RaaS: Embedded Recruitment
Headhunting expertise. Inside your team.
Senior headhunters manage your hiring and reach beyond applicants to build your teams globally. All through one monthly subscription.
Global GTM & AI hiring for Technology scale-ups.
The reality
Specialist hiring has quietly got harder.
The market has shifted. Specialist candidates are passive, selective and slower to move. Meanwhile talent teams are leaner, briefs are more specialist and the pressure to deliver is higher than ever.
Why the usual options fall short
Most hiring solutions give you more of what you already have.
Internal TA
Ownership of process and candidate experience.
Time or specialist reach when the best people are not looking.
Contingent agencies
A burst of external capacity.
Alignment or accountability when each hire creates a new fee.
RPO and traditional embedded
Process, coordination and volume delivery.
Proactive reach into the passive specialist market.
The RaaS model
Embedded recruitment, the Saiyō way
Part of your team. Trained to headhunt.
Our trained headhunters work alongside your people, in your systems, managing hiring from the first approach through to offer. They handle inbound applications, keep candidates engaged and work closely with your hiring managers.
What sets them apart is their headhunting expertise. They know how to map a market, pick up the phone and build relationships with people who aren't looking for a move, giving you a stronger choice of candidates.
Delivered through a monthly subscription, our embedded headhunting model helps you build teams globally, whether you're hiring around a new leader or growing an established business.
Embedded in your team. Reaching the market outside it.
Executive-search rigour, at scale
Treat every hire like an executive search.
The strongest person for the role is rarely the one waiting to apply.
We apply the rigour, proactive search and market intelligence of senior-level headhunting to every role in your hiring plan. Instead of posting an advert and waiting for CVs, we map the market, identify the right people and approach them directly.
AI makes that depth of research possible at scale. Experienced headhunters provide the judgement, relationships and conviction that turn it into a hire.
Map the whole market
Build a clear view of the relevant talent pool, including the people who will never appear in an applicant list.
Start direct conversations
Approach the strongest people with a reason to listen, then build the trust needed to turn interest into a serious conversation.
Apply human judgement
Use AI to accelerate research and surface signals. Use experienced headhunters to assess fit, motivation and the likelihood of a move.
10-day sprint
Sourced
98Engaged
75Longlist
20Shortlist
6Interviews
4Who RaaS is for
One subscription. Three stages. Different jobs to do at each.
RaaS works differently depending on where you are. At each stage we change what we bring, not what you pay for.
Startup
We build the system.
We hire 12–30 critical roles a year for Seed–Series B technology without a TA function (or with a single in-house recruiter holding it all together). We bring the playbook, ATS hygiene, scorecards, interview kits, outreach engine, and run the searches while we stand it up.
Your first proper hiring engine, run by us.
Scale-up
We refine and add firepower.
Driving headhunt capacity of 30–100 roles per year for Series B–D technology with internal TA teams drowning in senior and specialist briefs. We embed alongside them, take the hardest searches, upgrade sourcing, and absorb volume spikes without you adding more permanent TA headcount.
Your in-house team's headhunting arm.
Enterprise
Flex at scale.
Embedded multi-region headhunting layer that consolidates agency spend. Flexes across UK/EU/US/APAC and runs 100+ proactive searches your in-house team can't.
Agency spend, consolidated. Coverage, expanded.
What we’ll deliver
Specialist hiring coverage with measurable commercial outcomes.
If you hire between 5 – 150 specialist hires per year, our embedded headhunter model could be for you.
68%
Average savings for Saiyō partners versus a traditional agency model
36%
Average time to hire reduction
115%
Delivery target success
59%
Average cost per hire reduction
10/10
Average client satisfaction score
Verticals
Six verticals across technology.
We are technology agnostic. These are the six markets our partners build for, and where our network runs deepest.
SaaS & B2B
Enterprise and business apps sold on subscription.
ExploreCyber & Security
Detection, identity, endpoint, cloud security, SecOps, network.
ExploreFintech
Payments, banking infra, lending, insurtech, wealth, crypto.
ExploreData & AI
Data infra, warehousing, BI, ML platforms, AI/LLM tooling.
ExploreCloud & DevTools
IaaS, PaaS, containers, observability, CI/CD, dev platforms.
ExploreConsumer & Mobile
B2C apps, marketplaces, e-commerce, social, gaming, media.
Exploreto a qualified shortlist
Delivery standard
offer-to-acceptance
Non-executive searches
average cost-per-hire reduction
Across roles we own
interview-to-placement
RaaS delivery standard
Delivery standards we hold ourselves to across the roles we own. Results vary by scope, volume and market.
Inside the connected strategy
The team layer.
RaaS is the engine of the business and the service most partners run long term. It sits beneath Executive Search by design. A founding partner places the leader, then embedded headhunters build the function underneath them using the same market intelligence. Where you need top-of-funnel volume alongside it, CVaaS runs in parallel.
"See how Boomi hires with Saiyō, embedded headhunters, delivered as a RaaS subscription across four continents, with a 59% average reduction in cost per hire on the roles we own."
Proven headhunt search
Fifteen years of founder-level headhunting experience behind the model. We tap hidden networks to engage high-calibre, often passive talent.
Real-time insights
Every step of the process visible, live. ATS tracking, talent maps, candidates in play, through your bespoke client portal and dedicated 24/7 Slack channel.
Guarantee-backed
A 45-day delivery guarantee and 100-day free replacement guarantee on every search. Talent you need, with zero risk.
