Superposition vs. Retained Recruiters
Same specificity. A fraction of the cost. Ten times faster.
Retained search is built for an era that's ending
- Retained recruiters.
- LinkedIn Recruiter seats.
- Keyword-matched resumes.
- Templated InMails.
Retained executive search firms charge $30K–$60K+ upfront and take 4-6 months to deliver a shortlist. The fee is paid regardless of outcome. The shortlist is usually 3-5 candidates sourced through warm networks.
At an early-stage startup, you can't pay $50K upfront for a search that might not close. And you can't wait six months for a first engineering leader.
The retained-search model was designed around the idea that humans had a network advantage. In 2026, an AI agent reading the open web has more reach than any recruiter's personal rolodex.
How Superposition is different
No upfront retainer
$500/agent/month operational + success fee on hire. Pay for outcomes, not for effort.
Weeks, not months
ESAI: signed CTO offer in 8 weeks. Plastic Labs: signed Platform Engineer in 5 weeks.
Broader, deeper sourcing
Retained recruiters source through their network. Our agent reads the open web — thousands of candidates, every time.
Radical transparency
You see the pipeline, the candidates considered, the outreach sent. Retained search is a black box. We aren't.
Questions.
Answered.
Traditional recruiters charge 20–30% of first-year salary and run a generic search across multiple clients at once. Our agent goes deep on just your company — researching thousands of candidates and bringing back people who are specifically a fit, not just generically good.
$500 per agent per month operational, plus a 15% success fee on first-year base salary only — not equity, not bonus. No retainer, no upfront commitment, no percentage-of-OTE gotchas.
Most searches produce a curated shortlist within 2–3 weeks. Signed offers range from 5 to 12 weeks end-to-end, depending on role seniority and your interview cadence.
We offer a 90-day replacement guarantee. If they leave for any reason within 90 days, we re-run the search at no additional cost.
There's an initial voice intake — usually 30–45 minutes — where the agent learns your company, values, and the specific shape of who you're hiring. After that, you review curated candidates as they come in. No daily standups.
Superposition vs. Gem
Gem makes you a better recruiter. Superposition replaces the recruiter.
Superposition vs. hireEZ
hireEZ gives you a bigger candidate pool. Superposition does the work of fishing in it.
Superposition vs. Juicebox
Juicebox is a tool. Superposition is the recruiter.
Retained-search specificity, software pricing.
Get the hire in weeks, not months — and keep the $30K retainer.