Recruitment Proposal — Engineering & Product Hiring for PayLoop

Prepared for: Sofia Marsh, VP People, PayLoop Prepared by: Daniel Okafor, TalentBridge Search Date: 18 March 2026 Valid until: 17 April 2026

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1. Overview

PayLoop is scaling its payments platform and needs to fill 12 engineering and product roles across Q2 and Q3 2026 without slowing the product roadmap. TalentBridge will run a retained search for the senior and specialist roles and a managed pipeline for the mid-level hires, committing to a first qualified shortlist within 10 business days per role and a target time-to-offer of 35 days.

2. Roles in scope

Role	Seniority	Location / model	Salary band	No. of hires
Backend Engineer (Go)	Mid–Senior	Hybrid (London)	£75k–£105k	5
Platform / SRE Engineer	Senior	Remote (UK)	£90k–£120k	2
Engineering Manager	Lead	Hybrid (London)	£120k–£140k	1
Product Manager, Payments	Senior	Hybrid (London)	£85k–£110k	2
Product Designer	Mid	Remote (UK)	£65k–£85k	2

3. Sourcing approach

• Active outreach — direct approach to passive engineers via targeted LinkedIn and GitHub searches, prioritising candidates with payments, fintech, or high-throughput systems experience.
• Talent pool — 400+ pre-qualified backend and platform candidates from prior fintech searches, refreshed for availability.
• Referrals & community — outreach through fintech engineering communities and our placed-candidate referral network.
• Advertised search — the Engineering Manager and Product roles run as discreet advertised campaigns to widen reach without naming PayLoop until screen stage.

4. Screening process

1. CV & profile review — against the agreed must-have stack and seniority criteria.
2. Structured screen — 30-minute competency and motivation call; we confirm notice period, salary expectation, and work-model fit.
3. Assessment — a short take-home or live technical exercise for engineering roles; portfolio review for the Product Designer.
4. Verification — two references and UK right-to-work confirmation before submission.
5. Shortlist submission — 3–5 qualified candidates per role with profile, screen notes, and assessment results.

5. Timeline & service levels

Milestone	Commitment
First qualified shortlist	Within 10 business days of brief sign-off
Qualified candidates per role	3–5
Consultant response time	Within 1 business day
Target time-to-offer	35 days from brief
Search review cadence	Weekly pipeline call, Thursdays

6. Fee structure & terms

Role group	Model	Fee	Payment trigger
Engineering Manager + 2 Senior Product	Retained	22% of first-year base	⅓ on engagement, ⅓ on shortlist, ⅓ on each start date
All other roles (9 hires)	Success fee	18% of first-year base	On the hire's start date

Estimated total value at the salary midpoints is approximately £235,000 across the 12 hires; the retained portion carries a £24,000 engagement instalment, credited against placement fees.

Invoicing terms: invoices due within 14 days of the trigger event.

7. Guarantee / replacement policy

• If a placed candidate leaves or is dismissed within 12 weeks of their start date, TalentBridge will run a free replacement search for that role at no additional fee.
• If no suitable replacement is placed within 8 weeks of the departure, we issue a pro-rated rebate of the placement fee.
• The guarantee applies provided the original invoice is paid in full and the departure is not due to redundancy or a material change to the role.

8. Reporting

• Weekly pipeline update covering candidates approached, screened, shortlisted, and in process per role.
• Named account contact: Daniel Okafor (daniel@talentbridge.example).
• Shared live tracker so PayLoop's hiring managers can see each candidate's stage in real time.

9. Next steps

To begin, countersign below and return the signed role briefs for the five backend roles; we will open sourcing within one business day and target the first shortlists for the week of 30 March.

Accepted by: ______________________ Date: ____________