Permanent Search

When speed and quality must move together.

Specialist permanent AI hiring for organisations scaling delivery capacity, expanding product teams, or strengthening core AI capability.

Our permanent search solution is designed for organisations hiring specialist AI & Data talent at pace, where execution speed matters but technical depth and cultural fit cannot be compromised.

This model is well suited to teams scaling delivery capacity, expanding product teams, or strengthening core AI capability without the complexity of a retained engagement.

When permanent makes sense

Common hiring pressures we resolve.

Pressure to hire quickly

Delivery deadlines, product releases, or transformation milestones demand pace.

Competitive talent markets

Top candidates have multiple options and short decision windows.

Poor signal from generalists

High CV volume but low technical relevance wastes leadership time.

Inconsistent outcomes

Teams struggle to balance speed with long-term fit and retention.

Limited internal screening

AI roles require specialist evaluation beyond keyword matching.

What you get

Speed with assurance, not trade-offs.

Market-ready AI talent

We work continuously within AI & Data markets, maintaining live pipelines across priority skill sets.

Strong technical screening

Every candidate is vetted for real-world AI delivery experience and relevance to your environment.

Reduced hiring workload

We filter aggressively so hiring managers only meet candidates who meet agreed success criteria.

Market-aligned guidance

Honest insight on availability, competition, and compensation, enabling faster decisions.

Scalable support

Ideal for single hires or multi-role campaigns as your team grows.

How we build your team

A five-step process.

  1. 01

    Role calibration

    We align on role requirements, technical stack, team structure, and timeline, ensuring clear priorities and realistic market expectations.

  2. 02

    Targeted search & activation

    We activate search across our AI talent network, passive candidates in relevant ecosystems, and active channels - fast, focused, aligned.

  3. 03

    Technical screening

    Candidates are assessed against core technical capability, delivery experience, and environment fit. Only well-qualified candidates progress.

  4. 04

    Shortlisting & interview support

    A focused shortlist with candidate context, technical and commercial insight, plus interview scheduling and feedback calibration.

  5. 05

    Offer & hire support

    Offer positioning, market benchmarking, and counter-offer risk management, secure the hire quickly and cleanly.

Why Oxygen Digital

The recruitment partner for ambitious AI teams.

We value expertise and relationships over traditional agency sales tactics, focusing on long-term AI maturity.

Find out more about us

Deep technical credibility

We understand modern AI systems. From LLM pipelines and MLOps to industrial ML and edge deployment, we screen for real capability, not keywords.

Commercial focus

We align talent delivery to business outcomes, faster product velocity, reduced project risk, and sustainable AI capability.

Market intelligence

Our work is underpinned by ongoing insight into AI hiring trends, compensation data, and evolving skill requirements across Europe.

Flexible delivery models

Retained search, permanent hiring, and contract/freelance, designed around how AI teams actually scale.

Trusted across Europe

AI product, industrial, and consulting teams choose us.

Oxygen Digital understands the nuance of production AI better than any partner we’ve worked with. They don’t just match keywords, they find engineers who can actually ship.
Chief Technology Officer
GenAI scale-up
Same-week shortlist of three senior MLOps engineers, all relevant. We hired two. Cleanest recruitment process we’ve run in years.
VP Engineering
Industrial AI platform
They took the time to understand our roadmap before sending a single CV. That’s rare and it shows in the quality of people we’ve placed.
Head of AI
AI & Data consultancy

Let’s build your AI capability.

Reach out today to set up a free 30-minute call. Whether you’re hiring your first ML engineer or scaling a global AI team, we’re here to discuss your goals.

Get in touch