Repeatable hiring
A specialist recruiter can source a clearly defined role. Ask who screens candidates, how duplicate introductions are handled and which terms trigger payment.
GTM recruitment · GTM recruiters · executive search · 2026
GTM recruitment agencies and recruiters
GTM recruitment agencies hire go-to-market people across sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships and revenue operations, including specialist GTM engineering roles.
GTM Quest is a GTM recruitment agency: we recruit GTM people and build the systems they run.
You can also engage Dan Keegan directly as your GTM expert.
Choose from the role, your stage and how you sell, then compare the search agreement and specialists worth knowing.
See live GTM jobs for current roles; our sister site Fractional Quest covers fractional and interim GTM leaders.
Reviewed by Dan Keegan, GTM Quest · 28 September 2026 · 34 sources linked below
Your decisionExplore the working brief
Module 01 / 03
Outcome
Name the bottleneck: missing account data, weak meetings, stalled opportunities or unreliable reporting. Assign one outcome to the role.
Module 02 / 03
Evidence
Ask for a relevant example and a short work sample. Agree assessment criteria before candidates arrive, using the same criteria for everyone.
Module 03 / 03
Authority
List the systems, budget and decisions the hire can control. A revenue target without authority over the motion is an incomplete brief.
66%
of recruiters say qualified talent got harder to find in the last year
25% to 35%
typical UK retained search fee, as a share of first-year base salary
01/ definitions
What is GTM recruitment? and what a GTM recruiter does
GTM recruitment is hiring go-to-market talent: the people who find buyers, win them and keep them, and the people who run the systems behind that.
It covers sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships, revenue operations and specialist GTM engineering roles, as described across Certus recruitment coverage and BisonRS operations specialisms.
A GTM recruiter specialises in those roles.
The difference from a generalist is knowing what separates an SDR from an AE, a RevOps manager from a GTM engineer, and a founder-led seller from an enterprise closer.
Ask for examples of the work candidates created themselves and what infrastructure they inherited.
A GTM recruitment agency is the firm that runs those searches under an agreed commercial model.
A go-to-market recruiter usually means one who works across the whole GTM function rather than one discipline.
What is GTM hiring?
"GTM hiring" is the same thing from the employer's side: building a go-to-market team role by role.
The mistake we see most is hiring for headcount before there is a system to run: sellers with no list, a GTM engineer with no ICP.
GTM recruiter meaning, in one line
A GTM recruiter specialises in go-to-market hiring across sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships and the operations behind them.
02/ our service
Can GTM Quest recruit for us or provide the GTM expert?
Yes: we recruit GTM roles, and Dan Keegan can be engaged directly as a GTM expert.
01
Recruit a GTM hire
Use our GTM recruitment agency service to agree the role, assess candidates and run the search.
02
Engage Dan Keegan
Work directly with Dan as a GTM expert, with the problem, responsibilities and engagement terms agreed before work starts.
03
Write the scorecard
Name the outcomes, tools and stage experience the role requires, including the decisions the person can control.
04
Build the system alongside the hire
We can build the account data, workflows and CRM processes the person will run, with handover included in the scope.
05
Compare specialist scope
Use the specialists below to compare stated role coverage; we take no referral fees.
06
Agree the handover
Specify documentation, walkthroughs and ownership of lists, workflows and sequences before the engagement starts.
Every engagement is scoped and quoted in writing after the discovery call.
For the whole service, see how we work as a GTM agency.
03/ the fork
Which route fits the GTM person you need? pick your situation
Compare GTM recruiting firms and your own hiring capacity, then decide whether you need recruitment, expert support or system work.
Which describes your hire best?
GTM recruitment agency
Recruit the capability you need
Ask which role and market the agency covers, how it assesses candidates and what triggers payment.
Published UK contingency ranges are 15% to 20% of first-year salary, up to 30% for hard-to-fill roles; confirm the actual written agreement.
- ✓ Named search owner
- ✓ Role-specific assessment
- ✓ Candidate ownership terms
- ✓ Agreed payment trigger
GTM Quest can run the search: see our GTM recruitment agency.
