Contingency recruiter, in-house, or do it yourself: a founder's honest comparison

We are a recruiting agency, so read this knowing where our bread is buttered. We will still give you the honest version, because founders who pick the wrong sourcing model churn out of it angry, and an agency's only durable asset is being the firm that told the truth. There are three ways to fill senior engineering roles. Each is right at a different shape of company.

Do it yourself

Founder-led sourcing from your own network plus inbound from honest posts. Costs: your hours, which are the most expensive in the company. Works when: you are hiring engineers one and two, your network is strong, and the people you want already know your name. Stops working: the moment your network is tapped, usually somewhere around hire three, or when the role needs a skill your network does not hold. The hidden cost is calendar time; founder-led searches that run past eight weeks are runway converted to interviews.

In-house recruiter

A full-time recruiter on payroll. Costs: salary plus tools, on the books whether or not anyone is hiring. Works when: you have a standing hiring plan, roughly eight or more engineering hires a year, and someone to manage the function. Stops working: below that volume, where it is structurally idle capacity, and at the very top of the market, where the hardest searches still get farmed out. The right first version is often a contractor inside your walls rather than a hire.

Contingency agency

An outside firm paid a percentage of first-year salary, only when someone they introduced signs. Costs: zero until a hire happens, which is the entire point; the fee prices the risk the agency carries. Works when: the need is concentrated and urgent, a few critical senior roles after a raise, exactly the window the playbook covers, or the profile is scarce. Stops working: at sustained volume, where the fees should be converted into an in-house function, and with agencies that spray CVs instead of representing candidates. The engineer-side view of the same process is worth reading before you choose a firm; the ones that treat candidates badly are renting your brand to do it.

The three models, side by side

The break-even, roughly

• 1 to 3 senior hires this year: yourself, with an agency on the roles your network cannot reach.
• 3 to 8 hires: contingency on the senior and scarce roles, founder time on the ones your story closes.
• 8 or more, sustained: hire the in-house recruiter, keep an agency relationship for executive and edge-of-market searches.

Questions to ask any agency before signing terms

1. 01Where do your candidates come from? If the answer is the same job boards you already post on, you are paying a markup on your own inbound.
2. 02Do candidates consent per introduction? Firms that blast CVs are spending your employer brand.
3. 03What is the guarantee if the hire leaves in the first months? The standard is a replacement search or a credit; get it in writing.
4. 04How many searches like this one have you closed in the last two quarters? Recency beats logos.

Retained vs contingency

One more distinction, because founders conflate them. Contingency means the agency is paid only if its candidate is hired, and you can run several firms at once. Retained means you pay in stages for a dedicated, exclusive search, common for executive and the scarcest senior roles where the work is deep and the field is small. Most startup engineering hiring is contingency. Retained earns its keep when the search is hard enough that you want someone's undivided attention on it, and you are paying for the attention rather than the outcome.

The honest case against using us

If your network can reach the people you need, use it; we cannot beat a warm introduction from a founder the candidate already respects. If you are hiring at steady volume, the fees add up faster than an in-house salary, and you should convert. If the role is junior or abundant, your own inbound will fill it. We earn our keep on concentrated, urgent, or scarce senior searches, the ones where speed and a pre-vetted pool change the outcome. Outside that, the honest answer is to keep your money.