Information technology
Specialized individual contributors and technical leads in software, infrastructure, security, and data. Roles where generalist search firms run thin and the hiring committee needs scored finalists, not a long unsorted list.
← All services·Search-Operations Integrator
Hire the person. Keep the operating asset.
AC5 Labs runs your specialized search through a tracking environment we build for the engagement and hand to you at the end. You get the hire and a complete operating asset: source, data, documentation, every candidate touchpoint logged, a recorded walkthrough, and one training session for your records team. Three flat-fee tiers.
- Three flat-fee tiers
- Sourcing-only, hybrid, or full. Same operating asset at every tier. No percentage of first-year comp.
- 6 to 13 weeks per search
- One to two weeks of scoping, four to ten weeks of build, about a week of handoff. Sized to the role.
- First search backed by 50% refund
- If your first search is not landing right, we refund half the fees invoiced and transition out cleanly. You keep everything we built.
What this is, what this isn't
A search-operations integrator, not a search firm.
We model the offering on large technology integrators winning services-heavy programs by wrapping a tooling and operations layer around the human delivery, not by competing on staffing volume. We are the small-firm, flat-fee, owned-not-rented version of that pattern.
What we are
- Per-engagement operating environment, built for your search and handed over at the end
- Disciplined sourcing matched to the role family, through agreed channels
- Records that hold up to a future audit, including a scored rubric and finalist reports
- Flat fees per search, paid in three milestones tied to the work
What we are not
- Not a retained executive search firm
- Not a candidate-database operator. We do not warehouse resumes
- Not a contingency-placement shop
- Not a staffing agency running partner-leverage delivery teams
- Not a percentage-of-first-year-comp pricing model
Who this is for
Specialized contributor roles, three default families.
The pattern works best when the role is specialized enough that generalist firm pipelines run thin and the hiring committee cares about evaluation discipline as part of the deliverable.
National security and government relations
Government-relations specialists, policy contributors, and cleared-program adjacent roles where audit-ready records and disciplined records retention are part of the deliverable, not an afterthought.
Research and health science
Research staff, regulated-specialty contributors, and health-science roles where the evaluation rubric needs to hold up to committee scrutiny and the records have to survive a future audit.
When not to hire us
Three cases where this offering is the wrong call.
- High-volume requisition staffing or RPO-style continuous pipelines
- Searches in network-effects markets best served by big retained firms with established candidate communities
- Buyers who expect ongoing-fee or seat-license-style revenue
The engagement
Four stages from intake to handoff.
Stage 1
Scope (1 to 2 weeks)
Intake with the hiring committee or designated buyer contact. Confirm role profile, minimum qualifications, evaluation rubric, sourcing channels, and communication cadence. Draft and approve the position announcement. Stand up the per-engagement tracking environment.
Deliverable
Scoped engagement memo, approved announcement, rubric, sourcing plan.
Stage 2
Build (4 to 10 weeks)
Active sourcing through agreed channels. Candidates flow into the tracking environment. Structured screening against the rubric. Weekly written progress reports, with real-time notification on significant developments. Longlist to shortlist to finalist slate.
Deliverable
Longlist, shortlist, finalist slate with written finalist reports.
Stage 3
Handoff (about 1 week)
Complete records package delivered. Transfer of the per-search tracking environment (source, data, documentation). Recorded walkthrough. One training session for your records-retention team. You own everything from this point forward.
Deliverable
Records package, operating asset, recorded walkthrough, one training session.
Stage 4
Aftercare (optional, never required)
30-day candidate check-in. Replacement support per the candidate guarantee on full-tier engagements. Rubric and tooling refinement for the next search in the same role family at no additional cost.
Deliverable
Candidate check-in, replacement support (full tier), tooling refinements.
Pick the level of involvement
Three flat-fee tiers per search.
The tier sets who runs which parts of the candidate-facing process and how much offer support is provided. The operating asset, the rubric, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, encrypted PII handling, and the complete records package at handoff are included at every tier.
About 36% of the full-tier fee
Tier 1 · Sourcing-only
AC5 Labs runs intake, builds the tracking environment, runs sourcing, and delivers a vetted, scored shortlist. Your team runs interviews, references, and the offer.
