Memory AS – tech recruitment for a Norwegian SaaS company

Tsiala Jobava

Last updated on June 13, 2025 | 15 min read

Introduction

Memory AS, a Norwegian SaaS company best known for its AI-powered time-tracking platform Timely, faced mounting pressure to expand its backend team ahead of project milestones tied to government innovation grants. The company needed senior Ruby developers with strong architectural skills and the ability to contribute to AI-driven systems, on a tight timeline.

Despite more than two months of internal recruitment efforts, Memory AS struggled to move the process forward. Standard hiring channels failed to surface candidates with the required seniority, Ruby expertise, and experience working in globally distributed teams across multiple time zones. Each delay increased the risk of missing grant-linked deliverables, putting both funding commitments and the company’s AI roadmap at stake.

With internal hiring at a standstill and deadlines approaching, Memory AS turned to DevsData LLC due to its experience recruiting senior backend engineers for SaaS companies operating in distributed, multi-time-zone environments. Within six weeks, DevsData LLC identified, deeply assessed, and presented senior Ruby developers sourced from multiple European and Asian markets. The final hires were selected from Poland and Vietnam, where we identified candidates with the strongest combination of senior Ruby expertise, prior experience in distributed teams, and time-zone compatibility with Memory AS’s existing engineering hubs. Two engineers were successfully hired, significantly reducing time-to-hire and enabling Memory AS to meet its grant-related milestones on schedule.

Memory develops AI-driven software designed to support time tracking and productivity for modern, distributed teams. Headquartered in Oslo, Memory operates with a distributed team across Europe and Asia. The recruitment framework established during this collaboration is now used to support ongoing backend development and AI-related product work.

Client profile

Memory AS is a Norwegian SaaS company that develops AI and machine learning-powered tools for improving productivity and time management. The company operates with a remote-first team of 40 employees across 20 countries. Memory AS developed and maintains Timely, an intelligent time-tracking platform used by teams worldwide.

Focused on optimizing productivity, accountability, and mental well-being, Memory’s AI-powered solutions support remote and hybrid teams with automatic time tracking, smart scheduling, and deep work facilitation features. These tools enhance operational efficiency and foster healthier work habits, establishing a new standard for ethical digital work environments.

Memory AS has raised $20 million USD in venture funding from global and Nordic investors, including SNÖ, Investinor, Concentric, Sanden, Melesio, and 500 Startups. The company has received multiple government innovation grants, underscoring its significant contributions to the future of work and advancements in AI. As of 2021, the company was valued at approximately 415 million NOK (approximately $40 million USD).

Memory’s flagship product, Timely, is already used by thousands of professionals across Europe, Asia, and North America. The platform has received notable global media coverage in outlets like BBC, TechCrunch, and Dagens Næringsliv, further strengthening its brand recognition in productivity and SaaS.

Client’s challenges

Memory AS needed to expand its backend engineering capacity to meet upcoming project milestones tied to government innovation grants. With deliverables involving AI and Machine Learning, the company needed to hire senior Ruby developers on a tight timeline to support backend development tied to grant-funded milestones.

However, multiple factors made this a complex and urgent challenge:

Niche technology stack

Memory AS’s core platforms were built on Ruby, a language chosen for its flexibility and speed in building scalable web applications. While Ruby remains effective for backend development in SaaS environments, senior-level Ruby engineers have become harder to source as many experienced developers transition toward newer backend stacks or move into hybrid roles combining engineering, data, and AI specialization. As a result, standard recruitment channels failed to produce viable candidates for Memory AS’s AI-adjacent backend work.

Time zone complexity

Developers had to demonstrate not only senior-level technical expertise but also a proven track record of working effectively in globally distributed, asynchronous teams – a combination of requirements that significantly limited the number of suitable candidates.

An extended hiring timeline and high stakes

Internal recruitment efforts had already been ongoing for over two months without success. Each additional delay increased the risk of missing essential project milestones, potentially affecting grant compliance and Memory AS’s expansion plans.

Facing tight deadlines and highly specialized technical requirements, Memory AS engaged DevsData LLC, a recruitment partner known for delivering senior, hard-to-source engineering talent under compressed timelines.

Alignment with goals

The engagement between Memory AS and DevsData LLC was anchored around several critical objectives, each directly tied to the client’s innovation-driven expansion and the success of their AI/ML initiatives:

Rapidly source and hire senior talent

Identify, assess, and secure two experienced Senior Ruby Developers within a six-week timeframe to align with Memory AS’s project schedule and grant-related milestones.

Uphold exceptional technical standards

Ensure that all candidates possess not only expert-level Ruby development skills but also strong architectural thinking, scalable system design expertise, and experience supporting backend systems that interface with AI and machine-learning components, including data pipelines, model outputs, and AI-driven features.

Facilitate seamless global team integration

Source candidates capable of thriving within a geographically distributed engineering team, adapting to significant time zone differences while maintaining collaboration and cohesion.

Enable future hiring expansion

Support Memory AS’s continued growth by completing the immediate Ruby hiring phase successfully and establishing the groundwork for future technical recruitment collaborations, including upcoming QA roles focused on AI and Machine Learning systems.

Strengthen employer brand visibility

Enhance Memory AS’s reputation within senior Ruby developer communities globally, positioning them as an attractive destination for top-tier technical talent.

Discovery phase

Before launching the recruitment campaign, our team conducted a rapid yet thorough discovery phase to ensure every action would directly support Memory AS’s strategic hiring goals.

Key activities included:

• Stakeholder interviews

DevsData LLC held detailed meetings with technical leads, engineering managers, and project owners to precisely define the must-have skill sets, Ruby proficiency expectations, timezone flexibility needs, and cultural fit indicators critical for long-term success.

