How quickly can you hire with Toptal?

Typically, you can hire a Unicorn developer with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or Managed Delivery , timelines may vary. Our talent matchers are highly skilled in the same fields they’re matching in—they’re not recruiters or HR reps. They’ll work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics, and match you with ideal candidates from our vetted global talent network. Once you select your Unicorn developer, you’ll have a no-risk trial period to ensure they’re the perfect fit. Our matching process has a 98% trial-to-hire rate, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best fit every time.

How do I hire a Unicorn developer?

To hire the right Unicorn developer, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect Unicorn developers for your project.

How are Toptal Unicorn developers different?

At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our Unicorn developers to ensure we only match you with the highest caliber of talent. Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, fewer than 3% make the cut. In addition to screening for industry-leading expertise, we also assess candidates’ language and interpersonal skills to ensure that you have a smooth working relationship. When you hire with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched Unicorn developers ready to help you achieve your goals.

Can you hire Unicorn developers on an hourly basis or for project-based tasks?

You can hire Unicorn developers on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the entire project from end-to-end with our Managed Delivery offering. Whether you hire an expert for a full- or part-time position, you’ll have the control and flexibility to scale your team up or down as your needs evolve. Our Unicorn developers can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.

What is the no-risk trial period for Toptal Unicorn developers?

We make sure that each engagement between you and your Unicorn developer begins with a trial period of up to two weeks. This means that you have time to confirm the engagement will be successful. If you’re completely satisfied with the results, we’ll bill you for the time and continue the engagement for as long as you’d like. If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed. From there, we can either part ways, or we can provide you with another expert who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.

Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Unicorn Developers

Toptal is a marketplace for dedicated Unicorn developers, engineers, programmers, coders, architects, and consultants. Top companies and startups choose Toptal Unicorn freelancers for their mission-critical Unicorn development projects.

Hire a Top Unicorn Developer Now

No-Risk Trial, Pay Only If Satisfied.

Trusted by leading brands and startups

Hire Freelance Unicorn Developers and Engineers

View Nash

Nash Yeung

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Canada

Toptal Member Since April 1, 2022

Nash is an experienced back-end and data engineer. He has 10+ years of experience in back-end development and system design, ETL development, big data system design, operation, performance, and cost optimization. As a certified AWS Solutions Architect, Nash helps companies and teams migrate their on-premise systems to AWS to achieve better scalability, security, and higher availability at a lower cost.

Unicorn Terraform Python SQL Ruby Ruby on Rails MySQL PostgreSQL Apache Airflow AWS Redshift AWS RDS ETL

View Kashif

Kashif Mehmood

Freelance Unicorn Developer

United Arab Emirates

Toptal Member Since May 4, 2022

With over a decade of experience creating and delivering user-centric applications and solutions, Kashif focuses on providing the best solutions for his clients while following the best coding conventions and avoiding overcooking the solution. Throughout his career, he has been acknowledged as a solution-focused professional with the ability to design and develop innovative applications. Kashif gives his input where it feels right to improve the user experience.

Unicorn Visual Studio Development Database Ruby on Rails MEAN Stack MongoDB PHP MySQL AngularJS Web Development ECMAScript 6 Node.js PostgreSQL

View Gökhan

Gökhan Arli

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Thailand

Toptal Member Since July 23, 2017

Gökhan fell in love with web development when he moved from desktop apps to web development and was able to fix problems in a few minutes and deploy in another minute. Customers and end users were pleased with his agile way of work. Since then he's been working with startups and corporates—helping their vision to come to fruition step by step and by keeping them in the loop constantly.

Unicorn JavaScript Heroku Ruby MySQL PostgreSQL Agile Development jQuery Offshore Ruby on Rails Development Ruby on Rails Bootstrap

View Luiz

Luiz Antonio Mitidiero de Moraes Jr.

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Brazil

Toptal Member Since August 24, 2015

Luiz is a strategic and execution-oriented engineering executive with 15+ years of building scalable customer-facing products across multiple industries. He specializes in creating and improving engineering culture in remote working environments and is passionate about impacting people's lives. Luiz's core competencies are strategic vision and goal setting, iterative shipping from MVP to a global scale, and system design and architecture with excellent communication skills using the big picture.

