We headhunt operators currently working at agencies in your vertical, vet them on a live working call plus a 3-level AI aptitude rubric, then run 4 live 1-on-1 AI instructor sessions in the first 4 weeks after they sign. One price: 20% of year-one base salary. $500 refundable deposit to start, credited to the fee on hire.
Same motion for a senior CSM, a senior project manager, or a junior off the bench. AI training runs as 4 live 1-on-1 instructor sessions, one per week for the first 4 weeks post-placement, included in the 20% placement fee.
Fifteen-minute call. We ask which seat, which vertical, which tools, what the operator owns in week one, and what blocked the last hire. You answer; we take notes.
You do not draft a job description. We turn the call into a structured role brief and send it back for approval. That brief is the source of truth for every candidate you see.
Clients approve the brief in a single Slack reply.
Outreach goes out the same day the brief is approved. For senior seats, we identify operators currently employed at agencies in your vertical, then reach them by warm intro, prior-network referral, or a researched personal email. No InMail blasts, no job-board reposts, no “open to work” tags.
Each outreach is hand-written and references their actual book of business: the agency they work at, the channel they run, the account load they manage. Most operators we contact are not actively job-hunting. They reply because the ask is specific.
For junior seats, we pull from the active LATAM bench: operators already interviewed, scored, and rostered. First vetted profile lands in your inbox within 7 days.
Every candidate is scored on a three-level AI aptitude rubric before the working call: tool familiarity, prompt judgment, and live workflow under observation. The score sits on the candidate brief next to the agency-context check.
Three vetted candidates land in your inbox by day 21 (senior) or day 14 (junior). Each comes with a written brief, working-call notes, the agency-context check, and the AI aptitude score.
You interview the three on your cadence. We do not push timelines. If none of the three fit, the search continues at no additional cost.
If the hire does not work out, the replacement search is included: 90 days on every placement.
After hire, the operator runs 4 live 1-on-1 AI instructor sessions, one per week for the first 4 weeks. Every session is scheduled, tied to a real workflow on your account, and shaped to the operator's seat. Included in the 20% placement fee.
Week 1. Client communication via Claude. Drafting QBR notes, handling escalations, turning a raw client transcript into a follow-up plan.
Week 2. Reporting automation in n8n or Zapier. Pulling Smartlead, Apollo, Triple Whale, or GA4 data into a weekly client-ready report without the operator touching a spreadsheet.
Week 3. Churn early-warning workflows. Building a watchlist that flags account health drops (deliverability, ROAS, ticket volume) before the client raises them.
Week 4. The operator's own workflow. Whatever they built in weeks 1 to 3, refined and handed back to your team as a documented SOP. They keep the skill; you keep the SOP.
No video library to grind through. Every session is live and one-on-one with a Vela AI instructor.
The Vela Method is done-for-you on sourcing and vetting, done-with-you on the hire decision, and do-it-yourself on the contractor relationship after placement. Senior and junior collapsed below.
Every metric below is enforced in the working call. A candidate misses one, they miss the shortlist.
Anonymized profiles from recent placements. This is the exact format that lands in your inbox at the shortlist stage.
Eight years inside cold email and lead-gen agencies. Last role managed a $48K MRR book of fifteen agency clients.
“Most agency owners hire CSMs who can talk to clients. The job is actually keeping deliverability healthy enough that the client never has to ask.”
Read full dossier →Three years at a full-service shop coordinating timelines across paid, organic, email, and creative for sixteen retainers.
“The mistake agencies make is letting the senior project manager also run the daily standup. The junior role pays for itself the moment a junior takes that over.”
Read full dossier →An operator runs the call, not a screener. Five scored dimensions land as a written summary in the candidate brief.
A bad first hire should not cost you a second placement fee. The replacement search starts the day you flag it. No additional fee.
If your senior CSM or senior project manager does not work out within the first ninety days, we run the replacement search at no additional cost. You keep the original brief; we restart sourcing.
Same motion for junior placements: you flag, we restart sourcing from the bench, no additional fee.
If we fail to deliver three vetted candidates by day 21 (senior) or day 14 (junior). Or if we deliver and you decline to interview any of them.
The moment you take any interview. At that point we have delivered the sourcing, working-call vetting, and shortlist work the deposit pays for.
On hire, the $500 deposit credits in full toward the placement fee. Final placement fee is 20% of year-one base salary, billed when you confirm the hire.
If we miss day 21 (senior) or day 14 (junior) on three vetted candidates, the full $500 deposit is refunded and you can stop. Otherwise the search continues at no additional fee until you hire.
No. Senior comes from operators currently employed at other agencies. Junior comes from a vetted bench. Job-board candidates do not enter either pipeline.
An operator who has hired this role at agencies. Not a recruiter, not a screener. The notes ride along on the candidate brief.
4 live 1-on-1 instructor sessions, one per week for the first 4 weeks. Real workflows from your stack: client communication, reporting automation, churn early-warning, and the operator's own SOP. Included in the 20% fee.
The instructor calibrates per session. A fast operator gets harder workflows sooner. Nobody sits through repetition they do not need.
You hire the operator directly. We hand you the contract template and walk you through Deel, Wise, or Payoneer. You own the relationship from day one.
Bench depth is concentrated in cold email, paid ads, SEO, and SMMA / full-service. For adjacent verticals, we tell you up front whether we can credibly source from currently-employed operators.
More questions? See the full FAQ
$500 refundable deposit, fifteen-minute intake, first profile in 7 days.