Build world-class teams
Access the best technology talent worldwide across our three focus areas: Leadership, GTM (Sales, Presales, Channel, CS, Marketing) and AI.
Want this mapped to your own hiring plan?
30 minutes. A partner, not an SDR. No obligation.
What we recruit for
Leadership. GTM. AI.
We build teams in three places: the leadership that sets direction, the go-to-market engine that carries the number, and the AI hires that decide what the business can build next.
Leadership
C-suite, VP and Director appointments. The hires that set direction for everyone underneath them.
GTM
Sales, Presales, Channel, Customer Success and Marketing. The revenue engine, built hire by hire.
AI
AI leadership, machine learning and applied AI engineering, plus the technology roles around them.
Product, Engineering, Professional Services and the wider technology functions that sit alongside these teams are covered too. Ongoing hiring runs through the embedded subscription. Single, strategic Director, VP and C-suite appointments run through Executive Search.
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.
What the subscription covers
The embedded subscription covers ongoing specialist hiring across GTM, AI and the technology functions around them. Single, strategic Director, VP and C-suite appointments are not part of the subscription. Those run through our dedicated, partner-led Executive Search service, using the same network and the same market expertise.
Why teams switch to RaaS
What problems does RaaS actually solve?
Time-to-hire keeps slipping past 45 days
How we answer it
A 45-day delivery guarantee on the roles we own, with a qualified first shortlist in under 10 days.
Cost-per-hire keeps climbing
How we answer it
Fixed monthly subscription with credits that flex across roles. Partners average a 59% reduction in cost per hire on the roles we own.
Agency fatigue and bidding wars
How we answer it
One embedded partner. No per-hire fees, no multi-agency briefs, no junior coordinators swapping in and out. Your brand, your process, your team.
Who you actually get
Who actually runs your search? Trained headhunters, not more TA.
Most embedded models drop a TA generalist into your seat. Same engine you already have, in a different chair.
Saiyō embeds senior headhunters with years of technology search behind them. Their primary craft is going out: market maps, named-target outreach, calibrated conversations with people who weren't looking. The process work happens too, but the operator was trained to hunt first.
They stay accountable for the whole search. Where a role needs expertise beyond their own patch, they draw it from our curated global network of specialist headhunters, at no extra cost to you.
One accountable team, with global specialist depth behind it.
Your embedded headhunters remain accountable for every search, from strategy through to offer. When additional specialist expertise adds value, whether that is a niche function, an unfamiliar market or a new geography, they draw on Saiyō's curated global network of specialist headhunters. It runs inside the same process, the same ATS and the same subscription.
How the Specialist Search Network worksHow we're paid
How is RaaS priced? And what are we committing to?
A flat monthly subscription, with every placement backed by a 45-day delivery guarantee and a 100-day free replacement. If we've started a search, we finish it, contract status irrelevant.
delivery guarantee
free replacement
How it works
How does RaaS deliver a shortlist in under 10 days?
Discovery & embed
Week 1
We meet your hiring leaders, learn your product and your pitch, and embed into your stand-ups, Slack and ATS. We become an extension of your team, not a vendor.
Talent mapping & outreach
Days 1–10
We build a live talent map for every brief and start direct outreach to passive senior candidates inside your target companies. No job ads. No waiting on inbound.
Headhunted shortlist
By day 10
A qualified shortlist of headhunted candidates, not CVs, delivered into your ATS, with full notes, motivations and salary calibration.
Offer, accept, replace-guaranteed
Through to day 100
We manage interviews, offers and counter-offer scenarios. Every placement is backed by a 100-day free replacement guarantee.
Traditional agency
Transactional. Reactive.
- Per-placement fees of around 25% of salary
- Reactive, starts the day you brief them
- Job ads + inbound + LinkedIn searches
- New account manager every search
- No visibility into pipeline or process
Saiyō RaaS
Embedded. Proactive. Predictable.
- One predictable monthly subscription
- Always-on, embedded into your team
- Direct outreach to passive senior talent
- Dedicated headhunters who know your brand
- Live portal, ATS sync, 24/7 Slack channel
The definitive guide
Embedded headhunting, explained.
The model behind Saiyō. Why the best candidates rarely apply, what The Accessibility Gap costs a scale-up, and how embedded headhunters differ from agencies, RPO and internal TA. Read it, download it, or listen to the audio narration.
- 3,500-word field guide, no email gate.
- Branded 8-page PDF. Share it with your team.
- ~14 minute audio narration on the same page.
In their words
Built for teams scaling at pace.
Exceeding Expectations
"Saiyō deliver an unparalleled level of service, allowing us to scale at pace, with the right people, while exceeding expectations.
Chief Sales Officer, Skeepers
Great Partner
"The team at Saiyō are a trustworthy and reliable partner for all of our hiring needs. They also operate in a truly conscientious manner, acting as an extension to our brand.
Global Talent Leader, E2open
Executive Search
"The Saiyō team are extremely talented and insightful professionals, having helped me source top-notch talent to fuel the growth of the company.
Chief Executive Officer, Powwr
Start hiring inside 10 days
Get a costed hiring plan for the next 12 months.
30-minute call. You leave with a role-by-role plan, a fixed monthly figure, and a shortlist timeline mapped to your roadmap, whether you subscribe or not.
- Shortlists in under 10 days
- 94% offer acceptance
- 100-day replacement guarantee
- 59% average reduction in cost per hire
30 minutes. A partner, not an SDR. No obligation.