# Chain Labs

> Chain Labs embeds forward-deployed AI engineers (FDEs) into recruiting agencies on a monthly retainer. One senior engineer from our team works inside your desk — learning your process, then building and operating production AI agents in your own stack.

## What we do

- **FDE retainer (flagship offer)** — from $6,000/month, month-to-month, no lock-in. One embedded engineer is your single point of contact. Behind them sits a research bench that continuously tests new tools and vets them before your FDE implements anything. A product manager joins once a client runs three or more FDEs.
- **Code ownership** — yours from the first commit. Agents are built in your own infrastructure with your model keys; the code never lives anywhere else. The retainer buys continued shipping, not hostage-holding.
- **Agents we build** — signal-based sourcing, pre-screening and enrichment, voice screening, client reporting. Each is built around your rubric, your tone, and your client mix rather than generic vendor defaults.
- **Integrations** — Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, Workable, Recruitee, Bullhorn, plus spreadsheets and custom SQL stores. WhatsApp Business, Telegram, Slack, Gmail, Outlook.
- **Data handling** — agents run on your infrastructure with your model keys by default. We sign DPAs and build redaction into every outbound channel. Model-local deployment is available for EU desks.

## Pricing

- **FDE retainer** — **from $6,000 per month**, billed monthly. Month-to-month, no lock-in, no equity. "From" is literal: $6,000/month is what **one** senior embedded engineer costs, and it is a floor rather than an opening bid.
- **What moves the price** — engineer seniority and how many FDEs you run. A second engineer is a second retainer; a more senior engineer costs more. Scope does not inflate the invoice mid-month.
- **Cancelling** — there is no notice period. You stop at the end of the month already paid for, and the code is yours because it was built in your own infrastructure.
- **What that buys** — one senior forward-deployed engineer embedded in your desk, the research bench behind them, and continued shipping every month. The stated outcome is **20–40 hours a week handed back to the team** — per week and team-wide, not per month and not per person.
- **Desk audit** — the intake call is free. We find the bottlenecks on your desk where an agent would pay for itself, ranked by ROI. It identifies where agents fit; it does not deliver agents.
- **Not charged** — no setup fee, no per-seat licence, no 6- or 12-month minimum, and no software rented from us.

## How we compare

**Versus hiring an AI engineer in-house.** A search runs about six months, costs $200k+ all-in per year, and effectively commits you for eighteen months to one person moving at one person's velocity. An FDE starts next week, costs from $6k/month, cancels anytime, and is backed by our research bench.

**Versus off-the-shelf sourcing AI.** Vendor tools are calibrated to generic signals and sold to the logo-heavy enterprise. We build around your rubric, your tone and your client mix, and evolve the agents monthly as the desk learns — the resulting agent would not work at a competitor. The honest trade-off: off-the-shelf is faster to switch on and cheaper at the low end; an FDE is worth it when the desk's own process is what makes it good.

**Versus a consultancy project.** A project is delivered once and left. An FDE stays embedded, operates what was built, and is measured on hours returned rather than deliverables signed off.

## Definitions

- **Forward-deployed engineer (FDE)** — an embedded software engineer who builds and operates production AI systems inside your team, rather than delivering a project once and leaving.

## Writing

Field notes from the desk — teardowns, opinions, and lessons from shipping AI
agents into real recruiting desks. No posts are published yet; the index at
https://chainlabs.in/writing lists whatever is live at any given time.

## Links

- [Home](https://chainlabs.in/)
- [FDE retainer](https://chainlabs.in/#retainer)
- [Agents we build](https://chainlabs.in/#agents)
- [How the engagement works](https://chainlabs.in/#process)
- [FAQ](https://chainlabs.in/#faq)
- [Writing](https://chainlabs.in/writing)
- [Privacy Policy](https://chainlabs.in/privacy)
- [Security contact, RFC 9116](https://chainlabs.in/.well-known/security.txt)