Executive search
Define the leadership responsibility
For a CRO, VP sales or RevOps leader, ask for the market map, assessment method and confidentiality arrangements.
Published retained ranges are 25% to 35% of first-year base salary; executive search describes the remit, while the agreement sets the commercial terms.
- ✓ Scope and authority
- ✓ Relevant stage experience
- ✓ Market mapping
- ✓ Confidentiality terms
Confirm exclusivity and deliverables in writing.
In-house recruiter
Compare workload and capacity
An internal recruiter can build knowledge of the business across repeated searches; compare the workload, specialist reach and total employment cost with external support.
- ✓ Hiring demand
- ✓ Internal assessment capacity
- ✓ Specialist sourcing needs
- ✓ Work between searches
Use your hiring plan to compare the options.
Responsibility and scope
Engage the person for the work
You can engage Dan Keegan directly as a GTM expert, with scope and engagement terms agreed on the call.
For a broader fractional or interim leadership search, our sister site Fractional Quest can take the brief.
- ✓ Problem to own
- ✓ Decisions and access
- ✓ Working arrangements
- ✓ Review and handover
See fractional CRO roles and CRO recruitment.
System and hiring
Agree what the hire will inherit
If the ICP, account data or workflows are missing, include that operating work in the brief.
We start the GTM motion on day one and build the system around it, with ownership and handover agreed alongside recruitment.
- ✓ ICP and account lists
- ✓ Clay and CRM workflows
- ✓ Outbound activity
- ✓ Scorecards and handover
Discuss the person and the system together. Book a call.
Working arrangement and search model are separate decisions: permanent, interim and fractional describe the role, while contingency, retained and outsourced recruitment describe the search.
A GTM advisor can help define the responsibility before you commission it.
04/ stage and motion
Which GTM role fits the stage of the business?
Start with the missing capability and the motion the person will inherit; Certus describes matching candidates on stage, sales motion and built versus inherited infrastructure.
The choices below are our recommended questions, not a fixed order of hires.
What needs to change?
Build the motion
Assess what they created themselves
Where the founder still sells and the process is being discovered, ask for evidence of creating a motion with limited support.
- ✓ Buyer research
- ✓ Positioning and demand
- ✓ Pipeline creation
- ✓ Built versus inherited work
Repeatable work
Match the commercial environment
Assess whether the candidate has worked with comparable buyers, deal complexity, sales cycles and support; do not treat the title alone as proof of fit.
- ✓ Customer segment
- ✓ Sales motion
- ✓ Deal complexity
- ✓ Team support
New context
Name what will change
For a new geography, partner channel or buyer group, ask which part of that change the candidate has owned before.
- ✓ Local buyer context
- ✓ Partner responsibilities
- ✓ New versus established market
- ✓ Resources and authority
RevOps or GTM engineering
Assess the underlying workflow
If routing, CRM data or reporting is the constraint, assess operations capability before assuming another seller is the answer; BisonRS describes coverage across RevOps, partner operations, GTM systems and engineering.
- ✓ Data quality
- ✓ Routing and handoffs
- ✓ Reporting
- ✓ Failure handling
Expert or leader
Agree the decisions to own
Dan Keegan can be engaged as a GTM expert.
For other leadership arrangements, our sister site covers the founding GTM lead and fractional head of sales roles.
- ✓ Problem and scope
- ✓ Decision authority
- ✓ Delivery support
- ✓ Review and handover
For technical assessment, see our GTM engineer guide and GTM engineer recruiter service; the State of GTM Engineering reported 84% of GTM engineers use Clay, which is tool context rather than proof of candidate skill.
For staffing context, the Bridge Group reported 3.0 months average SDR ramp, 40% median annual attrition and one SDR to 2.4 AEs in a sample of 351 B2B companies, mostly North American; these are not a prescribed team structure.
BisonRS previously published a London RevOps manager salary range; check its current scope before comparing an offer.
05/ the money
What GTM recruitment agencies charge contingency vs retained search
The figures below are published market ranges, not GTM Quest prices or a quote for your search; these sources were last checked on 28 September 2026.
Confirm the basis, payment triggers and rebate terms in writing.
