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The most expensive hire is the wrong first one.
Your first AI or data hire sets the architecture, the standards and the culture every later hire inherits. The uncomfortable part: most firms are interviewing for a role nobody in the building can technically evaluate, and the recruiter cannot either.
- Fixed fee, no placement incentive: same fee whether you hire candidate one or nine
- Role scoped in a week, finalists in four to six; you interview only people worth your time
- The process was built on our own teams: 1,200+ reviewed, 350 to a coding assessment, 50 to a live technical session
- A 90-day landing plan so the hire arrives into a mandate
Where this runs: private credit & specialty finance and life, annuity & pension risk transfer.
Built the process on our own teams first.
For a more detailed track record, read the About page.
Source them, test them on real work, tell you who can build.
End to end. Sourcing from our own network and channels (and managing any recruiters you already pay), the role scoped to what your roadmap needs first, every finalist through The Operator’s 360°. AI engineers, ML engineers, data engineers, analytics engineers, data scientists, heads of data.
Fixed fee, no placement incentive. Same fee whether you hire candidate one or nine. A 90-day landing plan so the hire arrives into a mandate.
Scope, source and screen, land.
- Week 1Scope
- The role your roadmap actually needs first, often not the template JD
- Job description written for what the work is
- Compensation reality check against the market
- Reporting line, first-quarter mandate and success measures agreed
- Sourcing plan and interview panel set
- Weeks 2–6Source and screen
- Direct sourcing plus your existing channels
- Language-fluency screen and coding assessment
- Technical interviews run by a practitioner
- Finalists through The Operator’s 360°: build, lead, judgment, fit
- Structured scorecards on every candidate
- Offer → day 90Land
- Offer support and negotiation
- Reference depth beyond the names offered
- Onboarding plan with a first-quarter mandate
- 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins with you and the hire
Role scoped in a week, finalists in four to six. Fixed fee, no placement incentive.
Book 30 minutes to scope the role →Asked on most first calls.
Why is this better than a recruiter?
A recruiter’s incentive is the placement; ours is the fixed fee. And a recruiter cannot technically vet an ML engineer. We can, because we do the work.
What roles?
First data engineer, first AI engineer, first ML engineer, first data scientist, or the head of data your stage now justifies.
Can you stay involved after?
Many firms pair the search with a light fractional retainer so the new hire has senior cover through year one.
What does the search cost?
One fixed fee, quoted up front, the same whether you hire candidate one or candidate nine. No percentage of salary, so there is no incentive to inflate the offer or rush the close.