- Hourly, installment or RPO
- Tech and business roles
- Moldova and remote
Recruitment services that work like your own hiring team.
Dataforge recruits engineers and business roles for companies in Moldova and across Europe. Choose how you pay (by the hour, in installments or as a monthly RPO subscription) and get a recruiter who is committed to your hires, not to a quick invoice.
hiring plan: q4-roles
3 hired- Hired
Senior Backend Engineer
4 shortlisted · offer accepted
- Hired
Data Analyst
3 shortlisted · offer accepted
- Hired
Customer Support Lead
5 shortlisted · offer accepted
- Offer
Product Designer
Final interview · 2 candidates
15–30%
of the first-year salary: a typical agency fee
4–6 mo
a typical replacement guarantee on a placement
4 models
performance-based, hourly, installment and RPO
1 day
to start an RPO project once the contract is signed
What we offer
A recruitment partner, not a stack of CVs.
Most companies don't need more CVs. They need the right three people to talk to. As your recruitment partner we learn your product, your team and how you work, run the search end to end and look after every candidate, so each hire also strengthens your employer brand.
You
Make the hiring decisions
- Share the role, the team and what good looks like
- Interview a short, vetted shortlist
- Choose the candidate and make the offer
- Pick the pricing model that fits your plan
Dataforge
Run the search
- Role profile, salary benchmark and job ad
- Sourcing, headhunting and screening
- Interview scheduling and candidate updates
- Offer support and onboarding check-ins
Recruitment pricing models
Four ways to pay for recruitment, and what each one buys you
How you pay decides how committed your recruiter is. Low commitment is sometimes the right call; sometimes you need a recruiter embedded in your company. Each model has its own guide with costs, a fee calculator, pros and cons.
Recruiter's commitment
LowHigh
- Not offered by DataforgePerformance-basedYou pay only when a candidate the agency sent you is hired.Commitment: LowRead the guide: Performance-based (contingency) recruitment
- Offered by DataforgeHourlyYou buy a recruiter's time and point it at the roles or tasks that matter most.Commitment: MediumRead the guide: Hourly-billed recruitment
- Offered by DataforgeInstallmentA placement fee split into stages, in exchange for a dedicated, accountable recruiter.Commitment: HighRead the guide: Installment (retained) recruitment
- Offered by DataforgeRPOA monthly subscription to an embedded recruitment team that runs part or all of your hiring.Commitment: HighRead the guide: Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)
Comparison
Recruitment pricing models side by side
The short version. The sections above explain each trade-off.
| Performance-based | Hourly | Installment | RPO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Fee on hire only | Hourly rate, monthly hours | 2–3 installments | Fixed monthly fee |
| Typical cost | 15–30% of annual salary | €75–€100 per hour | 15–30% of annual salary | Sized by open roles |
| Replacement guarantee | Usually 4–6 months | Usually none | Usually 4–6 months | The team reopens the role |
| Recruiting tools paid by | Agency | You | Recruiter | RPO provider |
| Recruiter's commitment | Low | Medium | High | High |
| Best for | Urgent roles, many sources | Specific tasks, similar roles | Key or hard-to-fill roles | Many roles, fast growth |
| Offered by Dataforge | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Model finder
Which recruitment pricing model fits you?
Pick every situation that describes your company. The model with the most matches is the best place to start the conversation.
Your situation
How well each model fits
- Performance-basedMatches: 0
Not offered by Dataforge
- HourlyMatches: 0
- InstallmentMatches: 0
- RPOMatches: 0
Pick at least one situation to see which models fit.
How it works
From hiring brief to signed offer
We map the role, team, salary range and must-haves with you, then agree the pricing model and timeline.
We search job boards, our network and LinkedIn, approach passive candidates and screen every profile against the brief.
You meet a shortlist of interviewed candidates. We schedule, collect feedback and keep every candidate informed.
