🔎 Executive Search Fee Calculator (Enhanced)
Not all searches are created equal, and neither are the fees. This calculator, straight from Dee's How To Charge workbook, prices a search four ways: contingent (you only get paid on the hire), engaged (a non-refundable commitment fee upfront, balance at placement), retained (three installments regardless of outcome, with a fee floor), and interim executive placement billed hourly at a markup. Then it pressure-tests the compensation plan behind it all: the executive researcher who sources senior candidates, the search consultant who closes, W2 or 1099, and whether the firm still profits. Run your numbers once free; the $27 one-time unlock keeps every section live forever and includes the Excel workbook.
Contingent fee ladder by salary band
Not all searches are created equal. Fee % should increase with salary band, complexity, and scarcity. Leave a band's override at 0 to use the standard fee %; enter your own % to override it. The premium fee % is the sheet's reference ceiling for hard searches.
DON at small SNF, Clinical Coordinator.
DON, Therapy Director, Business Office Mgr.
Administrator, Regional DON, VP Clinical.
Regional VP, COO of multi-site, CNO.
CEO, CFO, Chief Medical Officer.
System CEO, CMO, specialty physician leader.
Your active contingent search
You only get paid if they hire your candidate. Fee should reflect the difficulty of the search.
Standard: 60 to 90 days. Executive: 90 to 180 days.
Retained search: tiered payment structure
Retained means the client pays upfront in installments regardless of outcome. Use it for senior and executive roles.
Many firms set a floor: $25K to $50K minimum.
Interim executive placement: complexity tiers
Interim executives are billed hourly. Markup % is the primary pricing language at this level.
Typical: $50 to $85/hr, markup 40% to 60%.
Typical: $75 to $120/hr, markup 50% to 70%.
Typical: $100 to $175/hr, markup 50% to 80%.
Typical: $125 to $225/hr, markup 60% to 100%.
Typical: $150 to $300+/hr, markup 70% to 120%.
Typical: $175 to $350+/hr, markup 60% to 100%.
Your active interim engagement
Engaged search: upfront commitment fee + balance at placement
Engaged search is the middle ground between contingent and retained: the client pays a non-refundable engagement fee upfront to secure your time, and the balance is due only at successful placement. Use it for Director and VP-level searches where you want more than a handshake but the client is not ready for a full retainer.
Set to 10% to 20% of the total fee. Non-refundable regardless of outcome.
If the placed candidate leaves within this period, you redo the search at no additional fee. The engagement fee is not refunded.
Role 1: Executive researcher (W2)
The Executive Researcher is the sourcing engine: target lists, passive-candidate outreach, surface-level qualification, warm handoffs to the consultant. This role is W2 because research requires consistency and proprietary database access.
Market range: $45,000 to $65,000 for executive research roles.
Flat bonus per qualified candidate presented to the client. Quality gate: consultant must approve. Range: $75 to $200.
Paid when a search the researcher supported results in a placement. Range: $300 to $750.
Role 2: Executive search consultant (W2)
The Search Consultant manages the full search: client intake, scoping, candidate management, offer negotiation, and close. Commission is anchored to placement fee across all three search models, and to total engagement GP on interim.
Market range: $65,000 to $95,000; senior consultants on C-suite and physician searches: $90,000 to $120,000.
Range: 15-25% of placement fee for W2 search consultants. Anchored to fee, not the placed candidate's salary.
Range: 10-20% of the final installment paid at successful placement. Lower than contingent: front-end retainer installments cover the search process cost.
Range: 12-20% of total interim engagement GP.
Range: $1,000 to $3,000. Executive search client acquisition is hard; reward it.
Role 2B: Executive search consultant (1099 commission-only)
The 1099 consultant is commission-only with no base salary: the most natural 1099 model in staffing. All inputs here are fully independent of the W2 role.
Range: 25-40%. The consultant covers their own taxes, expenses, and sourcing tools.
Range: 20-30% of the final installment. Higher than W2: no base salary.
Range: 15-25% of total interim engagement GP for 1099.
Higher than W2: with no base, one-time bonuses carry more weight.
Estimates for planning, not financial advice. Rates, premiums, and burden numbers are the workbook's guidance ranges; your market and your carriers decide the real ones.
Does this resonate?
One search fee can fund a whole quarter. Build the firm around it.
If high-fee, low-volume search sounds like your kind of business, the platform can turn it into a real plan: positioning, licensing checklist, and the week-by-week path from first client agreement to a full search practice.
Build my launch plan free →Good questions about this math
What is the difference between contingent, engaged, and retained search?
Contingent means you only get paid if the client hires your candidate: full risk on you. Engaged is the middle ground: the client pays a non-refundable engagement fee at kickoff (typically 10 to 20 percent of the total fee) and the balance at placement. Retained means the client pays in three installments regardless of outcome, standard for C-suite searches. The calculator prices all three from the same active search.
What percentage should an executive search fee be?
The sheet's fee ladder scales with the salary band: 18 to 22 percent for staff-level roles, 22 to 28 percent at Director level, 25 to 30 percent at VP, and 28 to 35 percent for executive and C-suite or physician searches. Retained firms commonly quote 25 to 35 percent of first-year compensation, and many set a minimum fee floor of $25,000 to $50,000 so a small search still covers the work.
How does the three-payment retained structure work?
The effective retained fee (your calculated fee or the floor, whichever is higher) splits into thirds: one third at engagement as a non-refundable retainer covering initial search costs, one third when the candidate slate is presented, and the remainder at accepted offer or start date. The calculator computes each installment for you.
What does the interim executive section add?
Senior roles often need coverage while the search runs. Interim executives are billed hourly at a markup (the sheet's tiers run from about 40 percent for a department head to 120 percent for C-suite), and the calculator chains pay rate, markup, bill rate, gross profit per hour, and total engagement gross profit. Interim is often an audition: if the placement goes permanent, negotiate a conversion fee.
Why do this calculator's answers differ from the original spreadsheet?
The source sheet's retained commission lines applied the commission percent to the full retained fee even though the labels, notes, and revenue line all describe a commission on the final installment paid at placement. This version implements the corrections documented in the committed spec, so comp and revenue use the same base. The corrections are footnoted on the page.
Do I get the Excel version?
Yes. The $27 unlock includes the standalone Executive Search (Enhanced) workbook from Dee's How To Charge master, plus the START HERE guide tab, yours to download and keep.
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