For employers
Hiring is the constraint. We work on the constraint.
Talent services for defense and national security companies, from pre-seed through Series B. Searches when you need a person, and the rest of the hiring function when a person is not the whole of what you need.
What we do
Five services, all available now. Search is the bread and butter; the rest exist because working with companies at two and ten people made it obvious that a candidate is rarely the whole of what they need.
Direct-hire search →
We find the person, you hire them directly.
Forward deployed recruiters →
A recruiter embedded in your team, not a vendor on a call.
Hiring strategy and process design →
Build the hiring function, not just make the hire.
Talent and market intelligence →
Where the people are, what they cost, who else wants them.
Fractional and advisory talent →
Senior people part-time, for the roles you cannot justify full-time yet.
Search fee
Where you land in that range depends on the terms you choose, including how long a guarantee you want behind the hire. We agree the number before the search starts and it does not move afterwards.
You pay when someone starts. No retainer, no upfront fee, and nothing owed for a search that does not produce a hire. Every placement is covered by a guarantee, and longer ones are available.
The other four services are priced per engagement rather than as a percentage, because they are not tied to a placement.
How we run a search
The business, then the team, then the role
We do not start from a job description. We start from what you are building and who you already have, because that is what decides who the right hire actually is.
We source for your company, not for the title
Not "a software engineer" but a software engineer who will succeed here, at this stage, with this team. That takes calibration with you, not a keyword search.
We go where others will not
Cold outreach to people who are not looking, because that is where the strongest candidates are. Very little of what we deliver comes from an inbound pipeline.
Four dimensions, not one
Skills, how someone actually operates, whether the interest is genuine, and what kind of company they have succeeded in before. Most processes only test the first.
Your process, examined
A candidate’s experience of your interview process is their impression of your company. Where yours is losing you people, we say so.
Through the first 90 days
Offer, negotiation, start date, and the months after it. The relationship does not end at signature.
Tell us what you are hiring for
Fill this in and we will come back to you within one business day. If it is easier, email info@arena.vet instead.