Principles

Having Perceptive people is the start. An Engineer who cannot see what exact pain you are having will not design the right foundation for the software you are building.

Next look for Autonomous people. They will free you up to see the bigger picture. Steering the project in the right direction is as important, if not more important, than the day-to-day nitty-gritty.

Lastly, don't neglect Craftsmanship. It is an oldie but goodie. Find an Engineer who feel literal pain for their software. Time saved from testing and debugging half-baked solutions will be virtually eliminated.

In short, hard skills are teachable, soft skills are harder to train and look for. Choose your people wisely.

Better People → Better Software