I have hired dozens of engineers for remote and hybrid roles. I would be happy to chat. My email is in my profile.<p>Some quick answers:<p>1. All over the place, depending on the role, company, and budget. Anything from a few hundred dollars per role (even less officially), to 20% of the annual salary.<p>2. I have. A while ago I was recruiting for Django roles, and have posted on <a href="https://djangojobs.net/" rel="nofollow">https://djangojobs.net/</a> when they were starting out. I have also used regional job boards.<p>3. If the niche was tight enough, I would probably do it. If I could de-risk the spend, I would do it. I don't mind paying per placement, but getting a bunch of low-quality leads is annoying. Why won't I do it most of the time? If it costs money, there is a chance it will get flushed down the drain. Each job board also requires me to learn a different interface, way of reading about candidates, and possibly "credit" or funds managements structure. This is cognitive load and going with bigger ones reduces the number of "places" I interact with.<p>4. In the end, the goal is to find a good person to fill a role, onboard them, and get them to contribute. Many recruiters get paid when they place a candidate, but if the candidate does not work out after a trial period, they refund the money. Well, not really refund, but find another candidate to replace them without taking another fee. The closer you can align your payment structure to this goal, the more you'll be able to charge.