Memory AS – tech recruitment for a Norwegian SaaS company

Tom Potanski

Last updated on June 13, 2025 | 13 min read

Introduction

Memory AS, a fast-growing Norwegian SaaS company, needed to hire senior Ruby developers fast to meet AI project deadlines tied to government grants. After two months of internal delays, they turned to DevsData LLC. Within six weeks, DevsData LLC sourced and hired two top-tier Ruby developers across Europe and Asia, cutting hiring time by more than half and building a strong foundation for future AI-focused recruitment.

Project highlights

1. Industry: SaaS / Workforce Productivity / Artificial Intelligence
2. Market focus: Scandinavia (Europe) and APAC (Asia-Pacific)
3. Key results:

Short summary

DevsData LLC partnered with Memory AS (now: Timely AS), a Norwegian SaaS company recently awarded government innovation grants, to support a time-sensitive hiring initiative. The company needed to scale its engineering team to meet AI project deadlines but faced two key challenges: a limited supply of senior Ruby developers in the market and a geographically distributed team across Europe and India. The shortage stemmed from increasing global demand for Ruby talent, paired with a shortage of developers specializing in the language, especially those with experience in AI-related projects.

DevsData LLC filled two senior Ruby developer roles for Memory AS within six weeks, hiring qualified candidates from Poland and Vietnam. The partnership reduced time-to-hire by over 50% compared to previous efforts and laid the groundwork for future recruitment of AI-focused QA engineers. The collaboration also helped strengthen Memory AS’s reputation among senior developers globally.

Client profile

Memory AS is a Norwegian SaaS company that develops AI- and Machine Learning-powered tools for improving productivity and time management. Headquartered in Oslo, with additional operations in Pune, India, 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 challenge

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 sought to bring in senior Ruby developers on a tight timeline to support ongoing product development and ensure continued progress.

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 highly effective for backend development, especially in fast-paced SaaS environments, the shrinking talent pool has made it challenging to find senior developers with the expertise and adaptability required for AI-driven projects. Standard recruitment channels failed to produce viable candidates.

• Time zone complexity:

With engineering hubs spread between Europe and India, synchronizing workflows demanded exceptional flexibility and collaboration skills. Developers had to excel technically and thrive in a globally distributed, asynchronous environment — a rare combination even among seasoned professionals.

• 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, AI model development, and Memory AS’s expansion plans. Recognizing the urgency and technical complexity of the roles, Memory AS engaged DevsData LLC as a recruitment partner with experience in sourcing specialized talent under tight timelines.

Alignment on 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 three-month 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 an understanding of AI and ML integration needs.

• 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, productivity, and cohesion.

• Lay the groundwork for future expansion:

Build a sustainable talent acquisition pipeline tailored to Memory AS’s long-term technology roadmap, including future recruitment of QA Engineers specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning systems.

• Strengthen employer brand visibility (implicit goal):

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 under a compressed timeline.

Key activities included:

• Stakeholder interviews:

We 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 — both 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, we 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, we 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.

By systematically addressing these discovery areas upfront, we 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, we 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, we 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.

We tailored our outreach to reflect the nature of Memory AS’s projects, highlighting the company’s focus on AI, remote collaboration, and well-funded innovation. This helped attract experienced developers who were interested in meaningful, long-term work rather than short-term contracts.

Candidate evaluation was handled by a senior Ruby specialist, who conducted in-depth technical interviews with an emphasis on real-world problem solving, architecture discussions, and communication skills. We also screened for time zone compatibility early in the process to ensure smooth coordination between European and Indian teams.

Throughout the engagement, we held weekly check-ins with the client to maintain transparency and responsiveness. This allowed us to fine-tune sourcing based on feedback, move quickly when promising candidates emerged, and maintain steady momentum throughout the three-month project.

Rapid execution and delivery

With a clear strategy in place and close collaboration with the client, we moved forward with focused execution, striking a balance between speed and careful candidate evaluation. Within the first four weeks, we sourced and screened over 80 senior Ruby developers across Europe and Asia. From this pool, we 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.

Technology stack

While our core focus was on recruitment and talent acquisition, understanding the client’s broader technical landscape was essential to sourcing candidates who could immediately contribute to their projects.

Memory AS’s technology environment included:

• Backend development: Ruby, Ruby on Rails — providing robust, scalable backend solutions essential for AI-driven applications.
• Frontend development: React.js — enabling responsive, user-friendly interfaces to support remote work productivity tools.
• Cloud infrastructure: AWS — offering secure, scalable cloud services to support global team operations and AI data processing needs.
• Machine learning tools: TensorFlow, PyTorch — critical technologies underpinning Memory AS’s ongoing AI/ML initiatives and upcoming QA hiring needs.
• Collaboration tools: Jira, Slack, Confluence — facilitating agile project management, seamless communication, and efficient documentation across geographically distributed teams.

Understanding these tools and frameworks allowed us to better assess candidates not only for technical fit but also for their ability to integrate into the client’s development ecosystem from day one.

Results that the client loves

Our strategic, data-driven recruitment approach delivered tangible business outcomes for Memory AS:

• 2 Senior Ruby Developers successfully hired within 3 months, enabling the client to meet grant-driven project milestones and continue advancing key AI/ML initiatives. (Previous internal efforts had failed to secure hires after more than 2 months.)
• Over 50% reduction in time-to-hire compared to the client’s prior independent attempts, demonstrating the efficiency and precision of DevsData LLC’s recruitment strategy.
• Future hiring pipeline initiated for QA Engineers specializing in AI, ensuring that Memory AS could continue scaling its technical capabilities in alignment with its innovation roadmap.
• Enhanced employer brand visibility among Ruby developer communities, positioning Memory AS as an attractive destination for highly skilled engineers passionate about AI, remote work innovation, and mission-driven digital solutions.

These results not only addressed Memory AS’s immediate hiring challenges but also strengthened their foundation for sustainable long-term growth in the competitive global SaaS market.

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.

Building on this momentum, we aim to continue supporting Memory AS’s mission to revolutionize the future of remote work, empowering organizations worldwide through intelligent, ethical, and sustainable digital innovation. Contact DevsData LLC at general@devsdata.com or visit www.devsdata.com to learn more about their hiring approach.

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Tom Potanski Managing Director

Passionate and experienced technology leader. Combining business and technology, helping American clients find exceptional technical talent in Europe and LatAm.

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