How we run a search

1. The brief

We start each search by meeting the hiring executive. For senior roles, we also meet the board or the founders, and the people who will work most closely with the new hire.

From those meetings, we write a position specification. You approve it before we contact anyone. In it, we record:

• what the person must achieve in the first 12 to 18 months
• the technical depth the role needs, including any specific qubit modality
• the team the person will lead or join
• the compensation range, including equity
• location terms, travel, and relocation
• any citizenship, clearance, or export-control requirement that genuinely applies
• who makes the hiring decision, and how

2. The market map

We identify the organizations where people do this work: companies, national labs, universities, and research institutes. We also include adjacent fields where people have transferable skills. Atomic physicists often move into neutral-atom roles, for example, and microwave engineers into superconducting control systems.

We leave out organizations that are off-limits to us, including our other clients. You see the map and can add or remove targets. For a confidential search, we agree with you how to describe the role before we approach anyone.

3. The approach

We contact candidates directly, by name, and in confidence. In the first conversation, we describe the role and the organization. If the search is confidential, we say so and tell the candidate when they will learn the client’s name.

We never send a candidate’s details to a client without that person’s consent for that specific role.

4. Assessment

We interview each candidate against the position specification, with the same questions and criteria for everyone. We then check the evidence behind each record: publications, patents, open-source code, the systems a candidate shipped, and the teams they built.

People on our team make every assessment. We don’t use AI or other software to screen, score, rank, or select candidates.

For each shortlisted candidate, we write a report. In it, we describe the candidate’s career, the evidence against each requirement, their motivation, their compensation expectations, and their availability. We also list the questions you should test at interview.

5. Shortlist and client interviews

We present the shortlist in a meeting with you and go through each report. We schedule the interviews and brief each candidate beforehand. After every round, we collect feedback from you and from the candidates.

If you decide not to continue with a candidate, we tell that person promptly. We explain the reason as far as you have agreed we can.

6. References and verification

With each finalist’s permission, we take references from managers, peers, and members of the teams they led. We verify the degrees and other credentials that you require for the role.

If you need a cleared candidate, you confirm the clearance through your own facility security process. We pass on what the candidate has told us.

7. Offer and acceptance

We help you and the candidate agree terms: base salary, bonus, equity, start date, and relocation. For scientists, we also discuss publication rights and research time.

We raise visa and export-control questions at the brief. Before the candidate resigns from their current job, we confirm with you that those questions are resolved. We never pressure a candidate to accept an offer.

8. After the start

We stay in touch with the new hire and with you through the first months in the role. In the engagement letter, we agree with you what we will do if the new hire leaves early.

What we don’t do

• We don’t send unsolicited CVs to employers.
• We don’t use AI or other software to screen, score, rank, or select candidates.
• We don’t approach a client’s employees for other searches while we work for that client or during the off-limits period in the engagement letter.
• We don’t charge candidates for anything.

We set out these commitments in full in our standards. See also the roles we recruit for.