AI hiring

Hire the AI team your next decade depends on.

AI leadership, machine learning and applied AI engineering, data platform and the technology roles around them. A market where demand ran ahead of supply, and where the best people almost never apply.

Roles we headhunt

The AI roles we cover.

AI leadership, machine learning and applied AI engineering, plus the technology roles around them.

Not sure where your brief sits? Ask us.

AI leadership

Chief AI OfficerVP AIHead of AIHead of Machine LearningAI Product Lead

Engineering

Machine Learning EngineerApplied AI EngineerResearch EngineerMLOps EngineerAI Platform Engineer

Data

Data EngineerData ScientistData Platform LeadAnalytics Engineer

Related technology

Backend EngineerInfrastructure EngineerSecurity EngineerEngineering Manager

Why this is hard

The people you want are not applying.

Demand outran supply

Every business has an AI initiative and a much shorter list of people who have actually shipped one. The genuinely experienced pool is small, well paid and rarely looking.

Titles hide the truth

AI Engineer covers everything from prompt work to production model serving. Screening on job titles produces the wrong shortlist. We assess on what was built, deployed and maintained.

The hire has to fit the initiative

Research depth, applied product work and platform reliability are three different people. Getting the wrong one costs a year, not a quarter.

How we hunt them

AI powered. Headhunter led.

1

We hire in this market because we work in it

Saiyō is AI-first internally. Our headhunters use these tools daily, so the technical conversation with an AI candidate is a real one, not a keyword match.

2

Reached through community and referral

The strongest AI engineers come through peers, open-source work and referral. That is network and phone work, not an advert.

3

Built as a team, not a role

AI initiatives need leadership, engineering and data together. We map and build the whole shape rather than filling one seat at a time.

What the AI does

Saiyō is AI-first from the ground up. Our tooling maps a market completely, researches who exists and where they sit, and handles initial outreach at a scale a person cannot match. That is what pulls days out of time to hire.

What it does not do

Headhunting. Messaging people is not headhunting. Headhunting is a live network, cold calls, referrals, getting someone's mobile number and having the conversation that changes their mind. No tool does that. The human stays in the loop, making the judgement calls that only years in a market teach you.

How we deliver it

AI hiring runs through our embedded subscription model (RaaS), whether that is a first strategic hire or a full team build. AI leadership at VP and C-suite level sits outside the subscription and is handled through Executive Search.

Want this mapped against your AI hiring plan?

30 minutes. Senior partner, not an SDR. No obligation.

We also build

  • Shortlists in under 10 days
  • 96% offer acceptance
  • 100-day replacement guarantee

AI hiring

Let's talk about your AI plan.

Book a 30-minute call. We'll share market signal, comparable searches and a realistic timeline for the roles you're trying to fill.

  • Shortlists in under 10 days
  • 96% offer acceptance
  • 100-day replacement guarantee

30 minutes. Senior partner, not an SDR. No obligation.