Unicorn Amazon S3 Agile Development REST API Python Groovy Grails CSS TypeScript Angular Ajax Git HTML5

View Marcelo

Marcelo Biffara

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Argentina

Toptal Member Since January 20, 2015

Marcelo is passionate about software development and has known exactly what he wanted to do since childhood. He is a full-stack developer who enjoys writing in Ruby and JavaScript and has experience working with SQL and NoSQL databases and 3rd-party API integration. Marcelo has worked on successful projects, many of which involved high-concurrency platforms and websites.

Unicorn JavaScript Ruby on Rails Back-end Developers Full-stack WhatsApp Development API Integration API

View Alexandre

Alexandre Mondaini Calvão

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Brazil

Toptal Member Since October 5, 2012

Alexandre is an expert Ruby on Rails developer who is also experienced with Java and various front-end technologies. In addition, he's worked extensively with WebRTC, building video-based web apps from scratch and many back-end APIs to be consumed by Angular and React.

Unicorn Agile Development RSpec Ruby on Rails JSON WebRTC Ruby

View Dmitry

Dmitry Lashkov

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Lithuania

Toptal Member Since February 25, 2016

Dmitry is a software engineer with 15 years of experience. He has worked with large existing products, built complex ones from scratch, and hired and led remote teams of more than 10 people. Dmitry has the ability to focus, dive in, and gain a complete understanding of the problem he's solving. He loves automated tests, reviewed pull requests, and Agile methodologies because they allow developers to build quality products and iterate quickly. Ruby and Python are Dmitry's technologies of choice.

Unicorn Capybara JBuilder Ruby on Rails Consultant Microservices Development Node.js Express.js JSON Agile Development Object-oriented Programming RSpec Python HTML5

View Abdulla

Abdulla Achilov

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Poland

Toptal Member Since September 11, 2020

Abdulla is a seasoned Ruby on Rails leader with 12+ years of expertise in back-end solutions, API integrations, and technical leadership. Proficient in CI/CD and DevOps, he designs scalable architectures and implements automation for efficient workflows. Abdulla strongly advocates test-driven development, ensuring high-quality and maintainable code. Known for his independent innovation and collaborative spirit, he consistently seeks improvements in projects and processes.

Unicorn Heroku Ruby on Rails jQuery PostgreSQL Redis Ruby JavaScript Back-end Developers Agile Development PHP Laravel GraphQL

View Jura

Jura Fitzgerald

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Ukraine

Toptal Member Since April 5, 2021

Jura has experience in front-end and back-end web development, AI and machine learning, blockchain, DevOps, quality assurance, hardware, and robotics. He understands well how the technology works, from low to high level, and has honed his management skills leading both small teams and teams of up to 20 people. Jura cares about the business side of the product and treats cooperation as a partnership.

Unicorn MacOS Web Development Zoom Development Ruby Python PHP JavaScript Node.js TypeScript CoffeeScript Delphi Bash

View José

José María López

Freelance Unicorn Developer

Spain

Toptal Member Since February 21, 2018

José is a passionate and proactive person who continuously searches for cutting-edge technologies when solving complex problems. He's extremely familiar with using Angular and Ruby on Rails as a powerful web pair, complementing them with other modules such as D3.js. José also has extensive experience leading and motivating teams, managing projects, communicating with clients, and being part of strategic discussions. He joined Toptal to find mind-blowing projects and work with talented people.

Unicorn MacOS Linux Git AWS PySpark Ruby on Rails JavaScript Angular Agile Development Offshore Ruby on Rails Development PostgreSQL Elasticsearch

View JC

JC Wilcox

Freelance Unicorn Developer

United States

Toptal Member Since May 22, 2016

JC has over six years of experience developing in Ruby on Rails. He is an efficient and talented developer who enjoys acquiring new skills and tackling exciting challenges, handles remote work very well, and has fantastic communication skills.

Unicorn RSpec Offshore Ruby on Rails Development Ruby on Rails Ruby Software Development Sublime Text

Discover More Unicorn Developers in the Toptal Network

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Toptal in the press

... allows corporations to quickly assemble teams that have the right skills for specific projects.

Despite accelerating demand for coders, Toptal prides itself on almost Ivy League-level vetting.

