CASE STUDY · AI-NATIVE · Q2 2026
An AI-native infrastructure company replaced a stalled retained search inside one cycle.
AI-native · Series A · London
The brief
A London-based inference infrastructure company had run a retained search for a head of platform for four months. The retained firm presented two candidates, neither converted.
The CTO submitted a brief to XpertDirect specifying the operational profile required: someone who had operated GPU fleets at production scale and could own the platform end-to-end.
The match
Three vetted specialists with operator backgrounds in inference and GPU infrastructure were briefed within five hours.
The combined shortlist of four candidates was delivered by the end of the next business day. All four had operated at the required scale.
The result
An offer was extended on day eleven and accepted on day twelve. The candidate started a month later and has since hired two further platform engineers from the same specialist network.
The buyer terminated the original retained search and rated the XpertDirect engagement 9 out of 10.
- Time-to-shortlist
- 22 hours
- Time-to-offer
- 11 days
- Fill rate
- 100%
- Buyer NPS
- 68
single engagement, n=1
single buyer, post-placement survey, Q2 2026
The specialists brought operators, not CVs. That is what the category had been missing and what retained search has been failing to provide.
— CTO, inference infrastructure company, London