Retained search and fractional leadership

Confidential senior searches. Fractional talent and HR leadership.

Retained search for director-level and confidential roles: a $1,500 engagement fee per seat, credited against a 15% success fee, with a 6-month replacement. Or hire the operator part-time: a Fractional Head of Talent at $1,500 a month, a Fractional HR partner at $950.

Who this is for

Roles you cannot post, and teams without a talent lead

Retained search is for the search that has to be mapped, not advertised. The fractional plans are for companies that need the function without the full-time salary.

A confidential replacement

The incumbent does not know yet. Nothing is posted, nothing carries your name until a candidate has been screened and you have said yes to the approach.

Director and above

Head of Revenue Cycle, VP Engineering, Director of Operations, Head of Finance: roles where the right people are not applying anywhere, so the market has to be mapped and approached directly.

A search that already failed once

Three agencies on contingency, ninety days, no hire. An exclusive mandate with a weekly written report is the fix, because someone is finally accountable for the whole market.

A founder or COO running hiring on the side

The Fractional Head of Talent takes the pipeline: up to 3 open roles at a time, a written playbook, an ATS with scorecards, and weekly numbers, in up to 10 hours a week.

A company with staff but no HR

Policies, compliance, employee relations, onboarding and performance frameworks handled by whoever has time. The Fractional HR partner takes that on in up to 6 hours a week.

When it is the wrong fit

A mid-level role with an active market belongs on commission at 10%. A hiring lead you need full-time, in your ATS all day, is a dedicated recruiter seat.

What you get

Three plans, and what each one delivers

Every deliverable below is written down and dated. You see the search plan before the first approach, and the weekly report every week the search is open.

Retained search: $1,500 per seat, credited against 15%

An exclusive, mapped search with a weekly written report

Director and above, or any role that has to stay confidential. The engagement fee buys a fixed block of the founder's time and a report you can forward to your board.

Search plan by Day 2: rubric, comp note, target-company list
Market map by Day 5: who holds the role at which companies, and at what pay
Direct, confidential approaches. No postings.
Weekly written report: approached, responded, in process, market feedback on the role and the pay
Shortlist of 3 to 5 in 15 to 25 business days, each with a scorecard and live screen notes
Interview management, references, offer negotiation to signature
6-month replacement

Retained search pricing

Fractional Head of Talent: $1,500 a month

A part-time head of hiring who owns the pipeline

Up to 10 hours a week of the founder's time, running up to 3 open roles at once and building the hiring system you keep after the engagement ends.

Written hiring playbook: stages, interview kits, offer approach
ATS configured with structured scorecards
Weekly metrics: pipeline, time to shortlist, offer acceptance
Month to month, 30-day notice

Fractional HR partner: $950 a month

An HR function, six hours a week

Up to 6 hours a week, working from the policy, compliance, benefits and HRIS playbook built for a 400-plus workforce.

Policies and a compliance calendar for the countries you employ in
Employee relations: issues handled, documented, closed
Onboarding and performance frameworks
Month to month, 30-day notice

How it works

A retained search, week by week

Business days from the calibration call. The fractional plans start differently: a diagnostic week, then a written 90-day plan, then a weekly cadence.

Day 0
Confidential brief
The role, the reason it is open, the pay, and who must not know. Fee, timeline and exclusivity agreed on the call.
Day 2
Search plan
Rubric, comp note and target-company list, in writing. The $1,500 engagement fee is invoiced when you sign it off.
Day 5 to 15
Map and approach
Market map delivered Day 5. Direct, confidential approaches begin. First weekly report the same week.
Day 15 to 25
Shortlist
3 to 5 candidates with scorecards, live screen notes and pay expectations. You interview finalists only.
Offer, then 6 months
Close and guarantee
Interviews, references, negotiation. Success fee on the start date, less the $1,500 paid. Replacement if they leave inside 6 months.

The full process, step by step

Pricing

One engagement fee, one success fee, two monthly plans

Typical retained firms charge 25 to 33% of first-year cash, paid in thirds whether or not anyone is hired. Ours is $1,500 to start, credited back, and 15% only when the person starts.

Retained search

Confidential roles, director and above. One search per seat.

