Direct Hire · Permanent placement

Direct hire,
done properly.

Permanent placements across every function and level. Five fully-screened candidates in 48 hours, a 90-day replacement guarantee, and a contingent fee — you pay on a hire that sticks, not on activity.

Why Rivago

Built for teams that can't
afford the wrong hire.

Most agencies sell volume and hand your role to a junior. We do the opposite — one senior partner owns your permanent search end to end, sources the people who never apply, and stands behind the result in writing.

48h

Median shortlist

Signed brief to three to five calibrated finalists.

94%

Offer-accept rate

Last 12 months, every level.

90d

Replacement guarantee

Leaves inside the window? We restart, free.

600+

Permanent placements

Across four markets, to date.

One partner, full ownership

The same senior partner from brief to placement. No handoffs to BD, no relays through account managers, no junior researchers running the candidate calls.

Industry specialists

Your brief goes to a partner who has recruited in your sector for seven-plus years — they know the comp bands, the unpublished orgs and the passive talent.

Fast without cutting corners

48-hour median shortlists, every time. Every candidate is fully screened against your scorecard before your inbox — never keyword-matched by a machine.

Confidential by default

Sensitive replacements and senior hires handled discreetly — NDA on request, off-market approaches, and your brand kept out of the search until you choose.

How direct hire works

Three ways to run a
permanent direct-hire search.

01
Contingent direct hire
Our most common structure. We work your permanent role on a success basis — you pay only when a candidate signs and stays past the guarantee window.
  • 48-hour median shortlist
  • 3–5 pre-screened candidates per role
  • 90-day replacement guarantee
  • No upfront fee — pay on hire
02
Exclusive direct hire
Give us the role exclusively and it moves to the top of the desk — deeper sourcing, faster turnaround and a partner who works it like a retained search, still on a contingent fee.
  • Priority sourcing & partner focus
  • Full market map, not just active jobseekers
  • 90-day replacement guarantee
  • Weekly written progress updates
03
Retained direct hire
For business-critical, senior or confidential permanent roles where a wrong hire is expensive. A dedicated partner and researcher run the full search, off-market.
  • Dedicated partner + research analyst
  • Confidential, off-market search
  • 12-month replacement guarantee
  • Salary benchmarking included
What we actually do

A permanent search runs five stages.
None of them are a portal.

From signed brief to a placed hire in about thirty days — every stage owned by one partner.

01
Day 0–2

Calibrate

A 60-minute working session sets the scorecard and the off-limits list. You sign off before we source.

You getSigned-off scorecard
02
Day 2–10

Map

A longlist of 40–80 names from referrals, competitor maps and our private network — bespoke outreach only.

You get40–80 name longlist
03
Day 10–18

Screen

45-minute structured interviews against your scorecard. First calibrated profiles land by day 12.

You getCalibrated profiles
04
Day 18–28

Panel

We run the loop end to end — scheduling, debriefs, references — with a written brief before each round.

You getDebriefs & references
05
Day 28+

Placed & guaranteed

Offer, counter-offer defence and a signed start — backed by check-ins at 3, 6 and 12 months.

You getSigned start · 12-mo guarantee
Five stages. One partner runs all of them.
What we put in writing

Four numbers we'll stand behind
on the first call.

48h
Median time-to-shortlist
From signed JD to three to five calibrated finalists in your inbox.
94%
Offer-acceptance rate
Last 12 months, across all engagements and seniority bands.
90days
Replacement guarantee
If a permanent hire leaves inside 90 days we restart the search at no charge.
600+
Permanent placements
Senior hires made across four markets — each owned end to end by one named partner.
Industries

Specialist partners,
aligned to your sector.

Every Rivago partner runs one practice. They've placed inside it for at least seven years. They know the comp bands, the org charts, and the people who haven't updated their LinkedIn in two years.

Explore all industries
Customer story

Permanent hires,
in their own words.

Plain English from heads of talent, GCs, CFOs and founders who made permanent hires through Rivago in the last eighteen months. No pseudonyms. No doctored quotes.

US · Technology

We needed a permanent Head of Engineering and two staff engineers. Rivago had a shortlist in two days and all three signed inside the month — every one is still here a year later.

RP
Ryan P.
VP of Engineering · US Series-C SaaS
Canada · Finance

Our last agency just forwarded résumés. Rivago sent three fully-screened permanent candidates in 38 hours — comp, notice and right-to-work already checked. Two went to offer that week.

PR
Priya R.
HR Director · Ontario financial services
UAE · Healthcare

Permanent clinical leadership in the UAE is brutal — licensing, DHA registration, the lot. Rivago handled all of it without being told twice. Eleven permanent placements, zero compliance issues.

SM
Samira M.
Chief People Officer · Dubai hospital group
Hire Talent

Tell us the role.
We'll do the rest.

Four minutes. A senior partner reads every brief within an hour and books a thirty-minute calibration call before any sourcing begins.

No retainer required. Contingent by default. Pay on placement, not on activity.
One named partner — from brief to placement. No junior handoffs, no account managers in between.
NDA on request. Confidential searches handled as standard — senior hires, sensitive replacements.
90-day replacement guarantee. No questions, no additional fee. We restart the search.
Brief intake · ~ 4 minutes
A partner will be in touch within one business hour during business hours. By submitting you agree to our terms.
FAQ

Direct hire, answered properly.

On first-year base salary only. Bonus, equity, sign-on, relocation and benefits are excluded from the calculation. The percentage is fixed in the engagement letter before we source, so the invoice figure is predictable the day you sign.
It covers voluntary resignation and performance-based termination inside 90 days of the start date — we restart the search at no professional fee. It does not cover redundancy, a role being cancelled, restructuring, or a material change to the job the candidate accepted. Those exclusions are written into the agreement rather than buried in terms.
Our introduction period is twelve months from the date we send you the profile. If you hire someone we introduced within that window — for this role or any other — the standard fee applies. Anyone already in your ATS before our introduction is excluded, and we check that before submitting.
Both. Exclusive briefs get faster turnaround and deeper market coverage because the partner can commit time without racing a competitor. If you run a multi-agency process we will still work it, but we will tell you honestly when a role is unlikely to be won that way.
You pay nothing — that is the nature of contingent search. More usefully, we will tell you why: whether the compensation is below market, the specification is internally contradictory, the location is limiting, or the seniority does not match the budget. That feedback is often worth more than another round of CVs.
Three to five, not thirty. Every one is screened against the scorecard you signed off, and arrives with written assessment notes explaining the recommendation. If none of the first shortlist is right, that is a calibration problem and we recalibrate rather than sending more volume.

Tell us who you need.
We'll be back tomorrow.

A 30-minute scoping call with a partner — not a portal — and a written shortlist plan in your inbox within one business day.

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