ModelTypical UK feeHow it is paidSource
Contingency15% to 20% of first-year salary; up to 30% for hard-to-fill rolesOn placement onlyAgency Central
Retained search25% to 35% of first-year base salary; 30% the most common headline rateThree staged payments: on engagement, on shortlist, on acceptanceheadhunters.co.uk
Retained search, minimumsMinimum fees of £30,000 to £40,000 standard at reputable firmsPlus expenses, typically 10% to 15% of the feeheadhunters.co.uk
Do not infer the search model from seniority alone: agree the work, confidentiality and commercial terms for the assignment.
Contingency describes payment on hire, not necessarily a non-exclusive agreement: Strive describes exclusive pay-on-success, retained, executive and outsourced recruitment.
Indeed explains contingency and retained payment models; confirm the triggers in your own agreement.
Under the REC's code, member agencies must disclose all fees, charges and services to clients before an assignment is accepted.
And in the UK an agency cannot charge the candidate a fee for finding them work.
The employer pays.
06/ side by side
Recruitment agency, executive search or in-house? three comparisons
Pick the comparison that matches your decision.
Retained searchContingency agency
ExclusivityConfirm the retained assignment scopeCan be exclusive or non-exclusive
When you payIn stages, from the startOnly when someone is hired
Search workAgree market mapping and approachAgree sourcing and assessment scope
ConfidentialityAgree candidate and employer disclosureAgree candidate and employer disclosure
Before signingCheck milestones and deliverablesCheck payment trigger and ownership
→ Match the search scope and commercial agreement to the role; confidentiality and assessment need explicit terms under either model. Fee ranges are in the table above.
In-house recruiterRecruitment agency
Cost basisEmployment cost and internal capacityThe agreed recruitment model
CapacityCheck current workload or need to recruitAgree the search team and start date
Company contextShares ongoing internal contextNeeds a detailed role and company brief
Specialist reachAssess the existing networkAsk for relevant market coverage
→ Compare the hiring workload, employment cost and specialist sourcing capacity before choosing internal or external support.
Build first (GTM Quest)Hire now
Operating workScope the data and workflow buildConfirm what systems already exist
What the hire inheritsAgreed workflows and documentationThe current operating environment
ResponsibilitiesName the build and handover ownerName the assessment and onboarding owner
HandoverDocument systems and train the ownerAgree access, resources and review
→ SalesFuel found companies spend nearly three months hiring a sales rep before a first sales call, and another five and a half months before peer-level productivity. Agree what the hire needs to inherit rather than treating this sales survey as a GTM hiring forecast.
07/ the diagnostic
How to choose a GTM recruitment agency seven checks before you brief
Ask an agency to explain how its search and assessments match your role, stage and sales motion; settle these points in the brief.
01
Ask for placements in your role
Recent examples in your exact role type (GTM engineer, enterprise AE, head of RevOps), not generic sales or tech hires.
02
Match the specialism to the hire
A GTM engineer, an SDR and a CRO come from different pools.
Some firms lean technical, some executive, some sales volume.
03
Understand the fee model
Contingency or retained, the percentage, the basis (base or package), minimum fees and expenses.
04
Ask how they measure time to fill
For your role type, not an all-industry average.
The widely quoted 44 days is a global, all-industry figure from 2023.
05
Ask what happens if the hire leaves
Rebate or replacement terms, in writing.
In the UK, firms showing the REC logo have passed the REC's compliance assessment and adhere to its code.
That is one checkable signal of an established firm.
06
Check where they actually hire
A UK mid-market specialist and a US executive search firm solve different problems.
Match stated coverage to where the role sits.
07
Have a scorecard ready
The outcomes, systems and stage experience the role demands.
A recruiter who pushes back on scope is a better sign than one who agrees to everything.
08/ the hardest role
Engineer recruitment agencies and headhunters screening for the hybrid
A GTM engineer recruitment agency screens for a narrow, technical profile: someone who can build in Clay or an equivalent enrichment tool, work with a CRM's API, own an automation pipeline end to end, and has the commercial judgement to know which signals are worth acting on.
Ask how the recruiter assesses both technical execution and commercial judgement instead of relying on a software or RevOps title alone.
