Asked often, answered plainly.

A senior leader — CFOs, COOs, CIOs, CTOs, CMOs, CROs, CHROs, and CPOs — who works with your company part-time on an ongoing retainer, typically alongside one or two other clients. You get senior judgment and execution without the cost, ramp, or commitment of a full-time hire. See fractional executive search.

Directories hand you profiles and leave the risk with you. We selectively vet every member before they enter The Collective, curate two to three executives per mandate with written reasoning, and support the engagement through our executive community. The specific terms of every engagement live in the engagement agreement.

A flat success fee, quoted transparently when the engagement is scoped and invoiced at engagement signature — deliberately a fraction of retained-search cost, with no percentage-of-compensation math. The executive owes nothing, ever. Fill a Seat for current founding pricing.

You do the contracting — directly with the Executive or the Executive’s firm, at their rates. Seat & Signal is not a staffing agency, employer of record, or professional employer organization, and is not a party to the engagement.

Fractional slates typically arrive in days. Board slates within two weeks, with the seated director following the Board’s own timeline. Interim timing depends on the transition — we’ll give you an honest read on the brief call.

No. Matching and placement are free to executives — not now, not ever; companies pay our fees. The founding membership tier also carries no cost. Paid membership tiers are planned for the future — deeper programming, benchmarks, and practice support for those who want them — and optional paid offerings like courses or ticketed events carry their own price. Paid membership will not affect matching priority, introductions, or standing, and matching will remain free to executives.

Never. No member’s details reach a client until that member approves that specific introduction. Exploring quietly is safe by design.

No — and we say so plainly. Membership does not guarantee a match: deal flow depends on live mandates and genuine fit. What is guaranteed: matching never costs you anything, your consent gates every introduction, and you keep 100% of your engagement fees. See how joining works.

Two founding cohorts: experienced C-suite and senior-level executive women moving into fractional and portfolio careers, and ex-Big 4 senior-level executives and senior operators serving VC-funded, PE-backed, and mid-market engagements.