Guide · Seed stage · Updated September 29, 2026
Fractional recruiter for seed-stage startups
At seed, you need a few hires to land well, but not enough to justify a full-time recruiter or 25% of every salary. A fractional recruiter runs your searches, inside your tools, for as long as you’re hiring, then steps back.
What it is
What a fractional recruiter does at seed stage
At seed, the founder is usually the recruiting team. A fractional recruiter takes the search off your plate: writing the brief, finding the people, running outreach, screening, scheduling and closing. You keep the final calls.
The first operating hires are the ones most seed-stage companies bring us:
- Chief of Staff: the first person who takes work off the founder’s desk.
- First operations lead: owns the systems, vendors and processes nobody else owns yet.
- First finance hire: a Controller or Head of Finance before the first audit or the next raise.
- First go-to-market lead: Head of Sales or Growth, once the founder is no longer the only seller.
The market
What a seed-stage operating hire costs right now
Pay is the first thing a seed-stage offer gets wrong. Every search starts with a market map showing what the role pays where you’re hiring, before you post a number.
Fit
When a fractional recruiter is the right call, and when it isn’t
Right call
- Two to six hires in the next six months, and no recruiter.
- Roles your network can’t fill on its own.
- You want the pipeline and the process to stay yours when the search ends.
Wrong call
- One hire, and you already know who it is.
- Steady hiring all year. That’s a full-time recruiter.
- A single executive search you’d rather pay for per hire. A retained search firm may suit you better.
How it works
How a fractional search works with us
- 01Free market mapSend us the JD. We map who does this job today, where they sit and what they cost, before you sign anything.
- 02One retainerA monthly retainer covers up to three open roles at a time. No placement fee, however many we fill.
- 03EmbeddedWe work in your Slack and your ATS, design the interview loop and run it, then close the offer.
- 04Step backWhen you stop hiring, we stop. The pipeline, notes and scorecards stay in your ATS.
GuaranteeFive qualified intros on your calendar in the first 30 days, or the next month is on us.
FAQ
Questions founders ask
- How much does a fractional recruiter cost?
- Most charge by the hour or by the month, not a percentage of salary. Ours is a monthly retainer covering up to three open roles at a time, with no placement fee, quoted after the free market map.
- Is fractional cheaper than a recruiting agency?
- On more than one hire, usually. Agencies typically charge 20–30% of first-year salary on every hire, so the cost grows with each seat. A retainer stays the same whether you fill one role or three.
- How involved does the founder need to be?
- You’re in the intake, the calibration of the first candidates and the interviews themselves. We run everything in between.
- Do you hire engineers?
- Our lane is operating roles: operations, finance, go-to-market and chief of staff. For engineering, we’ll point you to someone who specialises in it.
- What happens when we’re done hiring?
- The retainer ends. Everything we built, from pipeline to interview plans, stays in your ATS for your next hire or your first in-house recruiter.
Related
First step is free