We head-hunt government talent. You interview three people.
- 50 → 12 → 3
- per search
- 750,000+
- government hiring records
- $0
- market briefing first
We reply within two business days, with the market for your role attached.
Shortlist — senior systems engineer
Example- 01
Systems engineer · 11 yrs
Prime contractor → agency program office
Ran the program you are hiring for, from the other side of the contract.
- 02
Systems engineer · 8 yrs
Two primes, same portfolio, never posted a résumé
Approached directly. Would move for scope, and said so on the first call.
- 03
Systems engineer · 9 yrs
Federal civilian, GS-14, 6 yrs in grade
Comp expectation checked against your band before you saw the profile.
Sent as a document, not a portal login
One search
Lead product designer
A venture-backed defense startup
No in-house recruiter, and a domain most portfolios have never touched.
- 50
- portfolios reviewed against the brief
- 3
- candidates actually sent
- 3 days
- from first submission to the hire
How an engagement runs
Briefing first- 01
Market briefing
One requisition. Who else is hiring against you, what they pay, where the supply sits.
Free · no commitment
- 02
The brief
We agree the bar and the trade-offs you will accept before anyone is approached.
Written down
- 03
Head-hunting
We approach government-experienced people directly. Most of them are not applying to anything.
Passive talent
- 04
Screening
We speak to every one: eligibility to be hired, comp expectation, and whether they will really move.
Every candidate
- 05
Shortlist
Three profiles with the reasoning attached. We hold the process together through to signature.
The deliverable
Why hiring leads pick us
Public sector onlyThe public sector is all we do
Series, grade, pay plan, hiring authority, eligibility. It is the vocabulary, not a vertical we added.
We reach the people who never apply
Direct head-hunting of government-experienced talent. A job board only ever shows you the ones already looking.
Our own hiring record sits behind it
390,000+ postings from 580+ official sources, observed since 2025-12-07 — so we know who else wants your candidate.
You read three profiles, not a pipeline
Fifty reviewed, three sent. A shortlist you can act on in an afternoon is the entire point of hiring us.
Not looking for done-for-you?
Rather run it yourself?
Ayla Sourcing is the same market and the same data, self-serve, from $99 per seat.
See the productWant the raw data?
The government hiring record itself — schema, fill rates and sources, delivered as files.
See the schemaQuestions a hiring lead actually asks
What do I actually get?
Three shortlisted people, with the reasoning for each and the trade-offs stated. Everyone on that list has been spoken to: they are eligible to be hired, their compensation expectation is already checked against your band, and they have said they would move. We stay on the search through interviews, offer and signature.
How is this different from a generalist agency?
We work one market and we run the data underneath it. Ayla observes 390,000+ government and contractor postings from 580+ official sources, so a search starts from who is hiring, where, and at what — not from a keyword pass over a résumé database. A generalist sends you people who match the words in the job description. We send people who can be hired into your role and have a reason to take it.
Which roles do you run?
The ones where public-sector experience is the hard part: program, engineering, product, design and data hires at agencies, primes and defense-market startups. If a role is not one we can genuinely reach, we say so on the briefing call rather than taking the search and going quiet.
What does it cost?
Retained or contingency, quoted against the specific role before the search begins. On contingency the fee is due on a hire, and nothing is owed if you do not make one. The market briefing that comes first is free either way, so you see how we think before there is a fee attached.
Can I just use your software instead?
Yes — that is Ayla Sourcing, the same market and the same data with your own hands on it, from $99 per seat per month. Buyers with a recruiter in-house usually take that. Buyers with a requisition and no recruiting function take this.
Send us one role. We’ll send back the market.
Who else is hiring against you, what they are paying, and whether we can reach the people you need. If we cannot, you hear it then.
Briefing free · retained or contingency · quoted per search