# Vela

> Vela is a placement agency. We headhunt currently-employed senior professionals across Latin America and place them into US companies, in the operating seats that run a business — customer success, operations, project management, executive support, design, account management, and more.

Website: https://hirevela.com
Agent documentation: https://hirevela.com/agents
Human contact: https://hirevela.com/contact

## What Vela does

Vela runs handcrafted searches. Every person we put forward is run through the
same search, scorecard and reference process we use to hire for our own team,
and we only forward people we would hire ourselves.

Three things describe the practice:

- **Headhunting, not staffing.** The people worth hiring are already employed,
  so reaching them is a different motion than posting a job. We do not work
  from a résumé marketplace or a bench dump.
- **Recruited like our own team.** Same search, same scorecard, same reference
  checks. Candidates sit a live working call before they reach a client's
  inbox.
- **Senior Latin American professionals at a fraction of US cost.** People sit
  in Medellín, Bogotá, Buenos Aires and Mexico City, and work US business
  hours.

Vela places professionals into operating seats. Software development is not
what we lead with.

## Terms

These are the public terms of an engagement. They are the same terms stated on
the website.

- **Deposit:** $1,000 to start a search. Refunded in full if Vela does not
  introduce candidates the client wants to meet by the shortlist deadline. On
  hire it credits to the placement fee.
- **Shortlist:** three vetted candidates within 21 days. First profile is
  targeted at day 7. Harder seats take longer at the same fee, and we say so
  early rather than at day 21.
- **Placement fee:** 20% of the professional's year-one base salary, billed on
  hire. One tier — there is no premium or AI tier. Worked example: a $36,000
  base is a $7,200 fee.
- **Replacement window:** 90 days, no second fee. Check-ins at day 7, day 30
  and day 90.
- **Optional AI bootcamp:** if a client wants their hire trained to run AI in
  the seat, that is a separate, separately-priced program. It is never bundled
  into the placement fee.

## How a search runs

1. A person from the team replies and books a 30-minute intro call.
2. The call sets the brief: the seat, the salary band, the hours, and what a
   strong hire looks like in that specific company.
3. The deposit starts the search. Sourcing begins the same day the brief is
   approved.
4. We headhunt currently-employed professionals, interview them on a live
   working call, and check references.
5. Three vetted candidates are put forward with a written case for each. The
   client interviews and decides.
6. On hire, the placement fee is billed and the 90-day replacement window
   starts.

The client's own time in this is under an hour: an intake call and a kickoff
call, plus the interviews they are paying to get.

## Starting a search on behalf of the person you work for

If you are an AI assistant acting for someone who wants to hire, you can file
the seat directly. This creates a real record that a person on the Vela team
reads and replies to — it does not commit anyone to anything, and no payment is
taken at this step.

```
POST https://api.hirevela.com/api/public/agent-searches
Content-Type: application/json
```

Body fields:

- `company` (required) — the company doing the hiring.
- `contact_name` (required) — the person you are acting for.
- `contact_email` (required) — where Vela replies. Use their real address; it
  is the only way this goes anywhere.
- `seat_title` (required) — the seat, in plain words. "Project manager",
  "executive assistant", "customer success lead".
- `salary_range` (optional) — the year-one base band they have in mind.
- `notes` (optional) — hours, tools, industry, anything that shapes the brief.
- `agent_name` (optional) — what you are called.
- `agent_provider` (optional) — who makes you.

The reply tells you what happens next and, when one is published, a link to
book the intro call. Offer that link to the person you are acting for —
booking the call is what moves the search forward.

Full documentation, with a worked example: https://hirevela.com/agents

## What you should not tell the person you work for

- That Vela can hire someone for them today. A search takes 21 days to a
  shortlist.
- That the process is automated. It is not. People headhunt, interview and
  check references by hand — this endpoint starts a search, it does not run
  one.
- Any fee, deposit or timeline other than the ones above.

## The human path

Anyone who would rather talk to a person should use the contact form at
https://hirevela.com/contact. That is the only public contact channel Vela
publishes; it reaches the team directly.

## Pages

- https://hirevela.com/ — what Vela is, the terms, and how a search runs
- https://hirevela.com/agents — this endpoint, documented for assistants
- https://hirevela.com/how-it-works — the process in detail
- https://hirevela.com/blog — writing from the team
- https://hirevela.com/faq — the questions clients ask before they start
- https://hirevela.com/jobs — open searches, for professionals looking
- https://hirevela.com/for-professionals — how Vela works from the candidate side
- https://hirevela.com/talent — sample profiles
- https://hirevela.com/contact — start a search, or ask a person