Services · Contingency

Pay only when we hire.

No deposit. No retainer. No upfront commitment. Send us a role and we'll headhunt, you pay a placement fee only when you hire someone we introduced. The cleanest way to put AgentRPO to work.

Send us a role How it works

Who it's for

The right choice when flexibility matters most.

Contingency is how most companies start with us. It's ideal when you have a small number of important hires to make, when you want to evaluate our work before making a commitment, or when you simply prefer paying only on success.

Occasional key hires

You hire 1-4 senior or hard-to-fill roles per year and want a headhunter you can call when the need arises, without a standing commitment.

Trialing AgentRPO

You're curious about what AI-powered headhunting can do but want to see real candidates on a real role before committing to RPO or Tier-1.

Companies of any size

From early-stage startups to multinationals. Contingency has no minimum, if a role is worth filling, it's worth sending to us.

How it works

From JD to hire, no friction.

You brief us once. We handle everything from Headhunt.AI sourcing through offer close. You only hear from us when we have something worth showing.

01

Brief

30-minute call to understand the role, team, culture, and must-haves. We ask the questions your in-house recruiter would.

02

Sample

Within 48 hours we send a sample candidate list so you can calibrate, \

03

Headhunt

Headhunt.AI sources and scores candidates. We reach out, meet those who respond, deep-dive on motivation, and screen before sending any resumes.

04

Submit

We send pre-screened, pre-interested candidates with interview notes. No noise. You decide who to interview.

05

Close

We manage the interview schedule, feedback loops, offer negotiation, and onboarding. Invoice only after successful hire + 90-day pass.

What's included

Same AI. Same recruiters.

Contingency doesn't mean second-tier service. Every role gets the full Headhunt.AI stack and the same Business Manager + Candidate Manager team that serves our Tier-1 partners. The only difference is how you pay.

Included on every role

  • Full access to Headhunt.AI's 4M+ Japan candidate database
  • ESAI Score ranking of every candidate for your role
  • AI-generated bilingual scout messages, personalized per candidate
  • Dedicated Business Manager (client-side) + Candidate Manager (candidate-side) team
  • Candidate pre-screening meetings before any resume reaches you
  • Interview scheduling, feedback coordination, offer negotiation
  • 90-day replacement guarantee or full refund

Not included (upgrade to RPO or Tier-1)

  • Guaranteed weekly search volume or delivery SLAs
  • Dedicated team capacity reserved for your company
  • Real-time access to ESAI.work analytics dashboard
  • Quarterly salary benchmarking reports
  • Competitor talent-mapping reports
  • Priority right-of-first-refusal on exceptional candidates

Fee detail

Simple and transparent.

Theoretical Annual Salary × 35%

Theoretical annual salary = base + expected bonus + guaranteed allowances.

Example A · Engineering Manager
¥18,000,000 salary × 35% = ¥6,300,000
Example B · VP Sales
¥30,000,000 salary × 35% = ¥10,500,000
5% Discount

Reduce the fee to 30% if you grant 14-day exclusivity on the role, or if you're an active Headhunt.AI Pro or Enterprise subscriber. Both conditions can apply together for a 10% combined reduction.

The guarantee

If it doesn't work, you don't pay.

We only get paid when we deliver a hire who stays. If the candidate leaves within 90 days for any reason, we refund the entire fee or replace them at no cost, your choice.

Start here

Send us a role.

Share a JD. We'll send sample candidates within 48 hours. No cost, no commitment, no meeting required.

Got it, thank you.

We'll send your sample candidate list within 48 hours.

No credit card required No meeting required Response within 48 hours