XPERTDIRECT
XpertDirect is the direct hiring platform for urgent technical roles in Europe. Brief in, interest-validated specialist out, in hours, not weeks. 5% success fee. No middle layer. Any engagement type.
THE QUADRANT NO INCUMBENT OCCUPIES
Every incumbent in this category is locked into one of the three other squares by the economics of their own model. Toptal cannot become a 5% platform. Malt cannot ship a 48-hour SLA. Recruiters cannot operate without a middle layer. The empty quadrant is where XpertDirect was built.
Direct to specialist · Fast (24–48h)
XpertDirect
5% success fee. The uncontested square.
Direct to specialist · Slow (>1 week)
Malt, Upwork
Direct but slow, generalist, no urgent-fill SLA.
Middle-layered · Fast (24–48h)
Toptal, A.Team, Gun.io
Fast but layered, 25–40% take rate.
Middle-layered · Slow (>1 week)
Agencies, Deel Talent
Slow and layered. The default being displaced.
BRIEF IN. SPECIALIST OUT.
Submit a three-field brief. Role, must-have skills, deadline. Sixty seconds. No login, no qualifying call.
Within 32 hours median, you receive a shortlist of specialists who have already confirmed interest, availability, and rate. No cold profiles.
You speak with specialists directly. No account manager in the middle. We stay out of the conversation unless you ask us in.
On signed engagement, a 5% success fee is invoiced. Any engagement type: contract, fixed-term, permanent.
Built by John Ryan. Fifteen years of European technical hiring relationships. Bootstrap-disciplined since day one.
AUDITED, NOT ASSERTED
Every operational claim on this site carries a methodology PDF. The numbers below are refreshed on a published cadence. The audit log records every change.
THREE COHORTS. THREE SECTORS. THE SAME RESULT.
Fintech — Series B, London
19 days, brief to start
“We had been searching for nine weeks through two agencies. XpertDirect shortlisted four payments engineers in 28 hours. We hired the second one we spoke to.”Read the full case study →
Climate tech — Series A, Berlin
2 repeat hires, same quarter
“We trialled XpertDirect against an incumbent agency on the same brief. XpertDirect returned a hire offer letter before the agency returned a first call.”Read the full case study →
Healthtech — Scale-up, Amsterdam
10% total fee, two hires
“The fee structure made the second hire a no-brainer. We went back two weeks later and ran the same process for another role.”Read the full case study →
WHAT WE PUT IN WRITING
If we do not return an interest-validated shortlist within 48 hours of a qualified brief, the success fee on the resulting placement is waived in full. The clause is contractual, the audit log is public.
Read the SLA →We use AI to triage briefs and rank prior signals — never to write candidate prose or fabricate references. The full methodology, model provider, retention policy and human-in-the-loop checkpoints are published.
Read the AI Notice →One fee, fixed in our standard terms. No platform charge, no retainer, no shortlist fee, no add-ons. Invoiced only on signed engagement, with a twelve-month replacement guarantee on every hire.
Read the pricing model →Our ten largest customer relationships are owned by the founder personally — not handed to a junior account manager once the engagement is signed. The founder joins every brief call for these accounts.
Meet the founder →SUBMIT A BRIEF
If you prefer a conversation first, book thirty minutes with the founder.
EIGHT QUESTIONS WE ANSWER BEFORE YOU ASK