AI/ML Executive Search Services
Digitalent, the AI/ML executive search firm, runs searches four ways for VC-backed startups and for established companies building AI capability, across the US, the UK and Australia. Which one suits depends on how scarce the skill is, how fast you need someone, and how much of the interview process you want to run yourself.
Engagement models
Four ways to run a search
We will tell you which one suits the role before you commit to any of them, including when the answer is that you do not need us.
- Retained search
- The hire is critical and the pool is small. A third on engagement, a third on shortlist, a third on placement. Suits executive and leadership hires, and niche briefs where the search is genuinely labour-intensive.
- Contingent search
- The pool is deeper, and the role is a standard permanent hire rather than a scarce specialist. Payable when the candidate signs their employment contract, or on their start date. Our standard arrangement for permanent (full-time) roles.
- Contract and interim
- You need the capability now, for a defined stretch. Brief to offer is approx. one week, including IR35 status conversations in the UK where they apply.
- Synergy
- You cannot spend days sitting in first-stage interviews. We run and record the first-stage interviews, so you shortlist on your own schedule instead of sitting in calls. A small non-refundable deposit, offset against the final fee.
Areas
What we place
Seven areas, from a first research hire through to the leader who builds the team around them.
- AI/ML Engineering. ML engineers from mid to staff level, AI Leads and Heads of Machine Learning
- Data Science. VPs, Directors and Heads of Data Science, principal data scientists and applied scientists
- Forward Deployed Engineering. Forward deployed engineers, including Founding FDEs, and customer-facing AI engineers
- Agentic AI. Agentic AI engineers, evaluation and reliability engineers, and applied engineers building on frontier models
- Software Engineering (AI). Software Engineers and Senior Software Engineers who build with AI-accelerated engineering tooling as standard
- Research. Founding research engineers, research scientists and Heads of Research
- Robotics. Robotics research and ML engineers, including world models and vision-language-action work
Markets
Where we work
The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. 300+ US, 100+ UK and 100+ Australian AI/ML placements since January 2021.
- AI/ML search in the US. 300+ placements, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York and Los Angeles, though we work US-wide.
- AI/ML search in the UK. 100+ placements, mostly in Manchester and London, though we work UK-wide.
- AI/ML search in Australia. 100+ placements, mostly in Sydney and Melbourne, though we work Australia-wide.
Either way
What is the same whichever model you pick
The person who takes your brief runs it through to offer, and brief to shortlist is approx. one week.
Every engagement starts the same way, with a call about the technical bar, the stage you are at and the two or three things that would make a candidate an obvious yes. On a founding hire that conversation is usually worth more than the job description.
Shortlists are short. Each person on one arrives with a written case for why they are on it, including where we think the risk sits, so you are reading judgement rather than a stack of CVs.
90%+ of the people we place are still in the role a year later, which is the number we would want to be judged on rather than how quickly a shortlist lands.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Do you work retained or contingent?
- Both, and they buy different things. Retained buys a full market map, direct approaches to people who are not looking, and sustained work on your brief alone, with the fee split in thirds: a third on engagement, a third on shortlist, a third on placement. Contingent works the reachable market quickly, with no fee until you hire someone. Payable when the candidate signs their employment contract, or on their start date. Retained suits scarce and senior hires; contingent suits most permanent (full-time) roles.
- What is Synergy?
- Synergy is how we run a search when you do not have time to sit in first-stage interviews. We run and record the first-stage interviews, so you shortlist on your own schedule instead of sitting in calls. We agree the questions with you up front, interview every candidate against them, and send you the recordings alongside the CV and, where the role needs one, a technical assessment.
- How quickly can you deliver a shortlist?
- Brief to shortlist is approx. one week. Brief to offer is approx. three weeks for a permanent (full-time) hire and approx. one week for a contract hire.
- What roles do you place?
- Three kinds of hire. Executive and leadership appointments such as Head of AI, VP of Machine Learning and Director of AI Engineering. Founding-level hires: founding research engineers, founding forward deployed engineers and founding AI engineers, the first technical hire a company makes in a new area. And senior individual contributors across applied ML, research, ML infrastructure, agentic AI, computer vision and robotics.
- Can you work with companies that are not startups?
- Yes. A good share of our clients are established companies adding AI capability for the first time, going through an AI transformation, or hiring their first AI team. Our UK work is almost entirely with established companies rather than startups.
Talk to us about a search
A short call is usually enough to tell you whether we are the right firm for the role, and what the market looks like for it right now.
Hiring in the US, the UK or Australia? You will reach the person who runs searches in that market.