First-hire index: which teams companies are building this month
By the RoleDawn team · Published · Updated
In the 30 days to October 7, 2026, 807 companies posted a role in a team that was new on their own careers page, across 43 functions. The teams companies are building most are BizOps & Strategy (97), Customer Success (55) and Finance & Accounting (53). RoleDawn started recording new-team signals on October 5, 2026, so these figures cover 3 days so far.
The first-hire index counts, for each function, how many companies posted their first role in that team — a common sign that a new team, owner and tool stack are on the way. It is recalculated from RoleDawn's live database of 4,481 company career pages, so it always shows the last 30 days.
Distinct companies with at least one new-team signal in each function. A company starting two teams counts once in each, so the rows add up to more than the total. "New on their board" is the part of each count seen appearing on a board we already tracked.
How is the index calculated?
Window: signals detected from September 7, 2026 to October 7, 2026 (UTC) — 3 days of data so far, because recording started on October 5, 2026. The last-7-days column uses the same rules.
Unit: companies, not job posts. A company counts in a function when a role in that function appears on its careers page for the first time we have seen.
Exclusions: staffing agencies; large or publicly listed companies that already have most teams; intern, temporary and contractor roles; and titles we cannot place in a function.
Source: public job postings on companies' own Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable, Recruitee and Workday boards, each re-read about once a day. No LinkedIn data and no personal data.
Updated: October 7, 2026. The page is rebuilt from the live database at most every 30 minutes. Signal definitions: methodology.
Monthly reports and CSV downloads
For fixed figures you can cite by month, with every signal as a free CSV (CC BY 4.0), see the monthly First-Hire Index: October 2026.
FAQ
What does "first hire" mean here?
A company posting a role in a function we had not seen on its own careers page before — for example its first security, RevOps or data role. "New on their board" means the function appeared on a board we already tracked; "Likely new team · inferred" is an estimate for boards we only recently started tracking. It is not proof the company never had the function, and a job post is not proof of budget.
Where does the data come from?
Public job postings on companies' own Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable, Recruitee and Workday boards, re-read about once a day. No LinkedIn data and no personal data.
How is this different from the monthly First-Hire Index?
This page is a rolling 30-day window at one stable address, recalculated from the live database. The monthly First-Hire Index covers one calendar month, is fixed once the month ends and comes with a CSV download.
Can I cite these numbers?
Yes. Please credit "Source: RoleDawn First-hire index" with a link to roledawn.com/first-hire-index and the date shown at the top of the page, since the figures change daily.