The pay gap inside the role is large too: the State of GTM Engineering found high-code GTM engineers earn a $40K to $45K premium over low-code operators, so be clear which one you are hiring.
Before you engage a GTM engineer headhunter, ask for recent GTM engineer placements (not just RevOps or SDR), whether they can talk about Clay and enrichment in detail, and their time to shortlist for this exact role.
Several firms in the specialists table focus on it.
Or start the other way round: we build the GTM engineering layer ourselves, prove it, and hand it to the engineer you hire.
09/ leadership
GTM executive search CRO, VP sales and head of RevOps
For a VP of revenue operations, head of GTM engineering or first CRO, define the decisions, team and operating change the leader will own before briefing the search; agree whether the approach needs to be confidential.
Retained executive search (paying a firm up front for an exclusive, confidential process) suits a first leadership hire or a role you cannot advertise.
UK retained fees typically run 25% to 35% of first-year base salary, with minimums of £30,000 to £40,000 at reputable firms.
A contingency agreement can also cover a leadership role; confirm exclusivity and scope rather than assuming them from the payment model.
Either way, write the scorecard first: the systems, stage and revenue outcomes the leader will own.
For CRO hires specifically, our sister site's guide to Chief Revenue Officer recruitment covers what the role owns and when a fractional or interim CRO fits better.
Top executive search firms
We do not rank search firms.
Two with dedicated go-to-market practices are True, whose go-to-market practice places CMOs, CROs, VPs of sales and RevOps leaders, and Talentfoot, which describes itself as an executive search firm for marketing, sales and technology leaders.
Both are in the table below.
Executive recruiters in the UK
For UK and European leadership searches, Teem, Wilson Grey and Strive all describe senior GTM hiring for SaaS on their own sites, and BisonRS runs executive search for RevOps leaders.
See the specialists table.
10/ the search
How a search runs six stages from brief to start
Knowing where a search usually stalls helps you catch it early.
- 01
Scorecard and brief
You and the recruiter agree the outcomes, systems and stage experience the role demands, not just a job description.
STAGE 1 - 02
Market mapping
The recruiter sizes the real pool for this exact profile and says whether it needs contingency or retained treatment.
STAGE 2 - 03
Sourcing and approach
Agree where the recruiter will source candidates, how it will approach them and what company information it can share.
STAGE 3 - 04
Screening and shortlist
Technical and commercial screening against the scorecard; a short list you can compare.
STAGE 4 - 05
Your interviews
Structured interviews against the same scorecard, including a practical task for technical roles.
STAGE 5 - 06
Offer and close
Pay benchmarked against the market, references, notice period. Agree compensation, references and notice-period expectations before the offer.
STAGE 6
Whichever of the GTM recruitment agencies you choose, have the system and scorecard ready before the first call.
For scale: The Josh Bersin Company and AMS reported an average of 44 days to appoint across all industries in Q1 2023.
Specialist, senior and retained searches vary a lot around that.
Benchmark pay before the offer stage with our GTM salary guide.
11/ the stakes
What hiring costs why getting it right matters
MeasureFigureSource
Average cost of a bad B2B sales hire$177,171, including lost forecasts, weaker customer relationships and lost productivitySalesFuel, 2026
Time before a new sales rep makes a first callNearly three months of hiring, then about five and a half months to peer-level productivitySalesFuel, 2026
SalesFuel and the Bridge Group are mainly US samples; treat them as direction, not UK prices.
For UK pay, see our GTM salary guide and GTM jobs.
12/ doing it yourself
Hiring without an internal recruiter and whether a marketplace beats an agency
Many seed and Series A teams hire their first GTM people without a recruiter.
It works when three things are true: a written scorecard, a founder or leader with time to run the process, and a network to start from.
Start with referrals from people you trust, then communities where GTM people gather, then targeted LinkedIn outreach to people doing the job at companies one stage ahead of yours.
Use a practical task (a short Clay build, a mock discovery call, a pipeline review) rather than CV screening alone.
Recruiting marketplace or agency? Compare the work each supplier actually includes: some platforms provide candidate access, while a recruitment agreement can include sourcing, assessment and offer support.
