Agencies take a cut of first-year salary, and the meter restarts every role. We charge one flat fee, set before we start, and run every search ourselves. No coordinator, no handoff in week three.
The free check covers hiring too. Bring the role you need to fill.
Of first-year salary, per hire. $24,000 on a $120,000 role, and the meter starts again on the next one.
Still a percentage, with several recruiters from a network working the same role in parallel against each other.
A flat fee set up front, never a percentage of salary.
A marketplace sends a stranger. We send ourselves. That’s why our fee can stay flat.
SHRM: an executive hire costs $35,879 on average, nearly 7x a standard hire.
Source: SHRM, 2025 (opens in a new tab)SHRM: the median role, executive or not, takes about a month and a half to fill.
Source: SHRM, The State of Recruiting 2025 (opens in a new tab)Gallup: replacing a technical professional costs about 80% of salary. Get the hire right the first time.
Source: Gallup, 2024 (opens in a new tab)One set price per hire.
$5,000 to $12,000/role
Roles under $150K: $5,000 to $9,000. Roles at $150K or more: $12,000. Shortlist of your top 3 to 5 candidates in about 14 days.
One set price per hire.
$12,000/role
roles paying $150K or more · shortlist in about 14 days
Two or more searches signed together, for less per role.
10 to 15%off each role
2 or 3 roles 10% · 4 or more 15%
Many frontline hires at once.
Volume hourly recruiting is quoted per project. Book a free 20-minute HR check.
Not sure which fits? We’ll tell you on the free check, even if it’s “not yet.”
Searching outside the US? The fee stays the same. Job board and local ad costs are billed at cost, only with your OK.
“I have worked with several individuals in the HR world and no one compares to Deven. He’s passionate about his craft and willingly goes above and beyond as a standard, which is rare. His dedication to ensuring the highest level of service and professionalism are unparalleled in the space.”
What we do, and when you see it.
Together we write what this hire must achieve in year one, set the pay range on real market data, and tell you now if the role is not hireable at that number.
We reach out to candidates directly, screen each one against the scorecard, and send you a written update every week, good news or not.
Three to five candidates, each with strengths, risks and pay expectations in writing, plus who we passed on and why.
We set who interviews in what order, write the questions, and brief and debrief your team, because most bad hires start with a messy panel.
We run the pay talk, any counteroffer, the reference calls and the offer letter, then check in 30 days after they start.
Agencies take the process when they go. We leave it on your desk.
If the person you hire leaves that same role within 90 days of their start date, we run one replacement search at no fee. Here is what it does not cover.
Agency column is 20%, the usual floor. Senior roles often run 25 to 30%. Our fee is flat, so the gap widens as the role gets more senior.
| The role | Agency at 20 percent | DMD flat fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| $90,000 Ops or HR manager | $18,000 | $5,000 to $12,000 per role | $9,000 to $13,000 |
| $120,000 Senior specialist or director | $24,000 | $5,000 to $12,000 per role | $15,000 to $19,000 |
| $150,000 Director or GM | $30,000 | $12,000 | $18,000 |
| $200,000 VP | $40,000 | $12,000 | $28,000 |
Hire twice and the agency charges twice. Our second fee is set the same flat way, and you already have the playbook. By then you also have the scorecard and the interview loop from the first search, so the second one costs you less work too.
We don’t recruit clinical or licensed roles (nurses, therapists and the like); we’ll refer you to a specialist. We can still help with the rest of your HR.
Roles must be signed in one SOW and start within 90 days. Each role keeps its own milestones and 90-day replacement search. The multi-role discount does not combine with the People Audit credit.
These are results from our team’s in-house roles before DMD Fractional, not DMD client engagements. The companies are not named.
The problem: A software company needed to build out its senior engineering team fast, at a level where the right candidates are scarce and heavily recruited.
What we did: Taani Fisilau ran the search end to end, from first outreach to signed offer, for principal and senior engineering roles.
The result: More than 90 principal and senior engineers hired in about four months.
If this sounds like you: If you need senior people hired fast without paying a percentage of salary, a flat-fee search is built for that.
The problem: A growing company was filling roles through outside recruiting agencies and paying a percentage fee on every hire.
What we did: Deven Downey moved hiring in-house and ran it directly, making more than 100 hires without agency fees.
The result: $1.5M in agency fees saved across 100+ hires.
If this sounds like you: If an agency takes a percentage of salary on every hire, one flat fee per role keeps that money in your budget.
Twenty minutes. Is the role hireable at your number? We’ll tell you.
Book a free 20-minute HR checkPrefer email? deven@dmdsolutions.co
