commissioning date
You need a defined engineering headcount before that date, and a realistic timeline rather than an optimistic one.
Employers whose salary band was set without discipline context
A process engineer and a maintenance engineer do not cost the same, yet briefs are routinely written as though they do.
Manufacturers and EPCs scaling a team
You are hiring across several disciplines at once and want one supplier rather than four.
The Alliance Advantage in Engineering Recruitment
Screened on discipline, code and software, not on job title.
Chartership and licensing checked against the destination country, because a sign-off authority is not transferable.
Shortlists carry technical reasoning including weaknesses. A shortlist where every engineer is excellent has not been assessed.
Salary benchmarked by discipline and market, not against a generic engineering average.
Permanent placement only. No contract engineering staffing, no contingent labour, no engineering manpower supply. A large part of this market and not one we operate in, and we would rather say so on the first call.
Fees agreed in writing before the search starts, payable on placement.
India as a genuine sourcing base: we recruit from our office in Ahmedabad, India.
Why Choose Alliance for Engineering Recruitment?
Engineering recruitment fails in a specific and repeatable way. A candidate matches the title, matches the years, lists the software, and cannot do the work — because the software was used once on a training course, or the experience was to a different code set, or the discipline was adjacent rather than the same. The failure surfaces about six weeks in, during the first real deliverable.
That is why we spend time on the brief before sourcing starts. Most bad engineering shortlists are not bad sourcing. They are a brief that never specified what the job technically requires, and an agency that did not know to ask.
We are the wrong choice in three situations, and all three are common.
If you need contract engineers, we do not provide them. In oil and gas and major projects that will rule us out frequently, and we would rather you knew in the first five minutes.
If you are hiring a single junior engineer in a deep local market, a local advert will usually cost less than a fee.
And if your last three engineers left within a year, the problem is unlikely to be recruitment and a fourth hire will not fix it.
For senior engineering appointments, see engineering headhunters.
Our Client Reviews
We had been trying to fill a senior mechanical engineering position for several months, but most of the applicants were not a close match. Alliance understood the technical requirements quickly and gave us a shortlist that was much more relevant. We hired one of the candidates and the process was handled professionally from start to finish.
The role required very specific electrical and automation experience, so a general recruitment firm was not giving us the right candidates. Alliance took the time to understand the project and the technical skills involved. The candidates they introduced were genuinely relevant, and we filled the position without extending the search again
We needed several engineers for a project with a tight deadline and were considering contract hiring rather than adding permanent headcount. Alliance helped us identify suitable engineers quickly and managed the process without creating extra administrative work for our team. The flexibility made a big difference to the project timeline.
Awards
Meet Our Leadership Team
Molly Anderson
Franchise Lead | Recruitment Franchise
Alex George
General Manager | RPO & Enterprise Recruitment
Nikki Miller
Head of Recruitment | Recruitment & Staffing
Frequently Asked Questions
An engineering recruitment agency sources, technically screens and places engineers, working to a brief defined by discipline, sector, software, design codes and project type rather than by job title alone.
Alliance engineering recruitment at a glance
- 16+ years in recruitment, with employers served in 36+ countries
- 9,000+ organisations served; 95% repeat business
- Shortlist within 24 to 48 hours of an agreed brief (10 to 21 days for engineering management searches)
- Permanent engineering placements
- 90-day replacement guarantee on permanent placements
- Recruiting from our office in Ahmedabad, India
No. Alliance places permanent engineers only. We do not provide contract engineering staffing, contingent labour or engineering manpower supply.
Against the design codes the work is governed by, the software the role actually requires, and what the candidate has personally produced rather than what their team delivered.
We send a shortlist within 24 to 48 hours of an agreed brief, or within 10 to 21 days for engineering management and head-of-function searches. Time to offer then depends on your interview rounds and the candidate’s notice period; overseas hires also need visa and documentation time.
Our fee is agreed in writing before the search starts and is payable on placement.
Mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, civil and structural, process and chemical, piping, project and planning, QA/QC, HSE, engineering management, and software and systems engineering.
Yes, against the destination country. CEng and IEng in the UK, PE in the United States, PEng in Canada and the local equivalents in the Gulf. A role requiring sign-off authority cannot be filled by someone without it.
Yes. We recruit from our office in Ahmedabad, India, for Indian employers and for overseas employers recruiting Indian engineers into Gulf, European and African operations. For overseas roles we prepare the candidate documentation for the employer’s work-visa application.
Oil and gas, power and utilities, manufacturing, construction and infrastructure, automotive, aerospace, marine, water, mining and agriculture. See our agricultural engineering recruitment desk.
We benchmark by discipline and market before sourcing and tell you in week one rather than searching against a brief that will not fill.
Yes. On permanent placements, if the engineer leaves within 90 days of accepting the offer, we find a replacement at no extra charge.
Send the discipline, sector, design codes, software requirements, chartership requirement if any, and salary band. We will confirm whether it is fillable at that number before starting.
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