Brunel Search is a senior talent specialist for companies building speech, audio, and multimodal AI systems.
Speech Synthesis • Source Separation • Pitch Correction • Wake Word Detection
Brunel Search is a specialist search partner focused on senior engineering talent in speech and audio AI.
We work with VC-backed and high-growth startups building products where model performance, latency, and system design directly define product quality.
Our edge is combining deep coverage of the audio ML ecosystem with a strong understanding of each client’s product direction, enabling precise senior-level hiring decisions.
Placements include CTO-level hires in music AI, founding AI research engineers into Series A speech AI companies, and ML engineers into generative audio platforms.
Real-time generative audio systems for next-gen media products.
Core model development, training, and experimentation.
Scaling low-latency speech AI systems in production.
Option 1: 20% fee — 1/3 upfront, balance on completion
12-week guarantee on final payment
Option 2: 15% fee — 100% upfront
Why retained:
• Dedicated, priority search with deeper market mapping
• Access to passive and hard-to-reach senior candidates
• More rigorous shortlisting and calibration process
• Best for senior, founding, or mission-critical hires
• Faster time-to-signal for complex roles
Best when precision and candidate quality matter more than speed.
25% of first-year compensation
8-week replacement guarantee
Why contingency:
• No upfront cost — pay only on success
• Fast, flexible hiring model
• Ideal for well-defined roles
• Useful for market testing before deeper search
• Fully success-aligned incentives
Best when speed and flexibility matter more than depth.
Use retained search when:
The role is senior, founding-level, or highly specialised (speech synthesis, source separation, wake word detection), or when hiring precision is critical.
Use contingency when:
The role is well-defined and you want to move quickly without committing to a deeper search process upfront.