Last updated 16 October 2026

These terms of business are between your company and Alex Hile, trading as OrbHop (not yet incorporated). Contact: hello@orbhop.com. By clicking to accept them at sign-up, you confirm that you can bind your company to them. This acceptance is what makes the fee below binding. Our privacy notice explains how we handle personal data.

The service

OrbHop lets you browse named profiles and technical briefs of experimental scientists and ask for introductions. A scientist accepts or declines each request. When a scientist accepts, we introduce you to each other by one email, with OrbHop copied.

Who may use OrbHop

• You must sign in with a work Google account. Personal webmail addresses are refused.
• Agencies and recruiters acting for third parties may not use OrbHop.

Placement fee

Our fee is 25% of the scientist's first-year base salary, plus GST or VAT where applicable.

• "First-year base salary" means annual base salary, or the annualised contractor rate. It excludes bonus, equity and benefits.
• The fee is payable if you, or any company in your group, hire the scientist as an employee, contractor or consultant within 12 months of the first time you viewed their profile on OrbHop or we introduced them to you, whichever is earlier.
• It is payable whether or not the hire happens through OrbHop. It is also payable if the introduction was declined or the role is different from the one you first discussed.
• If a scientist withdraws or declines before starting, for example by accepting a counter-offer from their current employer before their start date, no fee is payable.

When we invoice, and when you pay

• We invoice at the end of the scientist's probation period. That is their start date plus the probation period in their contract. If no probation period is agreed, we use 90 days.
• Payment is due 14 days from the invoice date.

Guarantee

If the scientist leaves within 12 months (365 days) of their start date because they resign, are dismissed or fail probation, we credit you part of the fee.

• The credit is the fee multiplied by the days left in the 365 days after the start date, divided by 365.
• For example, if they leave 73 days before the 12 months end, you receive a credit of one fifth of the fee.
• The credit applies against a future placement fee only. It is never paid as cash.
• Redundancy and internal moves do not earn a credit.

This credit is the only remedy if a hire does not work out. We do not guarantee suitability in any other way.

Tell us about offers

Tell us within 7 days of making an offer to any scientist you found through OrbHop.

Records of profile views

Every time your account opens a scientist's profile, we record your company, your email, the scientist's name, the scientist's account id and the date. We keep one record per day. We keep these records for 24 months, even after either account is deleted, because they are the evidence for the placement fee and may be needed for legal claims.

Confidentiality and acceptable use

• Profiles and briefs are for your own hiring only.
• Do not copy, scrape or export them, and do not share them with other companies or agencies.
• OrbHop may suspend your account if you breach these terms.

What briefs are, and what you must check

Briefs come from the scientist's public papers and their own statements. You run your own interviews, references and checks. That includes right to work, visas, export control and security clearance. OrbHop does not guarantee a scientist's suitability, other than through the guarantee credit above.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of New South Wales, Australia. The courts of New South Wales have jurisdiction.

Changes

We post new versions with a date. We will email you 30 days before a change takes effect. If you keep using OrbHop after those 30 days, you accept the new version. The version you accepted at sign-up governs any placement already in progress.