A marketplace suits a team with time and a clear scorecard; an agency suits a hard-to-fill or senior role, or a team with no time.
If the real gap is senior direction rather than headcount, consider a fractional leader first.
A fractional recruitment agency can shortlist people who have held the seat before, working from the same scorecard.
See fractional GTM roles on our sister site, and our comparison of a fractional GTM manager and a GTM agency.
13/ SaaS
SaaS recruitment and staffing what changes in software
For a B2B software hire, include the product and commercial model in the brief.
Buyers research alone, products can often be trialled, and the same accounts hear from every competitor.
So the roles that matter most are the ones that find the right accounts and say something specific to them.
That shifts the profile.
Specify whether an SDR will work from signals, which buyer group an AE will navigate and whether a RevOps lead needs to handle product usage data as well as the CRM.
Brief a recruiter on the motion (founder-led, product-led, sales-led, partner-led), not just the title.
GTM staffing usually means contract or interim cover rather than permanent search: an interim head of sales while you hire, a contract RevOps lead for a CRM migration, a fractional CRO for a funding round.
For senior interim and fractional GTM leaders, see Fractional Quest; for the system work itself, talk to us.
14/ UK rules
Using a recruitment agency in the UK what the rules say
UK employment agencies work under specific rules.
GOV.UK sets out that an agency cannot charge a fee to a work-seeker for finding them work, cannot stop someone working elsewhere, and must give workers written terms before looking for work for them.
The employer pays the fee.
Members of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation adhere to a Code of Professional Practice that requires them to disclose all fees, charges and services to clients before accepting an assignment, and to advertise only roles they have documented permission to recruit for.
This is not legal advice.
Read the terms of business before you sign, in particular the fee basis, the rebate period and what counts as an "introduction".
15/ specialists
Specialists worth knowing GTM recruiters we would point you to
GTM Quest recruits GTM roles and builds their operating systems; these are additional specialists whose own sites describe go-to-market hiring.
The table retains the 28 September 2026 checks, with Strive and BisonRS scope re-read on 20 October; it is not ranked or paid and we take no referral fees.
FirmBasedWhat its site says it does
TeemLeeds (EMEA office); TorontoSole focus on headhunting and building go-to-market teams for SaaS scale-ups
Wilson GreyUK & USSenior and executive GTM and tech hiring for HealthTech, FinTech and SaaS, from senior individual contributors to C-suite
StriveManchester HQ; London, Paris, Munich, Amsterdam, TampaBuilds go-to-market teams for venture-backed tech companies
Aaron WallisMilton Keynes, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, LondonSales recruitment across B2B, technical, field and IT sales, with a 12-month rebate scheme
Franklin FitchUKGo-to-market hiring for VC- and PE-backed technology companies, pre-sales to post-sales, alongside more than a decade of IT and technology recruitment
Morpheus Talent SolutionsInternational, founded 2020Permanent and interim go-to-market and tech talent, from single critical hires to multi-hire campaigns
BisonRSUK, DACH, Nordics, BeneluxDedicated RevOps recruitment: RevOps, sales ops, CS ops, GTM systems and GTM engineering roles
GTMRecUS & EuropeGTM roles only: mid-market and enterprise AEs at Series A to C companies in New York, San Francisco, London, Dublin and DACH
Betts RecruitingNorth AmericaGo-to-market talent in sales, marketing and customer success for tech companies, including a recruiter subscription model
TrueUS; London practice leadExecutive search go-to-market practice: CMOs, CROs, VPs of sales, customer success and RevOps leaders
RevPilotsUnited StatesSales recruiting and RevOps consulting for B2B startups and growth-stage companies, full-time and part-time
For fractional and interim GTM leaders (fractional CRO, CMO, head of sales, founding GTM lead), our sister site Fractional Quest runs the brief and comes back with a shortlist.
For our own work, book a call.
To discuss a recruitment brief, Book a call.
16/ live roles
Live GTM jobs, updated daily
What GTM teams are hiring for right now, by role. Use it to benchmark titles and salary bands before you brief a recruiter.
Daily feed · source: company career sites via Fantastic Jobs. Check the original advert before applying.
