How OnHires Helped SIDE.xyz Scale Its Web3 AI Infrastructure Team
SIDE.xyz is a Web3 platform designed to help decentralized projects grow and activate their communities through AI-powered agents. The platform enables blockchain projects to reward users based on both onchain and offchain activity metrics, creating more dynamic and engaging community ecosystems. As the platform expanded its infrastructure and product roadmap, the company needed to strengthen both its executive leadership and engineering capabilities.
Client:
SIDE.xyz
Industry:
Web3
Country:
Sydney, Australia
Service:
Recruitment
Background
Web3 platforms operate in a highly dynamic environment where product development, community growth, and ecosystem partnerships evolve rapidly.
SIDE.xyz was building infrastructure that combined artificial intelligence with blockchain based incentive systems. This required a team capable of managing both complex technical architecture and operational scaling as the platform attracted more projects and users.
Challenges
Recruiting talent in the Web3 ecosystem presents unique obstacles. Many experienced engineers and executives are already involved in other decentralized projects, while the demand for blockchain specialists continues to grow.
At the same time, SIDE.xyz needed to hire across leadership and engineering roles simultaneously while maintaining alignment with its decentralized and global operating model.
Limited availability of senior Web3 executives with operational leadership experience
Highly competitive market for blockchain and full stack engineers
Parallel hiring across executive and engineering functions
Distributed team structure with stakeholders across regions
Need for consistent technical and leadership evaluation standards
Solution
OnHires implemented a hiring strategy tailored to Web3 startups and decentralized technology companies.
The process started with detailed role calibration sessions to define leadership expectations for the COO and CTO positions, as well as technical requirements for engineering roles. Dedicated sourcing pipelines were then launched across global blockchain developer communities and Web3 professional networks.
Weekly hiring operations helped ensure transparency, quick feedback cycles, and clear alignment across stakeholders.
Recruiters experienced in Web3 and blockchain infrastructure hiring
Targeted sourcing across global crypto developer communities
Structured scorecards for technical and executive evaluation
Dedicated hiring pipelines for leadership and engineering roles
Full cycle recruitment ownership including negotiation and onboarding
Results
Through a structured recruitment framework, OnHires helped SIDE.xyz strengthen its leadership team and technical capabilities while maintaining rapid hiring timelines.
The improved hiring process allowed the company to secure candidates with the right combination of Web3 experience, technical expertise, and operational leadership.
3 key hires completed across leadership and engineering roles
46 percent faster time to hire
Higher first round interview success rates through role calibration
Stronger alignment between product vision and engineering execution
Improved transparency across the hiring pipeline
Beyond the immediate hires, the engagement helped SIDE.xyz establish a repeatable hiring framework for future team expansion.
Improved employer visibility among crypto engineers and operators
More efficient internal hiring coordination
This case shows how structured executive search can support Web3 startups in scaling both leadership and engineering teams while navigating the unique dynamics of decentralized technology ecosystems.
OnHires helped us navigate the complexities of hiring in the Web3 ecosystem. Their team quickly identified strong candidates and managed the recruitment process efficiently from start to finish.
Founder
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