Senior SEO specialist.

Neither — they are embedded senior specialists with productised monthly hours, billed monthly to us, working as part of your team. Same named person each month (not a rotating pool), accountable to your Slack + your dashboards, replaceable inside the 14-day fit window if not the right match. Mid-Level ($2,999–$4,199/mo), Senior ($5,499–$7,199/mo), and Principal ($7,999–$10,499/mo) tiers map to 3–5 / 5–8 / 8+ years of in-channel experience. No long-term lock-in past 30-day notice.

Minimum 4 working hours of overlap with your local business day, guaranteed in writing. Senior SEO specialists span US Eastern, US Pacific, UK/EU, IST, SGT, and AEDT — we staff your engagement with whoever overlaps your peak hours, not whoever is cheapest. Real-time Slack response inside the overlap window, async Loom updates outside it. Both technical SEO (engineering-led) and AEO/AI-search specialisms are available; some specialists carry both, others are deeper in one.

Yes — they live in your Slack, your Notion, your Linear / Jira, and your reporting dashboards. Direct daily direction is the default. Their dedicated Project Manager (included on every Hire-a-Team engagement) handles capacity escalations, blocker resolution, scope creep monitoring, and quality oversight — but does not gatekeep day-to-day work. Most engagements settle into weekly strategic check-ins with the PM and daily working contact directly with the specialist.

Add hours at the same blended hourly rate ($95–$185/hr depending on specialist seniority) — no throttling, no premium rate for overflow, no contract reset. Most clients adjust monthly hours up or down at the 30-day mark as scope clarity sharpens. If the engagement consistently runs over the productised tier for 2+ months, we recommend upgrading to the next tier (typically saves 15–20% vs paying overflow hourly). Documented in writing each month so you always know your run-rate.

72-hour replacement during the first 14-day fit window if the match is not working — either side can call it, no further obligation, pro-rata refund for unused days. After day 14, replacement runs through standard 30-day notice with handover documentation prepared by the outgoing specialist. Replacement is rare in practice (under 8% of monthly engagements ever trigger it) because we match specialists by sector + stage + working style up front, not just channel skill.

Yes — buyout structures available case-by-case. Standard buyout fee is 25–35% of the specialist's annual base salary (industry-standard recruiter terms), waived after 24 months of continuous Hire-a-Team engagement. Most specialists prefer to remain with us for the variety + tooling + senior peer cohort, but we never block a good outcome — if a long-term hire is the right move for both sides, we structure it cleanly. Talk to us early; we negotiate transparently.