We help you close the offer, check in during the first months and reopen the search if a hire doesn't work out.
Why Dataforge
Why companies hire through us
For us, partnership is what makes recruitment work. That's why we don't sell pure contingency: both sides commit, and the hires are better for it.
Partnership
Commitment on both sides
We don't race other agencies to send CVs. We take fewer searches, work as part of your team and stay accountable for the result.
Candidate experience
Every candidate hears back
Clear updates, quick feedback and an honest picture of the role, so candidates speak well of you even when they aren't hired.
Employer brand
Your culture, described well
We learn how your team really works and present it accurately, which attracts people who stay.
Market insight
Salary and talent data
Benchmarks for salaries, notice periods and talent supply in Moldova, Romania and remote markets across Europe.
Tech and business
Engineers and the people around them
Developers, data and DevOps specialists, and also support, operations, finance and admin roles.
Flexible
Scale with your hiring plan
Start hourly for one role, move to installments for a key hire, or switch to RPO when you grow.
Roles we recruit for
Technical and business hiring in one place
- Engineering
- Backend
- Frontend
- Mobile
- QA
- DevOps
- Engineering managers
- Data & AI
- Data analysts
- Data engineers
- ML engineers
- BI developers
- Product & design
- Product managers
- Product designers
- Project managers
- Operations & support
- Customer support
- Operations specialists
- Office managers
- Finance & sales
- Accountants
- Sales managers
- Account managers
- Recruiters
FAQ
Recruitment services FAQ
How much does a recruitment agency charge?
Agencies working on contingency usually charge 15–30% of the new hire's first-year gross salary, paid only when you hire. Hourly recruiters commonly bill €75–€100 per hour. Installment (retained) searches use the same percentage, split into stages, and RPO is a fixed monthly fee sized by the number of roles.
What is recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)?
RPO is when an external partner runs part or all of your recruitment for a monthly fee. A dedicated team of recruiters sources, screens and interviews for you with their own tools, and the team scales up or down with your hiring plan.
Which pricing models does Dataforge offer?
Hourly-billed recruitment, installment (retained) recruitment and RPO. We don't work on pure contingency: a partnership works only when both sides commit, and that commitment is what produces better hires.
What is the difference between contingency and retained recruitment?
Contingency recruiters are paid only when you hire their candidate, so they optimize for speed and volume. Retained recruiters are paid in installments from the start, so they commit to one search and to the quality of the shortlist.
Is RPO cheaper than hiring an in-house recruiter?
Often, yes. A senior in-house recruiter costs €30K–€75K a year before benefits, equipment and tools. For a similar budget, RPO gives you a team of two or three recruiters with their tools, and you can scale it down when hiring slows.
Which roles and locations do you recruit for?
Technical roles (engineering, data, DevOps, QA) and business roles (support, operations, finance, sales). We recruit in Moldova and Romania and for remote roles across Europe, in English and Romanian.
What happens if a new hire doesn't work out?
With installment recruitment we agree a replacement guarantee, typically 4–6 months, and search again at no extra fee. With RPO, the team already working for you reopens the role.
Ways to work with us
Need something different? Compare our engagement models
Outsourcing, outstaffing, support and recruitment solve different problems. Pick the one that fits, or combine them.
Outsourcing
We deliver the whole project
We write the spec with you, build with AI coding agents under engineer review and hand over tested, documented software at a fixed price per milestone.
Best forNew products and well-defined features
Explore outsourcingOutstaffing
Developers who join your team
Dedicated developers from Moldova who work only on your product and report to you, while we handle recruiting, contracts and payroll.
Best forLong-term products and growing teams
Explore outstaffingSupport
We take ownership of your app
Debugging, observability, updates and steady improvements for web apps already in production — including ones built by others.
Best forLive apps that need a reliable owner
Explore support
Tell us who you need to hire
Book a 30-minute call. We'll go through your open roles, recommend a pricing model and send a proposal within one business day.