Where to find startup jobs in Europe

Where do startup jobs actually get posted?

Mostly on the company's own careers page, which usually runs on an applicant tracking system like Ashby or Greenhouse, or on a simple Notion page.

• The company's careers page. Either a page on their site, a Notion doc linked from it, or an applicant tracking system (Ashby, Greenhouse, Lever and others). This is the source of truth.
• Founders' LinkedIn posts. Early-stage founders often announce roles personally before, or instead of, posting them anywhere formal.
• Accelerator job boards. YC's Work at a Startup lists roles at YC companies only.
• VC portfolio job boards. Many funds run a job board across their portfolio.

For a side-by-side look at the job boards themselves, see the comparison of VC and startup job boards.

Why are most startup jobs not on LinkedIn or Indeed?

Because posting costs money and mostly brings noise. Early-stage founders would rather be approached directly.

A paid LinkedIn job post is expensive and the return is poor. One YC founder hiring for a role in Belgium posted there and got around two thousand applications, almost none from people who could actually work in Belgium. He paid to receive noise, then had to sort through it.

So early-stage startups skip it. A Notion page shared on their socials is free, and so is a careers page on their own site. Writing a proper job description also takes time founders don't have, which is why many of them would rather someone reached out and asked where the bottleneck is. Cold outreach to founders covers how.

LinkedIn tends to appear later, around seed or Series A, as extra visibility. By then the company page gets real traffic and jobs listed there get seen.

How can you tell if a startup job is still open?

Check the company's own careers page. If the role is still listed there, it is usually live, and many of those pages show when it was posted.

Most companies take a role down once it's filled, so a listing on their own careers page is a good sign. Not a guarantee: some leave filled roles up for a while.

The posting date is the second check. Most applicant tracking systems show how long ago a role went up. A listing from last week is almost certainly live. One from six months ago is worth a quick message before you spend an evening on the application.

Why does location matter so much for startup jobs?

Most high-growth startups work from the office, because culture is built in person, so where they sit is where you will be every day.

In corporates and consultancies, seniority often buys flexibility, and remote and hybrid work became normal after Covid. High-growth startups mostly went the other way. Culture is the thing holding a small team together, and it gets built in the small interactions of a day in the same room.

That makes the commute part of the job. You'll be making it every day, sometimes at weekends, and some startups keep very long hours. A short commute changes how that feels. Some startups are hybrid, especially ones not chasing hypergrowth, but in-office is the default at the fast-moving ones.

So search by city and look at where each company actually sits, not just which city it lists.

Do startups hire remotely or sponsor visas?

Some do. The job description usually says so, and if it doesn't, ask the founder before you apply.

Most job descriptions state whether visa sponsorship is possible. If it's not mentioned, ask directly. It's a normal question and it saves everyone time.

Check this first if you'd be moving to a country where visas are slow and difficult, like the United States. A startup that has never sponsored a visa before is often unwilling to start with you, however strong the fit.