GTM engineer: 12SDR / BDR: 384Account executive: 1064RevOps: 66Demand generation: 34Growth: 67Product marketing: 156Sales leadership: 126GTM leadership: 2
HCM Account Executive
today
Apply ↗Sales Development Representative - Summer 2027 Graduates (Boston)
today
Apply ↗Senior Manager, Oncology Product Marketing
today
Apply ↗Account Executive, Fintech
today
Apply ↗Product Marketing Manager
today
Apply ↗Strategic Account Executive – Enterprise Sales
today
Apply ↗Mid-Market Sales Development Representative
today
Apply ↗Sales Development Representative, Key Accounts
today
Apply ↗SDR - SaaS Mid-Market
today
Apply ↗Account Executive, Velocity Platforms (Hunter)
today
Apply ↗Account Executive, Velocity Platforms (Hunter)
today
Apply ↗Account Executive
today
Apply ↗销售总监 (SDR)
today
Apply ↗Enterprise Account Executive, Thailand
today
Apply ↗Sales Account Executive - Enterprise
today
Apply ↗Associate Account Executive - People Solutions
today
Apply ↗Associate Account Executive - People Solutions
today
Apply ↗Digital Growth Marketing Manager – CRO, SEO, Email & Social Media (AI-Powered)
today
Apply ↗Enterprise Account Executive
today
Apply ↗Enterprise Account Executive
today
Apply ↗Enterprise Account Executive, Consulting
today
Apply ↗Senior Account Executive
today
Apply ↗Account Executive - Mid Market
today
Apply ↗Sr Officer-Account Executive
today
Apply ↗Key Account Executive & VMI - Woolworths
today
Apply ↗
17/ terms
Recruitment glossary the words in every proposal
TermMeaning
GTMGo-to-market: how a company finds, reaches and wins customers.
ContingencyThe agency is paid only when you hire its candidate.
Retained searchAn exclusive search paid in stages from the start, usually for senior roles.
HeadhunterA recruiter who approaches people who are not actively looking.
RebateA partial refund of the fee if the hire leaves within an agreed period.
ScorecardThe written outcomes, skills and experience a hire is judged against.
RPORecruitment process outsourcing: an outside firm runs some or all of your hiring.
RaaSRecruiting as a service: a subscription instead of per-hire fees.
FractionalA senior leader working part-time, usually one to three days a week.
InterimA leader covering a role full-time for a fixed period.
GTM Quest editorial guide · Updated 20 October 2026
Choose a GTM recruiter and write a usable hiring brief
Practical guide · 01
A recruiter brief that can be tested
Specify what the person must change before specifying a title.
The brief below is an editorial hiring process, not a promise of placement or a fixed search timetable.
- 1
Outcome
Name the bottleneck: missing account data, weak meetings, stalled opportunities or unreliable reporting. Assign one outcome to the role.
- 2
Evidence
Ask for a relevant example and a short work sample. Agree assessment criteria before candidates arrive, using the same criteria for everyone.
- 3
Authority
List the systems, budget and decisions the hire can control. A revenue target without authority over the motion is an incomplete brief.
Practical guide · 02
Which search agreement fits the role?
Choose the search model separately from the working arrangement: contingency and retained describe payment, while interim and fractional describe how a person works.
Evaluate the written scope.
GOV.UK: employment agencies and businesses ↗
Source checked 10 October 2026
Your decision
Leadership search
For an unfamiliar or confidential leadership role, ask for a market map, assessment method and named search lead before agreeing exclusivity.
Cover during a gap
Interim or fractional cover can keep decisions moving. Write down the handover to the eventual permanent hire and who owns the work.
Practical guide · 03
Worked example: fix routing before adding sellers
Fictional example: a software company has enquiries but nobody can tell which seller owns each account.
Adding another seller would increase the confusion.
- Stage 101
Diagnose
Review a sample of recent enquiries. Separate poor demand from lost handoffs, duplicate records and unassigned accounts. - Stage 202
Specify
Brief a RevOps operator to own account matching and routing. Assess a candidate on a sanitised routing problem, not on an impressive tool list. - Stage 303
Handover
Document the routing rule and exception owner. Sales leadership remains accountable for follow-up and revenue.