Our clients

Creating an app for the game

Leading a digital transformation

Building a cross-platform app to be used worldwide

Drilling into real-time data creates an industry game changer

Testimonials

Tripcents wouldn't exist without Toptal. Toptal Projects enabled us to rapidly develop our foundation with a product manager, lead developer, and senior designer. In just over 60 days we went from concept to Alpha. The speed, knowledge, expertise, and flexibility is second to none. The Toptal team were as part of tripcents as any in-house team member of tripcents. They contributed and took ownership of the development just like everyone else. We will continue to use Toptal. As a startup, they are our secret weapon.

Brantley Pace

CEO & Co-Founder

I am more than pleased with our experience with Toptal. The professional I got to work with was on the phone with me within a couple of hours. I knew after discussing my project with him that he was the candidate I wanted. I hired him immediately and he wasted no time in getting to my project, even going the extra mile by adding some great design elements that enhanced our overall look.

Paul Fenley

Director

The developers I was paired with were incredible -- smart, driven, and responsive. It used to be hard to find quality engineers and consultants. Now it isn't.

Ryan Rockefeller

CEO

Toptal understood our project needs immediately. We were matched with an exceptional freelancer from Argentina who, from Day 1, immersed himself in our industry, blended seamlessly with our team, understood our vision, and produced top-notch results. Toptal makes connecting with superior developers and programmers very easy.

Jason Kulik

Co-Founder

As a small company with limited resources we can't afford to make expensive mistakes. Toptal provided us with an experienced programmer who was able to hit the ground running and begin contributing immediately. It has been a great experience and one we'd repeat again in a heartbeat.

Stuart Pocknee

Principal

How to Hire Unicorn Developers Through Toptal

Talk to One of Our Industry Experts

A Toptal director of engineering will work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics.

Work With Hand-Selected Talent

Within days, we'll introduce you to the right Unicorn developer for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.

The Right Fit, Guaranteed

Work with your new Unicorn developer for a trial period (pay only if satisfied), ensuring they're the right fit before starting the engagement.

FAQs

How quickly can you hire with Toptal?
Typically, you can hire a Unicorn developer with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or Managed Delivery, timelines may vary. Our talent matchers are highly skilled in the same fields they’re matching in—they’re not recruiters or HR reps. They’ll work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics, and match you with ideal candidates from our vetted global talent network.

Once you select your Unicorn developer, you’ll have a no-risk trial period to ensure they’re the perfect fit. Our matching process has a 98% trial-to-hire rate, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best fit every time.
How do I hire a Unicorn developer?
To hire the right Unicorn developer, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect Unicorn developers for your project.
How are Toptal Unicorn developers different?
At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our Unicorn developers to ensure we only match you with the highest caliber of talent. Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, fewer than 3% make the cut.

In addition to screening for industry-leading expertise, we also assess candidates’ language and interpersonal skills to ensure that you have a smooth working relationship.

When you hire with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched Unicorn developers ready to help you achieve your goals.
Can you hire Unicorn developers on an hourly basis or for project-based tasks?
You can hire Unicorn developers on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the entire project from end-to-end with our Managed Delivery offering. Whether you hire an expert for a full- or part-time position, you’ll have the control and flexibility to scale your team up or down as your needs evolve. Our Unicorn developers can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.
What is the no-risk trial period for Toptal Unicorn developers?
We make sure that each engagement between you and your Unicorn developer begins with a trial period of up to two weeks. This means that you have time to confirm the engagement will be successful. If you’re completely satisfied with the results, we’ll bill you for the time and continue the engagement for as long as you’d like. If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed. From there, we can either part ways, or we can provide you with another expert who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.

Tap Into World-Class Talent

Trusted Experts Only
All of our talent are seasoned experts who ramp up quickly, readily contribute as core team members, and work with you to minimize onboarding time.
The Right Fit
We have a knack for matching you with the right fit. Start working with your new hire on a no-risk trial period, paying only if satisfied.
Scale as Needed
Hire talent within 48 hours and scale your team up or down as needed, no strings attached.
Seamless Hiring
We handle all aspects of billing, payments, and NDA’s. Let us take care of the overhead while you focus on building great products.
Flexible Engagements
Choose the engagement type that suits your needs — hourly, part-time, or full-time — with the ability to change anytime.
Expert Talent Matching
Focus on your project and enjoy support from your dedicated account executive and expert talent matcher.