Writing a brief

Write the brief the way you'd describe the role to a colleague — not a database query.

The components

Who — role, seniority, specialization: "Senior ML engineer", "VP of Sales", "Founding designer"

Where — city, region, or remote: "in Berlin", "London or remote", "DACH region"

Signals — what matters for this search: "fintech background", "open-source contributor", "sold to enterprises"

Count target — include a number to set a target; Orbit stops when it reaches it:

Senior software engineers with payments experience in Berlin — find 25

Examples

CTOs and VPs of Engineering at Series A–C SaaS startups in London,
fintech or devtools background

Founding product designers at consumer mobile startups in NYC,
ex-Airbnb or ex-Spotify preferred

Go engineers with distributed systems experience, remote OK,
open-source contributors

Iteration

Orbit checks every person against the criteria in your brief and records a yes or no per criterion (verdicts on each result). A submitted search can't be edited, so iterate by submitting a new brief:

• Too many people failing a criterion that doesn't matter → drop or soften it
• Too many people who pass but aren't right → add a disqualifier: "not recruiting agencies", "must have shipped production code"
• Too few results → broaden: drop a constraint, expand geography, add or between roles

Clarification questions

If Orbit can't act on a brief as written, the project reports status: "awaiting_input" with clarificationQuestion saying why. A submitted search can't be edited, so submit a new, sharper brief — over Slack you can answer the question in the thread instead.