• Workforce mapping

Our researchers conducted an extensive talent landscape analysis to identify geographical regions in Europe and Asia with active, senior Ruby developer communities aligned with the client’s technical and operational requirements.

• Competitor benchmarking

To better understand the sourcing challenges specific to Ruby roles, DevsData LLC analyzed the hiring practices of comparable SaaS organizations across Europe and the APAC region, focusing on recruitment trends and compensation benchmarks.

• Pain points identification

Reviewing Memory AS’s previous recruitment efforts, DevsData LLC identified key failure points, including insufficient technical targeting, an overreliance on passive sourcing channels, and gaps in seniority validation, allowing us to design a smarter, more proactive recruitment strategy.

• Understanding team dynamics and ways of working

In parallel with technical and market analysis, DevsData LLC focused on understanding how Memory AS’s distributed engineering teams operated in practice, including communication norms, decision-making ownership, and expectations for autonomy in a remote-first environment. This ensured that candidate evaluation accounted not only for senior technical capability but also for alignment with the company’s day-to-day collaboration model.

By systematically addressing these discovery areas upfront, DevsData LLC ensured that every subsequent sourcing, screening, and interview decision was rooted in real business needs, significantly increasing the likelihood of swift, high-quality hires.

Our unique approach

To support Memory AS’s hiring objectives, DevsData LLC designed a recruitment process focused on efficiency, precision, and alignment with the company’s distributed team model. Rather than relying solely on standard job platforms, they explored less-saturated sourcing channels, including niche Ruby communities and developer forums, to uncover candidates who weren’t actively job hunting but matched our technical and operational needs.

This structured yet adaptive model drew on best practices developed in earlier projects, such as the Ontopical, Inc. GovTech SaaS recruitment engagement, where DevsData LLC successfully scaled a technical team. Experience from that project informed the approach to Memory AS, particularly in designing role-specific assessments and tailoring outreach for professionals experienced in AI-driven SaaS environments.

Outreach messaging was customized to highlight Memory AS’s focus on AI, remote collaboration, and innovation funding, attracting experienced developers seeking meaningful, long-term roles rather than short-term contracts. Candidate evaluation was led by a senior Ruby specialist, emphasizing real-world problem-solving, architectural design, and cross-timezone communication.

Throughout the engagement, DevsData LLC held weekly check-ins with Memory AS to ensure transparency and rapid feedback loops. This allowed for agile refinements to sourcing strategy, ensuring the project maintained both speed and precision – mirroring the same responsive collaboration model that proved effective in prior SaaS recruitment success stories like Ontopical, Inc.

Rapid execution and delivery

With a clear strategy in place and close collaboration with the client, DevsData LLC moved forward with focused execution, striking a balance between speed and careful candidate evaluation. Within the first four weeks, they sourced and screened over 80 senior Ruby developers across Europe and Asia. From this pool, they shortlisted 20 candidates whose experience aligned with Memory AS’s technical stack, AI-related projects, and remote team setup.

Following a rigorous interview process led by a senior Ruby specialist, eight candidates advanced to the final round, having demonstrated strong coding skills, architectural thinking, and the ability to work across time zones.

“Out of 80+ screened candidates, only eight made it through our technical validation, advanced coding tasks, architectural discussions, and timezone coordination scenarios. We weren’t just looking for strong Ruby developers, but engineers who could thrive in a globally distributed, AI-focused team.”

Ultimately, two offers were extended and accepted – one by a developer based in Poland and the other in Vietnam.

This outcome not only helped Memory AS stay on track with key project deadlines but also strengthened their development teams across the European and APAC regions. The process demonstrated that with the right sourcing strategy and technical evaluation, even niche roles could be filled effectively within a relatively short timeline.

Results

Our recruitment engagement delivered clear, execution-level outcomes for Memory AS:

• Two Senior Ruby Developers were successfully hired within six weeks, allowing the client to stabilize backend development capacity ahead of grant-linked project milestones. This resolved a hiring bottleneck that internal recruitment efforts had been unable to address for more than two months.
• The hired engineers were onboarded into existing distributed teams across Europe and Asia, contributing immediately to backend development work supporting AI-enabled features. Their prior experience in remote, asynchronous environments reduced onboarding friction and enabled faster integration into active development cycles.

In parallel, DevsData LLC helped establish a structured, repeatable recruitment framework for senior technical roles, which Memory AS has since applied when planning future hires. As a result, the company initiated follow-up recruitment efforts for QA Engineers focused on AI and Machine Learning systems, aligned with its longer-term product roadmap.

What’s next

Following the successful recruitment of senior Ruby developers, Memory AS entrusted DevsData LLC with an additional, equally strategic project – sourcing two highly specialized QA Engineers with deep expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning systems.

This next phase reflects the trust and confidence built during our initial collaboration, as well as Memory AS’s broader commitment to scaling its AI-driven workforce solutions with top-tier global talent.

Partnering with DevsData LLC means gaining access to a global network of deeply vetted engineers and a recruitment process proven to deliver results under tight deadlines. If you’re scaling your tech team or need specialized talent fast, our experts are ready to help.

Contact DevsData LLC at [email protected] or visit www.devsdata.com to learn more about our hiring approach.

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Tsiala Jobava Copywriter and Marketer

Tsiala Jobava is a talented marketing specialist from Georgia. Tsiala holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Georgian American University and a master’s in Marketing and Communication from Barcelona Business School. She has built a diverse career, working as a copywriter and in marketing and PR, before returning to her first passion – writing. Along the way, she has gained valuable experience in social media management, content creation, and brand development.

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