Skills-assessed data and AI talent, ready to interview.

What you get in a skills-assessed shortlist

A done-for-you shortlist is a set of skills-assessed data and AI candidates selected against your brief. Each person on the shortlist comes with skills scores and a profile you can review before any outreach. Selected shortlisted candidates add a short video before they go to you, so you can hear how they think before the first call.

A shortlist is not a pile of CVs. It is not a guarantee of interviews or hires. It is a focused set of assessed candidates so your first conversation starts from evidence.

You keep control. You choose who to contact, who to interview, and who to hire. Contracts can be signed on the platform when you are ready.

How the shortlist works

1. Send your brief. Role, stack, domain, engagement (permanent or contract), location or remote preference, and your work email.
2. We reply from talent@. After you submit the Request a shortlist form, we reply with next steps and payment details. There is no payment step on the form.
3. Pay upfront for the shortlist. The done-for-you shortlist is $290, paid upfront, and separate from any hire fee.
4. Review the shortlist. You see skills scores and profiles. Selected candidates include a short video. You decide the next step.

Self-serve stays available if you prefer to search, assess and contact candidates yourself on a monthly plan. The shortlist is the path when you want Carbon to prepare the list from your brief.

Who this shortlist is for

Use a skills-assessed shortlist when:

• You are hiring a data engineer, analytics engineer, data analyst, data scientist, or adjacent AI role and want assessed candidates, not keywords on a CV.
• Your team is busy shipping, and screening every applicant in depth would stall the hire.
• You want to see skills scores before you spend interview time.
• You hire globally and need one place that is built for data and AI roles only.

It is a poor fit if you only want a self-serve job post with no shortlist work, or if you need Carbon to make the hire decision for you. Companies hire. carbon.talent prepares the evidence.

Skills scores, then shortlisted videos

Every candidate on carbon.talent is skills-assessed, so you see evidence of the work, not just a CV. We shortlist from skills scores and profile first. Then we ask selected candidates to add a short video before they go to you.

Not every candidate in the wider pool has a video yet. That is intentional. Video is part of the shortlist hand-off for the people you are about to consider, so you hear how they think before the first call without implying that every profile already carries a clip.

Pricing

Prices appear in this pricing block and on the /hire pricing block only. Social posts and the page hero do not list fee percentages.

Done-for-you shortlist: $290. Send your brief and get a skills-assessed shortlist. Paid upfront, and separate from any hire fee.

Self-serve plans. Search, assess and contact candidates yourself, billed monthly. Plan cards stay on /hire.

When you hire: a once-off hire fee, due on the start date. The fee applies to all hires.

• Permanent: 10% of first-year salary, or 7.5% if you are on a monthly plan.
• Contract: 10% of the contract fee, capped at 12 months, charged to you as the client. The contractor keeps their full rate.

A shortlist is a set of assessed candidates, not a guarantee of interviews or hires.

Request a shortlist

Works with your ATS

Review skills-assessed candidates in carbon.talent and connect Ashby, with more ATS connectors on the way. Use the shortlist alongside your existing hiring process, or move the people you choose into your ATS when you are ready.

Data and AI roles we shortlist for

The shortlist covers the same data and AI roles carbon.talent is built for:

• Hire data engineers
• Hire analytics engineers
• Hire data analysts
• Hire data scientists
• Plus stack and AI pages on /hire (Python, cloud, Snowflake, Databricks, AI and LLM, and more)

carbon.talent is global. Set the country and overlap hours on the brief. Hire remote, hybrid or on-site where your role allows.

Looking for open roles as a candidate? See open data roles on carbon.talent jobs or join as talent.

Questions companies ask

What is a skills-assessed shortlist?

A set of data and AI candidates selected against your brief, each with skills scores and a profile. Selected shortlisted candidates add a short video before they go to you. It is not a guarantee of interviews or hires.

What does the $290 cover?

The done-for-you shortlist for one hiring brief, paid upfront. It is separate from any hire fee.

How do I request a shortlist?

Use the Request a shortlist form on /hire. We reply from talent@ with next steps and payment details. There is no payment step on the form.

When is the hire fee due?

On the candidate's start date. The hire fee applies to all hires: 10% of first-year salary (7.5% on a monthly plan), or for contract hires 10% of the contract fee capped at 12 months. The contractor keeps their full rate.

Does every candidate have a video?

No. We shortlist from skills scores and profile first, then ask selected candidates to add a short video before they go to a client.

Can I hire full-time or contract?

Yes. Say which engagement you need on the brief. Permanent and contract hires both carry the hire fee rules above.

Does this work with my ATS?

Ashby, with more ATS connectors on the way.

Where can I hire?

Anywhere your role allows. carbon.talent is a global platform for data and AI roles.

Can a recruitment agency use carbon.talent?

Yes. Recruitment agencies can use carbon.talent on the same pricing.