Hiring Beyond Your Expertise: A Director's Guide to Building Teams in Unfamiliar Territory

After fifteen years leading engineering teams, I’ve learned that the most challenging and arguably most important hiring decisions happen when you need to build capabilities in areas where you lack deep technical expertise. Whether it’s expanding into machine learning, blockchain, mobile development, or emerging frameworks, every engineering leader eventually faces this challenge.

The traditional approach of relying solely on your technical knowledge breaks down when you’re venturing into unfamiliar territory. Yet some of the best hires I’ve made were for roles where I wasn’t an expert in their domain. Here’s how to navigate these waters successfully.

Start by Understanding the Business Context, Not the Technology

Before diving into technical assessments, ground yourself in why this capability matters to your organization. What problems are you trying to solve? What outcomes do you expect? Understanding the business context helps you evaluate candidates based on their ability to deliver value, not just their technical prowess.

When we decided to build our first mobile app, I didn’t start by learning Swift or Kotlin. Instead, I focused on understanding our user experience goals, performance requirements, and integration needs with our existing systems. This business-first approach guided every hiring decision and helped me ask better questions during interviews.

Build Your Advisory Network Early

You can’t hire effectively in a vacuum. Before posting job descriptions, cultivate relationships with practitioners in the field. This might include:

• Senior engineers from other companies working in similar domains
• Technical consultants who can provide objective assessments
• Industry connections who can refer quality candidates
• Former colleagues who’ve made similar transitions

These advisors become invaluable during the interview process. They can help you craft relevant technical questions, review candidate portfolios, and provide second opinions on technical assessments.

Focus on Fundamentals and Problem-Solving

While you may not understand the nuances of React hooks or transformer architectures, you can absolutely evaluate a candidate’s approach to problem-solving, system design thinking, and engineering fundamentals. Some universal qualities transcend specific technologies:

• Structured thinking: How do they break down complex problems?
• Communication skills: Can they explain technical concepts clearly?
• Learning agility: How do they approach unfamiliar challenges?
• Engineering judgment: Do they understand trade-offs and constraints?
• Collaboration: How well do they work with cross-functional teams?

I once hired an exceptional backend engineer for a data engineering role despite having limited experience with our specific data stack. Her systematic approach to understanding data flows and her ability to ask insightful questions about our business requirements made it clear she could succeed.

Design Practical, Portfolio-Based Assessments

Traditional whiteboard interviews become less effective when you can’t evaluate the technical correctness of solutions. Instead, shift toward portfolio reviews and practical assessments:

• Portfolio deep-dives: Have candidates walk you through real projects they’ve completed
• Architecture discussions: Ask them to design systems similar to your use cases
• Code reviews: Have them explain and critique existing code samples
• Problem-solving sessions: Present actual business challenges and discuss approaches

The key is focusing on their thought process rather than the specific implementation details.

Leverage Your Technical Panel Wisely

Bring in technical experts, but be strategic about it. This might include:

• External consultants for specialized assessments
• Senior engineers from adjacent teams who can evaluate fundamentals
• Technical advisors who can conduct deep technical reviews
• Peer-level engineers from other companies (with proper arrangements)

Remember, you’re still the hiring manager. Use technical input to inform your decision, but maintain ownership of the final choice based on the complete picture of the candidate.

Evaluate Cultural and Team Fit Rigorously

When technical evaluation is challenging, cultural fit becomes even more critical. A technically strong candidate who can’t collaborate effectively or align with your team’s working style will struggle regardless of their skills.

Pay special attention to:

• How they handle ambiguity and changing requirements
• Their approach to knowledge sharing and mentoring
• Communication style with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Alignment with your team’s values and working practices

Invest in Structured Onboarding

When you hire in unfamiliar areas, your onboarding process becomes crucial for success. Plan for:

• Extended ramp-up periods with clear milestones
• Mentorship programs pairing new hires with experienced team members
• Regular check-ins to identify challenges early
• Learning resources and training budgets
• Clear success metrics for the first 90 days

Trust Your Instincts About People

While you may not understand the technical intricacies, you can still evaluate whether someone is thoughtful, curious, honest about their limitations, and genuinely excited about the work. Some of my best hires came down to gut feelings about someone’s character and potential, validated by structured assessment processes.

Learn Enough to Be Dangerous

You don’t need to become an expert, but investing in basic literacy pays dividends. Take online courses, read industry publications, attend conferences, and engage with your new team members. This investment helps you:

• Ask better questions in future interviews
• Understand team challenges and blockers
• Make more informed technical decisions
• Earn credibility with your team

Embrace the Learning Opportunity

Hiring in unfamiliar territory forces you to become a better leader. You learn to delegate technical decisions more effectively, ask better clarifying questions, and focus on outcomes rather than implementation details. These skills make you more effective across all areas of leadership.

The engineering landscape evolves rapidly, and successful leaders must build capabilities in areas they don’t fully understand. By focusing on fundamentals, leveraging your network, and maintaining a structured approach, you can build exceptional teams even in unfamiliar territory.

The key is acknowledging what you don’t know while leveraging what you do: good judgment about people, understanding of business needs, and the ability to create environments where talented engineers can thrive.

This post originally appeared on Jay Vilalta’s blog.