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Business: Ortus Studio (Outbound & GTM Marketing Agency)
Role Hired: Inbox Manager & B2B Outbound Specialist — both sourced from South Africa
Objective: Build outbound infrastructure to scale cold email operations, inbox management, and lead generation
Outcome: Two direct hires placed in under 3 weeks; enabled Ortus Studio to 3x outbound capacity while maintaining campaign quality & inbox health
Hugo Samengo-Turner, Founder at Ortus Studio, had built a system that works: outbound campaigns that book qualified meetings for B2B companies. Growth meant more clients. More clients meant more inboxes to manage and more campaigns to run. U.S. Inbox Managers at $50K–$65K and B2B Outbound Specialists at $55K–$70K would kill margins. Freelancers couldn't deliver the consistency needed for inbox health monitoring, domain reputation management, and multi-client campaign execution.
The goal: find full-time operators who could own inbox infrastructure and outbound execution while Hugo focused on client strategy and agency growth.
Zabota ran the Direct-Hire Sprint:
- Role & Pod Definition — Inbox Manager to handle domain warmup, deliverability monitoring, inbox rotation, spam score management, and technical setup across multiple client accounts. B2B Outbound Specialist to own campaign strategy, list building, copywriting, A/B testing, and response handling.
- Geo Targeting (South Africa) — We sourced for strong English, proven cold email experience, technical troubleshooting skills, and understanding of deliverability best practices with near-identical time zone alignment (±2 hours from GMT).
- Signal-Based Vetting — Beyond resumes: inbox management scenarios, deliverability problem-solving tests, campaign strategy walkthroughs, and proof-of-work in outbound tools (Instantly, Smartlead, Apollo); only A-player finalists hit the founder's calendar.
- Direct Hire, Zero Markup — Ortus Studio hired directly (no payroll middleman), backed by our 90-day free replacement guarantee.
Countries: South Africa (both roles)
Roles: Inbox Manager & B2B Outbound Specialist
Time-to-Hire: Less than 3 weeks
Model: Full-time, direct hires; no ongoing % of wages
“Wicked - thanks so much for your help - really impressed with the whole service.“
"He started yesterday. So far so good. Again, very slick process so thank you to you and your team."
Payroll Efficiency: $82,000/year saved vs. equivalent U.S. hires for both roles.
Founder Leverage: Founder steps out of day-to-day inbox monitoring and campaign execution; time reinvested into client acquisition, strategy development, and growing the agency.
Operational Velocity: Increase in campaign capacity across multiple client accounts with maintained deliverability and inbox health.
System Installed: A repeatable direct-hire track (targeted sourcing → structured vetting → shortlist → plug-in onboarding) now used to scale additional roles as Ortus Studio grows.
At Zabota, we place mid-market operators, not VAs, not overpriced local hires.
By sourcing in South Africa and hiring direct, agencies get senior, outbound-ready professionals at sustainable comp. The result: capability, culture, and profit.
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