Decision Guide
Most growing intralogistics vendors end up with both an in-house talent function and a specialist commercial recruiter they can call on. The mistake is using the wrong one for the wrong seat. This guide sets out the dimensions that should drive the decision and the seats where each option genuinely earns its keep when you are hiring the people who sell forklifts, automation, racking or warehouse software.
When to use this guide
Use this guide when you are about to brief a senior commercial role for a material handling, warehouse automation, storage or supply chain technology business and you are deciding whether to run it through your in-house team or engage a specialist intralogistics sales recruiter.
Any figures, fee bands, salary ranges or percentages quoted on this page are indicative narrative guidance from Evara's operator-led practice in 2026, not a formal benchmark or audited statistic.
A sector specialist that runs the search end to end against a retained brief, working from a live map of commercial talent across material handling, automation, storage and warehouse technology.
Best for
Watch out for
Your own internal recruitment team running the search using your tools, your employer brand and your network.
Best for
Watch out for
Side by side
| Dimension | Specialist intralogistics sales recruiter | In-house talent acquisition |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Senior commercial leadership and specialist solution-sales seats | Volume hiring, well-mapped roles, employer-brand-led pipelines |
| Typical time to fill | 6 to 10 weeks for most senior commercial seats | Variable: faster for known seats, slower for senior leadership |
| Cost model | Two-payment retained fee: commitment deposit up front, completion fee on day 60 | Internal headcount cost, often spread across the team |
| Confidential search | Standard practice, with a sanitised brief and named-employer messaging held back until late stage | Difficult to run from inside the business without leakage |
| Market mapping | Targeted long-list across competitors and adjacent intralogistics sub-sectors | Strong on inbound and known networks, thinner on passive senior talent |
| Commercial screening | Two structured commercial screens before shortlist | Usually a single recruiter screen plus hiring-manager interview |
| Accountability for the hire | Sixty-day shared-risk window: completion fee invoiced on day 60 of employment | Internal accountability, no external guarantee |
Our take
If the role you are hiring is one your in-house team has placed several times in the last year, run it internally. If it is a senior commercial leader, a confidential replacement, or a seat you are creating for the first time, the cost of a mis-hire in lost revenue, stalled deals and time makes a properly run specialist search the rational choice. The two are complements, not substitutes.
FAQs
Yes, and most well-run intralogistics businesses do. The in-house team handles volume and known seats. The specialist recruiter takes the senior commercial seats and the confidential work. The two should share a roadmap so they are not competing on the same search.
On the visible fee, often yes. On the loaded cost, in-house salary, time, mis-hire risk and the time it takes a wrong hire to ramp, frequently no. A senior commercial mis-hire in a technical vendor business costs far more than the search fee in lost revenue and replacement cost.
When the seat becomes one you hire for repeatedly, your in-house team has placed it successfully more than once, and the specialist talent map is well understood internally. Until then, keep it external.
Related Evara services
Relevant industries
Hiring in these cities
Email Rachel Lunn for a short conversation about whether your next commercial seat is best served in-house or by a specialist search.
Email Rachel LunnSpecialist commercial search for the intralogistics industry. We reply within one working day.
Email Rachel Lunn