Service
Retained Search for Senior Hires
Crucial Recruiting is a retained search firm for startup leadership roles: you engage us for a defined search, we map the whole relevant market, approach candidates directly and confidentially, and deliver a shortlist with written assessments against an agreed scorecard. The fee is fixed and staged, not a percentage of salary.
Why retained
Why senior roles need a different process
Contingency works when many qualified people are actively looking. Leadership hiring is the opposite. The person you want is employed, is not reading job boards, and will only take a first call if the approach is specific and credible. That takes research hours before any outreach happens, and nobody funds research hours on a maybe.
A retained engagement pays for that work directly. We build a written map of every company where the profile plausibly exists, name the individuals, and approach them in a controlled sequence. You see the map, so you can judge coverage rather than trust a shortlist that appeared from nowhere.
Confidentiality is the second reason. If you are replacing a leader who is still in post, or exploring a hire before telling the team, an open advert is not an option.
How the search is run
A dedicated recruiter owns the search end to end
Most retained search at this end of the market is one person with a phone, working manually and sequentially. That works until they are busy, on holiday, or running three searches at once. We structure it differently: one dedicated recruiter owns your search from brief to offer, and the breadth work that usually eats their week is augmented by tooling instead of queued behind it.
- Nick Kimball, Co-founder, recruiting. One accountable point of contact who owns the brief, the weekly update and the offer stage.
- AI-augmented sourcing. Tooling does the breadth work — building and maintaining the market map, keeping it current as the search runs — so research hours go into judgement rather than list-building.
- A recruiter in the loop on every step. Outreach is reviewed before it goes out, and first conversations are run by the recruiter against the agreed scorecard, so every candidate is assessed the same way.
If instead of hiring a permanent leader you want an experienced operator in the seat for part of a week, that is a different service: hire a fractional CTO or other fractional executive.
Process
The eight to twelve week search
- 01
Weeks 1-2: brief and map
Scorecard, compensation benchmark and a written market map naming target companies and individuals. You approve the map before outreach begins.
- 02
Weeks 2-4: approach
Direct, confidential approaches with a tailored pitch. Weekly written updates covering who was approached, who responded and what the market is telling us about the package.
- 03
Week 5: shortlist
Four to six candidates, each with a written assessment against the scorecard, motivations, compensation expectations and risks stated plainly.
- 04
Weeks 6-9: interviews and close
Interview design, panel briefing, structured debriefs, referencing, offer strategy, counter-offer planning and notice-period management through to start date.
- 05
Post-start: follow-up
Check-ins with both sides at 30, 60 and 90 days, plus a replacement commitment written into the engagement letter.
Comparison
Retained search vs contingency vs embedded
Scroll horizontally to compare
| Retained search | Contingency | Embedded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | 1-2 senior or confidential hires | Opportunistic mid-level hires | 3+ concurrent roles |
| Fee | Fixed, staged | 20-30% on placement | Flat monthly |
| Market coverage | Mapped and documented | Whoever is available | Role by role |
| Confidential | Yes | Rarely | Yes |
| Shortlist timing | About week five | Days, quality varies | Rolling |
| Assessment depth | Written, against scorecard | Resume plus a call | Written summaries |
Retained search FAQs
- What is a retained search firm?
- A retained search firm is engaged and paid to run a defined executive search process, usually in staged instalments, rather than being paid only if a hire is made. In exchange, the firm commits dedicated time to mapping the market, approaching passive candidates directly and managing a confidential process.
- When should a startup use retained search?
- For roles where the pool is small and the cost of a wrong hire is high: VP Engineering, CTO, VP Sales, Head of Finance, or a first commercial leader. Also whenever the search must stay confidential, such as replacing someone still in post.
- How long does a retained search take?
- Plan for eight to twelve weeks from kick-off to signed offer. Mapping and first approaches take two to three weeks, the shortlist lands around week five, and the remaining time goes to final interviews, references and notice negotiation.
- How is retained search priced at Crucial Recruiting?
- On a flat monthly fee set by the scope of the search, from $5,000 per month, tiered by the number of roles and confirmed on the first call, not as a percentage of salary. A flat fee removes any incentive for us to push the compensation package upward.
- Do you guarantee the hire?
- We commit to the process and to replacing a hire that leaves within an agreed period at no additional fee. Exact terms are written into the engagement letter before work starts.
- Can retained search run alongside embedded recruiting?
- Yes. Teams often run one retained search for a leadership hire while an embedded recruiter covers the volume roles underneath it.
- Who actually does the work on a retained search?
- A dedicated recruiter runs the search end to end: the brief, the market map, the approaches, the assessments and the offer stage. AI-augmented sourcing feeds the pipeline and keeps the map current, and a recruiter is in the loop on every step, so nothing goes out and no candidate is judged without a person who has hired for the role reading it first.
Talk through a leadership hire
Tell us the role, the budget and the constraints. If retained search is overkill for it, we will say so.