Most hiring managers ask "what's your fee?" and stop there. That's the wrong question. The percentage matters less than what it's a percentage OF.
Contingency: the standard model
With contingency search, you pay nothing unless you hire someone the recruiter sent you. SHRM pegs the typical contingency fee at about 20% to 25% of first-year compensation. Sales recruiting firms publish ranges anywhere from 15% to 30%, usually lower for SDRs and higher for AEs and managers.
Contingency is how most SDR, AE and CSM searches get done. It's low risk for you. The trade-off is that a lot of contingency recruiters are racing other recruiters to your inbox, which is how you end up with forty resumes and zero hires.
The contract line that matters: base or OTE?
Here's where AE fees get expensive. Sales comp is split between base and variable, and for AEs the variable is usually about half. So the fee base changes everything.
| Mid-market AE: $110K base, $220K OTE | Fee at 20% |
|---|---|
| Fee calculated on base | $22,000 |
| Fee calculated on OTE | $44,000 |
Same percentage. Double the invoice. Read that line in the agreement before you sign anything, and ask whether signing bonuses count too.
Retained search: for sales leaders
Retained search means you pay part of the fee up front to lock in a dedicated search. SHRM puts the standard retained fee around a third of first-year compensation. Executive search firms commonly quote 25% to 35%, often paid in thirds: one at kickoff, one at a midpoint like a shortlist, and one at hire.
Retained makes sense for VP of Sales and CRO searches, where the candidate pool is small, confidential and almost all passive. For an SDR or a mid-market AE, it's usually overkill.
Replacement guarantees
If the hire walks or gets fired early, most firms either run the search again for free or refund part of the fee. In sales recruiting, 60 to 90 days is common, and you'll see anything from 30 to 120. Ask three things: how long, replacement or refund, and what voids it. Many guarantees don't apply if the job, the comp plan or the manager changed.
What an empty seat costs
The fee is the number everyone stares at. The vacancy is the number that actually hurts.
The Bridge Group's 2024 SaaS AE benchmark put median AE quota around $800K a year. That's roughly $67K of new business per month that nobody is working while the seat sits open. A bad hire is worse. You pay the ramp, lose the territory for six months, and start over.
Questions to ask any sales recruiter
- Is the fee calculated on base, OTE or total first-year comp?
- How many candidates will I see, and how fast?
- How do you verify a rep's numbers?
- What's the guarantee, and what voids it?
- How many other searches is the recruiter on this one running right now?
- Will you tell me if my comp plan is the problem?
That last one is the tell. A recruiter who'll take your money for an unfillable seat isn't your partner.
How we work
We send three candidates, not forty, and every one of them has been through a numbers audit. We'll quote our terms on the first call. And if the issue is the seat rather than the search, we'll tell you before you spend a dollar.
More on this: How we work · What AEs cost in 2026 · What SDRs cost in 2026
Sources: SHRM on working with search firms · Bridge Group 2024 AE benchmark.