Alternatives · Embedded recruitment
Troi alternatives: how to choose the right embedded hiring partner
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The short answer
Alternatives to Troi include embedded headhunting partners such as Saiyō, other embedded recruitment providers such as Talentful and Move, contingency agencies, and executive search firms. Troi offers embedded RPO models that build, run or scale a hiring function. If your constraint is reaching people who are not applying, rather than running more hiring process, embedded headhunting is the alternative to look at.
Who Troi is
Troi describes itself as an embedded RPO provider, offering Growth RPO, Full Service RPO and Project RPO, delivered inside the client business for a predictable fixed monthly fee. Its published work spans enterprise and high-growth organisations, and it lists offices in London, New York, Amsterdam and Dublin. It is a sensible option for teams that want a hiring function built, run or scaled.
Why teams look for a Troi alternative
- The process works, the reach does not. The function is running, but the hardest roles stall because the best people are not in the pipeline.
- The embedded seat needs to headhunt. The roles that matter most need someone in the seat whose day job is approaching people who are not looking.
- Leadership hires need partner-level ownership. VP and C-suite appointments need a senior partner leading the search, not just a recruiter's process.
- They want guarantees. Delivery and replacement commitments written into the contract.
Troi alternatives at a glance
| Option | Model | How candidates are found | Commercials | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saiyō | Embedded headhunting (RaaS), plus partner-led Executive Search | Trained headhunters inside your team: market maps, named-target outreach, phone-led conversations | Flat monthly subscription plus hiring credits. 45-day delivery and 100-day replacement guarantees | Scale-ups that want headhunting built into the embedded model, across Leadership, GTM and AI |
| Talentful | Embedded RPO | Embedded talent partners running full-cycle recruitment | Monthly subscription, no commission | Teams wanting an established, larger embedded provider |
| Move | Embedded talent consultancy | Embedded recruiters plus outbound sourcing with market analysis | Flat monthly fee, no placement fees | Teams wanting recruiters plus TA process consultancy |
| Contingency agency | Per-placement | Agency database, adverts and outreach | Fee per hire, typically a percentage of salary | Occasional one-off roles |
| Executive search firm | Retained search | Partner and researcher-led headhunt | Retained fee, commonly tied to first-year compensation | A single critical leadership hire |
Provider descriptions are based on each company's public materials as of November 2026. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Running a hiring function, or reaching the market?
An embedded RPO is a strong answer to a real problem: it gives you a working hiring function, with recruiters, process and reporting, without building one from scratch.
The cost is easy to miss when the hardest roles are the ones that matter. A team built to run process measures every shortlist against whoever applied or replied. The strongest candidates in the market never enter it, so the bar is set by the pipeline rather than the market.
Saiyō puts headhunting inside the embedded seat. The same person who manages your process also maps the market and approaches the people who are not looking. The headhunted candidate sets the bar for every role.
Questions to ask before you choose
- Who handles the roles your embedded team cannot fill, and how is that priced?
- Does the person in our seat headhunt, or run process?
- How is the shortlist benchmarked against the wider market?
- What guarantees are in the contract if a shortlist is late or a hire leaves early?
- Who leads our VP and C-suite searches, by name?
When Troi is the right choice
- You want your hiring function built, run or scaled by an embedded team
- Your hiring spans many functions and levels, including volume roles
- Your roles fill well from inbound and your own outreach
When Saiyō is the better fit
- You want headhunting on every role, not just process on every role
- You want a single relationship from leadership search to team build
- You hire 5 to 150 specialist roles a year across regions
- You want a 45-day delivery guarantee and a 100-day free replacement as standard
Saiyō's perspective
The best candidates don't apply. So we go and get them. That is the whole model. We lead on the calibre of our people: founders with 15 years of headhunting behind them, partner-led Executive Search, and embedded specialists trained to headhunt, backed by research and a curated global specialist network.