- Intake and rubric design
- Per-search tracking environment
- Sourcing through agreed channels
- Scored shortlist
- Records package at handoff
About 64% of the full-tier fee
Tier 2 · Hybrid
Everything in Tier 1, plus finalist credential investigation, reference checks, written finalist reports, and committee interview support. Your team closes the offer.
- Everything in Tier 1
- Credential investigation on finalists
- Reference checks
- Written finalist reports
- Committee interview support
Full-tier fee (100%)
Tier 3 · Full
End-to-end intake through accepted offer. Adds offer support, candidate communications through start date, and a 90-day candidate guarantee with replacement clause.
- Everything in Tier 2
- Offer support and salary calibration
- Candidate communications through start date
- 90-day candidate guarantee
- Replacement clause if the hire does not stick
Specific dollar amounts land in the written quote inside 48 hours of the discovery call. Invoicing cadence: 33% at SOW signature, 33% at finalist-slate delivery, 34% at handoff. Travel: in-state included; out-of-state at actual cost with prior written authorization.
What you own at handoff
The operating asset, in full.
At every tier, the buyer owns the deliverables below at the end of the engagement. No seat licenses, no auto-renewals, no platform access fees.
- Per-search tracking environment (source, data, documentation)
- Approved position announcement and evaluation rubric
- Complete records package: every candidate touchpoint logged
- Written finalist reports for every shortlisted candidate
- Recorded walkthrough of the tracking environment and the records
- One training session for the team responsible for records retention
Pilot Risk-Reversal
First engagement, backed by a 50% refund.
If, at the conclusion of finalist-slate delivery for your first search, your designee determines AC5 Labs is not meeting expectations, we refund 50% of fees invoiced through that milestone and transition out cleanly within 30 days. All work product produced to that point remains your property at no additional cost.
AC5 Labs was formed in 2026. We do not yet hold a portfolio of completed search references in most role families. The Pilot Risk-Reversal is how we make a first engagement safe for you to try. We do not paper this gap over with substitute references.
Two-year rate ceiling
Per-tier rates hold firm for two years.
For any contract with optional extension years, per-tier flat-fee rates may adjust annually by no more than the lesser of 3% or the CPI-U twelve-month change for the period ending three months before renewal. Sixty days written notice required before any extension period begins. You keep the option to decline.
Why us, not a big retained firm
What we do differently.
The honest version: where retained firms win, they win on scale and on candidate communities we do not have. Where we win, we win on fit, flexibility, ownership, and posture. Six specifics.
Built around your committee, not our template
Your rubric, your evaluation criteria, your records-retention policy. We learn how your committee actually runs before we write a position announcement. The big firms have a methodology and you fit into it; we have a posture and we adapt the playbook to your reality.
Flat fees, not percentage of first-year comp
A big retained firm bills you 25 to 33% of the new hire's first-year compensation. We bill a flat fee per search, the same fee whether the hire makes $90K or $190K. You can budget it, defend it to your board, and put it in your forecast.
We take the small searches the big firms will not touch
Retained firms have minimums (typically a $90K-$120K placement fee floor). We will quote on a single $30K specialized-contributor search without asking you to bundle it. If your need is one role, we do not need it to be ten.
You own the operating asset, not just the hire
At handoff you get the tracking environment, the scored rubric, the finalist reports, the records package, and a recorded walkthrough. Most retained firms keep the methodology and the workflow in-house; you only get the placed candidate. We hand over what we built.
Same operators from intake to handoff
Big firms pitch the senior partner and deliver with associates. We are the firm; the person who answers your first email runs your search through handoff. No partner-on-the-pitch then someone-else-on-the-work substitution.
We will tell you to call a retained firm if that is the right answer
If your search is a C-suite role in a network-effects market where established candidate communities matter more than disciplined process, that is the retained-firm lane and we will say so on the discovery call. We are trying to fit the right approach to the role, not bill you for the wrong one.
Tell us about your search.
30-minute discovery call. We come back inside 48 hours with a written, fixed-fee quote and a fixed timeline. If a retained search firm is the better answer for your role, we will say so on the call.