Practical guide · 04
What belongs in the written search agreement
Make the commercial boundary reviewable before the search starts.
Ask the supplier to show how its terms apply to the role you are actually filling.
- 1
Fee basis
Specify base salary or total compensation, payment triggers, expenses and tax treatment. Record any minimum fee.
- 2
Candidate ownership
Define introduction periods, prior applicants, duplicate submissions and confidentiality. Keep candidate access limited to the hiring team.
- 3
If the hire leaves
Read the replacement or rebate conditions, exclusions and time limits. A verbal assurance is not the agreed remedy.
Practical guide · 05
Evidence beats a list of tool badges
Assess the work the role will perform.
Tool familiarity can help, but it does not demonstrate judgement, data hygiene or the ability to explain a trade-off.
Your decision
GTM engineer
Ask how an enrichment workflow handles a missing field, a false match and a failed CRM writeback.
Seller
For a founding seller, ask what pipeline and process they built themselves; for an enterprise AE, ask how they navigated the buyer group, deal complexity and sales cycle. Use sanitised examples.
Leader
Ask how they allocated resources between acquisition and retention, and which evidence changed their original plan.
Practical guide · 06
The search ends; the operating work starts
Keep a separate onboarding process.
The search supplier can introduce the person, but the employer must give them a usable system and clear accountability.
- Stage 101
Before arrival
Prepare access, the role scorecard, account definitions and the person responsible for onboarding. - Stage 202
First working cycle
Walk through a real account from selection to handoff. Log missing access and unclear responsibilities. - Stage 303
Review
Compare completed work with the scorecard. Diagnose gaps in process or resources before interpreting them as individual performance.
Practical guide · 07
Measure the search and the role separately
A fast shortlist and a strong hire are different outcomes.
Keep search indicators separate from performance indicators after the person starts.
- 1
Search
Track suitable candidates, assessment completion and reasons for declining. Volume alone does not show fit.
- 2
Acceptance
Record compensation alignment, notice periods and unresolved questions. Keep expectations consistent through the offer.
- 3
In role
Review the agreed outcomes alongside access, support and ramp assumptions. Revenue may lag the work because of the sales cycle.
Practical guide · 08
Recruit a GTM hire or engage Dan directly?
GTM Quest recruits GTM people and builds their operating systems, and Dan Keegan can be engaged directly as a GTM expert; choose the service from the responsibility you need covered.
Your decision
Recruit the hire
Use GTM Quest to define the role, assess candidates and run the search. Name the work, the resources and the evidence of success.
Engage Dan Keegan
Dan can be engaged as your GTM expert. Agree the problem, responsibilities, decision authority and engagement terms before work starts.
Build alongside the person
Scope the operating system and hiring work together, with a named owner for the data, workflows and eventual handover.
15 minutes · video or phone
Need a GTM person? Book a call
Tell us whether you need us to recruit a GTM hire, want to engage Dan Keegan as your GTM expert, or need the operating system built alongside the person.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We look at the roles, the stack and the pipeline
- 03A written next step after the call
- 04We can run the search for you
Pick a day that suits · live availability
18/ questions
GTM recruitment FAQ
The questions teams ask before they brief a GTM recruiter.
Hiring go-to-market people across sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships, revenue operations and specialist GTM engineering roles.
Sources, screens and places go-to-market roles.
A good one knows the difference between an SDR, an AE, a GTM engineer and a RevOps lead, and screens for people who have done the work.
A GTM recruiter specialises in go-to-market hiring across sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships and the operations behind them.
It depends on the hire.
We list firms by what their own sites say they do (technical, sales volume, SaaS scale-ups, executive search) in specialists worth knowing.
We do not rank them.
In the UK, contingency fees usually run 15% to 20% of first-year salary, up to 30% for hard-to-fill roles; retained search typically 25% to 35% of base salary, paid in three stages.
See the fee table.
Contingency: paid only on placement, often non-exclusive.
Retained: an exclusive search paid in stages from the start, used for senior and confidential roles.
See the comparison.
We do not rank them.
