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How we engage

Search built around the hire

One firm, three engagement models. The right structure depends on how critical the role is, how fast you need it filled, and how much of the market you need worked. Every model is run by the same specialist who only works legal technology and litigation support.

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Retained Contingency Interim Compare Terms Guarantee

The short version

Three models, one specialist

Retained when the seat is mission-critical or a confidential leadership hire. Contingency when you want reach with no upfront risk. Interim when you need an operator now. The work, the screening discipline, and the market knowledge stay constant across all three.

Engagement 01

Retained Search

Retained search is an exclusive, fully engaged partnership for the roles you cannot afford to get wrong, from a flagship enterprise seat to a confidential leadership hire at the VP, Director, or C-suite level. You commit to one firm, that firm commits to working your search as a defined, deadline-driven process, and the two sides operate as one team from kickoff to start date. This is not a job post sprayed across boards. It is a deliberate campaign to map the market, approach the people who are not looking, and bring you a calibrated slate of people who can actually do the job.

Because the search is exclusive, the incentives line up. There is no race against three other agencies, no rushed submittals, no candidates being shopped to your competitors at the same time. The work is methodical: a real intake, a written market map, proactive outreach, structured screening, and weekly reporting so you always know where the search stands. For leadership seats the same engagement adds the discretion and reference-informed assessment those hires demand. When a role carries real weight on revenue, product, or brand, retained is the model that protects the outcome.

ExclusiveFully engagedDefined processWeekly reporting

What it is

An exclusive, deadline-driven search run as a defined process. One firm, one team, full market coverage, weekly progress reporting from intake to accepted offer.

Best for

Mission-critical and hard-to-fill roles: a first GTM leader, a head of product, a flagship enterprise AE seat, or any hire where a miss costs you a quarter or more.

How it is engaged

A staged engagement fee splits across kickoff, slate delivery, and placement. The search is yours exclusively and worked to an agreed timeline with named accountability.

The guarantee

Retained placements carry a 12-month pro-rated guarantee. If a placed hire leaves inside the first year, the engagement fee is credited on a pro-rated basis against the replacement search. The longer the partnership runs, the more skin we keep in the game, because the goal is a hire that stays, not a hire that simply starts.

“

Our success rate with their candidates has been more than 50% better than with other recruiters.

VP of Sales, enterprise legal

Engagement 03

Contingency Search

Contingency search is pay-on-placement recruiting. You pay nothing unless we deliver a hire you choose to make, which makes it the lowest-risk way to put a specialist recruiter to work on a role. It is the right model for individual-contributor and mid-level seats where you want real reach into the market without committing an engagement fee up front.

Lower risk does not mean lower quality. The same screening discipline applies: we take a proper intake, source the people who fit, and only put forward candidates we would stand behind. The standard fee is 25% of first-year base salary, invoiced only when a placement is made, with terms of Net 30 from offer acceptance. If you need a steady flow of qualified AEs, product managers, or marketing managers and want to keep the commercial risk on us, contingency is the model.

Pay on placement25% of first-year baseIC & mid-levelNo upfront fee

What it is

Pay-on-placement recruiting with the same screening discipline as our retained work. No fee unless you hire a candidate we put forward.

Best for

Individual-contributor and mid-level seats: account executives, product managers, marketing managers, and SDRs where you want market reach with zero upfront risk.

How it is engaged

No engagement fee. The fee is 25% of first-year base, invoiced only on placement, Net 30 from offer acceptance. Put us on the role and pay only for results.

The guarantee

Contingency placements carry a 90-day credit-or-replacement guarantee. If a placed hire leaves or is let go for cause inside the first 90 days, we run a replacement search at no additional fee, or credit the fee against your next placement. You are protected on the hire, not just billed for it.

Engagement 04

Interim Placement

Interim placement puts an experienced operator into your business to bridge a gap. A leader left suddenly, a launch cannot wait for a full search, a parental leave needs covering, or you need senior hands while you decide what the permanent role should even be. In all of those cases, momentum matters more than a permanent commitment, and an interim is the way to keep the work moving.

We place senior sales, marketing, and product operators who can land quickly, work without a long ramp, and hold the line until a permanent hire is in place. Many interim engagements also de-risk the permanent decision: you see how someone actually performs in your environment before anyone commits long-term. It is a fast, flexible way to protect revenue and product timelines through a transition instead of letting the gap cost you.

What it is

A senior operator placed to bridge a gap on a defined timeline, keeping revenue, marketing, or product work moving while you run or finish a permanent search.

Best for

Sudden departures, leaves, launches that cannot wait, or any transition where you need senior hands now and may not be ready to commit to the permanent role.

How it is engaged

Scoped to the length and seniority of the gap, with flexible terms. Many engagements roll into a permanent hire once the right person proves the fit.

The protection

Interim engagements are scoped to the duration of the gap and reviewed at agreed checkpoints, so you are never locked into a commitment that outlasts the need. If an interim converts to a permanent hire, the standard placement guarantees apply from the permanent start date.

Side by side

Which model fits the hire

Most clients use more than one model over time: retained for the seats that matter most, contingency for steady flow, interim to cover a gap. Here is the quick read.

Retained

Risk: staged fee, exclusive
Use when: mission-critical or leadership
Level: any critical seat, up to C-suite
Guarantee: 12-month pro-rated

Contingency

Risk: none upfront, pay on placement
Use when: you want reach, low risk
Level: IC & mid-level
Guarantee: 90-day credit-or-replace

Interim

Risk: scoped to the gap
Use when: you need someone now
Level: senior operators
Guarantee: checkpoint-reviewed

Terms at a glance

Clear commercials, no surprises

The same straightforward terms apply across our work. Specifics for retained and interim engagements are scoped at kickoff, but the standards below hold.

25%

of first-year base, contingency standard

90days

credit-or-replacement guarantee, contingency

12mo

pro-rated guarantee, retained

Net 30

from offer acceptance

No hidden line items, no ambiguity on what a placement costs or how you are protected if it does not work out. The fee structure is built so the incentive is always a hire that stays.

Common questions

Choosing an engagement

How do I know whether to go retained or contingency?

It comes down to how critical the seat is and how much of the market you need worked. If a miss would cost you a quarter, or the role is a leadership seat, retained protects the outcome with exclusivity, full coverage, and a defined process. If you want reach with no upfront risk on an IC or mid-level role, contingency is the right call. Many clients use both across different seats.

What does the 25% fee actually cover?

For contingency, 25% of first-year base is the placement fee, invoiced only when you hire a candidate we put forward, with terms of Net 30 from offer acceptance. It covers the full search: intake, sourcing, screening, coordination, and offer support. There are no separate retainers or hidden line items on a contingency engagement.

What happens if a hire does not work out?

Contingency placements carry a 90-day credit-or-replacement guarantee: if a hire leaves or is let go for cause inside 90 days, we run a replacement at no additional fee or credit the fee against your next placement. Retained placements carry a 12-month pro-rated guarantee, credited pro-rated against a replacement search.

Can an interim placement become permanent?

Often, yes. Interim engagements are a low-risk way to see how someone performs in your environment before committing long-term. If an interim converts to a permanent hire, the standard placement guarantees apply from the permanent start date.

Do you only work legal technology and litigation support?

Yes. Search Consultants is a specialist firm. We place Sales, Marketing, and Product talent exclusively with legal technology and litigation support companies across the US. That focus is why we can tell a credible operator from an impressive talker in this market.

Not sure which model fits the seat?

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