$1,500engagement fee per seat, credited against a 15% success fee

Typical retained firm: ~~25 to 33%, paid in thirds~~

Exclusive mandate for the search
Market map and weekly written report
Shortlist in 15 to 25 business days
Interview management and offer negotiation
Total fee: 15% of first-year base, nothing on top

6-month replacement

Engagement fee invoiced at kickoff. Balance of the 15% invoiced on the start date, net 15.

Capped at $1,500

Fractional Head of Talent

A part-time hiring lead. Up to 10 hours a week, up to 3 open roles.

$1,500per month

Fractional recruiting plans elsewhere: ~~$4,500 to $7,500 a month~~

Up to 10 hours a week
Up to 3 open roles running at once
Written hiring playbook
ATS and scorecards set up
Weekly metrics report

Month to month. Stop with 30 days' notice.

Invoiced monthly in advance. The playbook, ATS configuration and scorecards are yours to keep.

Fractional HR partner

An HR function for a company that does not have one yet.

$950per month

Fractional HR retainer elsewhere: ~~$1,500 to $4,000 a month~~

Up to 6 hours a week
Policies and compliance
Employee relations
Onboarding
Performance frameworks

Month to month. Stop with 30 days' notice.

Invoiced monthly in advance. Larger one-off pieces, such as a full handbook or an audit, are priced as fixed-fee projects.

Compare every plan line by line

What is not included

What the fees do not cover

Each fee buys a defined block of work. These sit outside it, and we say so before the engagement letter is signed.

Candidate travel, relocation, visa and sponsorship costs.
Third-party assessments and background checks, arranged at your request and billed by the provider.
A second role inside the same search. Each seat is its own engagement fee and its own success fee.
Hours above the weekly cap on a fractional plan. We flag it before we go over and agree the extra in writing.
More than 3 roles at once on the Fractional Head of Talent plan. The extra roles go to commission or a second seat, agreed before we start.
Legal sign-off. The HR partner drafts policies and flags exposure; a lawyer in your jurisdiction signs off anything with legal weight.
Running your payroll or benefits enrolment. That is not part of the fractional plans.

Questions clients ask

Engagement fees, confidentiality, failed searches, and who does the work

Why charge an engagement fee at all, and is it on top of the 15%?

It is not on top. The $1,500 is credited against the success fee, so the total is 15% of first-year base whether the search takes three weeks or eight. The engagement fee exists because exclusivity cuts both ways: you commit the search to us, and we commit a fixed block of the founder's time and a written report every week.

What happens if the search does not produce a hire?

No success fee is due. The $1,500 covers the market map, the approaches and the weekly reporting, all of which you keep. If the market says the role cannot be filled at the pay on offer, the report says so in the first two weeks, with the numbers, so you can change the brief early rather than late.

How confidential is confidential?

Nothing is posted. Approaches describe the role and the company type, not the company. A candidate learns your name only after a first screen and only when you have approved the introduction. Internally, the search runs under a code name and the weekly report goes to the people you name and nobody else.

Who actually does the fractional work?

The fractional plans buy Faraz Ather's own hours by design: you are hiring a named senior operator, not a rotating account team, with AI-assisted sourcing and screening tools behind him. He led a nine-person HR team and ran compensation, benefits, HRIS, policy and compliance for a 400-plus workforce, so the plan buys an operator who has done the job, not a consultant's deck.

Can the Fractional HR partner cover US, UK and Gulf employment rules?

The founder built and ran policy and compliance for a US-market company with staff in the US, UK, Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia, so those are the markets covered best. The partner drafts policies, builds the compliance calendar and flags exposure. Anything with legal weight is signed off by counsel in your jurisdiction, and we tell you when that is needed.

Can I switch between the fractional plans, or stop?

Both plans are month to month with 30 days' notice, so you can switch at any month boundary or stop when the job is done. Everything built during the plan, the playbook, the ATS configuration, the policies, stays with you.

Next step

Name the role. We map the market this week.

A 15-minute confidential call is enough to agree the fee, the timeline and who needs to know. The search plan follows in writing within two business days.

Book a hiring call Send a brief instead

$150kStrategic Account Director placed, accepted on the first offerUS marketing agency serving Fortune 500 brands, 2023

400+workforce the compensation cycles were run forBenefits, HRIS, policy and compliance owned in the same role

9person HR team ledHead of HR and Talent at a US-market technology and healthcare company