True runs a dedicated go-to-market practice and Talentfoot describes itself as an executive search firm for sales and marketing leaders; UK firms such as Teem and Wilson Grey handle senior GTM hiring.
See the specialists.
Look for firms that name GTM engineering on their own site, and ask for recent GTM engineer placements and how they assess Clay skills.
Compare your time to source and assess candidates with the specialist coverage and responsibilities an agency offers; use the same role scorecard either way.
A written scorecard, referrals first, then communities and targeted LinkedIn outreach, and a practical task in the interview.
A marketplace suits a team with time and a clear scorecard; an agency suits hard-to-fill or senior roles, or a team without time to source.
The Josh Bersin Company and AMS reported a global average of 44 days to appoint in Q1 2023, across all industries.
Senior and specialist GTM searches often take longer.
SalesFuel puts the average cost of a bad B2B sales hire at $177,171, including lost forecasts, weaker customer relationships and lost productivity.
No. GOV.UK says an agency cannot charge a fee to a work-seeker for finding them work; the employer pays.
Yes.
Dan can be engaged directly as a GTM expert; book a call to agree the problem, responsibilities and engagement terms.
Yes.
We recruit GTM roles for employers through our GTM recruitment agency, and we build the go-to-market system those hires run.
Book 15 minutes · London · UK and Europe
Hire into a system that works. We build it first.
Discuss recruitment through GTM Quest, engaging Dan Keegan as your GTM expert, or building the system alongside the person.
20/ sources
Every source on this page
Each figure links to its source. Original source checks: 28 September 2026. The practical guide was updated on 20 October 2026.
- LinkedIn, Two-thirds of recruiters say it’s harder to find quality talent (Jan 2026)news.linkedin.com
- SalesFuel, A bad sales hire costs $177,171 (2026)salesfuel.com
- headhunters.co.uk, How much does a headhunter cost in the UK? (March 2026)headhunters.co.uk
- The Bridge Group, SDR models, motions and metrics 2025 (Feb 2025)bridgegroupinc.com
- Certus Recruitment, Go To Market, read 20 October 2026certusrecruitment.com
- BisonRS, RevOps recruitment scope, read 20 October 2026bisonrs.com
- Agency Central, How do recruitment agencies get paid (and how much)?agencycentral.co.uk
- Fractional Quest, Fractional GTM jobsfractional.quest
- Fractional Quest, Fractional CRO jobsfractional.quest
- Fractional Quest, Chief Revenue Officer recruitmentfractional.quest
- Fractional Quest, Founding GTM lead guidefractional.quest
- Fractional Quest, Fractional head of sales jobsfractional.quest
- GTM Strategist (Maja Voje), The 2026 State of GTM Engineering (March 2026)knowledge.gtmstrategist.com
- BisonRS, RevOps salary guide 2026: UK and Europebisonrs.com
- Betts Recruitingbettsrecruiting.com
- Strive, Recruitment services, read 20 October 2026scalewithstrive.com
- Indeed for Employers, Contingency and retained recruitingindeed.com
- Recruitment & Employment Confederation, Code of Professional Practicerec.uk.com
- GOV.UK, Employment agencies and businessesgov.uk
- PR Newswire, The Josh Bersin Company and AMS: time to hire (June 2023)prnewswire.com
- True, Go-to-market practicetrueplatform.com
- Talentfoot, Executive searchtalentfoot.com
- fractional recruitment agencyfractional.quest
- Teem, Aboutgo-teem.com
- Wilson Grey, Senior and executive startup recruitmentwilson-grey.com
- Strive, SaaS GTM recruitmentscalewithstrive.com
- Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitmentaaronwallis.co.uk
- Franklin Fitch, Go-to-market hiringfranklinfitch.com
- Morpheus Talent Solutionsmorpheus-group.com
- BisonRS, RevOps recruitmentbisonrs.com
- GTMRec, GTM recruitment for B2B SaaSgtmrec.io
- The Clay Headhunter, GTM engineer recruitmentclayheadhunter.com
- Sloane Staffing, GTM engineer recruitingsloane-staffing.com
- RevPilots, Sales recruitingrevpilots.com