hiCalibre - Client (Company) Terms of Service

1. Who we are and how these Terms work

These Client Terms of Service ("Terms") are a contract between the hiring company or agency you represent (the "Client", "you") and Cidade Extremada, trading as hiCalibre, a company incorporated in Portugal under company number 518042758, with its registered office at Bloco A2, Suite 7, 8650-117, Portugal ("hiCalibre", "we", "us", "our").

By creating a client account, stating hiring intent, browsing candidates, purchasing credits, or subscribing to a Plan, you accept these Terms on behalf of the company or organisation you represent, and you confirm you have authority to bind that organisation. If you do not agree, do not create an account.

Our separate Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data on the Platform, including candidate data you access and your own account/contact data, under the EU GDPR and, where applicable, the UK GDPR. It is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

Business-user notice: Because hiCalibre is an online intermediation service connecting business Clients with Candidates, these Terms are also intended to meet the transparency requirements of EU Regulation 2019/1150 (the "Platform-to-Business" or "P2B" Regulation) and the EU Digital Services Act ("DSA"), summarised in Sections 8-10 below.

2. Definitions

• "Candidate" means an individual with a profile on the Platform.
• "Vetted" / "hiCalibre tier" - see the tier descriptions in Section 4.
• "Credits" means the units included with a Plan, bought as extra Credits, or otherwise added to your account by hiCalibre, which are spent to Unlock Candidate profiles.
• "Unlock" means spending Credits to reveal a Candidate's full, de-anonymised profile. An Unlock is permanent for that Client-Candidate pair unless it is reversed under Section 5.
• "Plan" means a subscription to the Platform, billed monthly or yearly, which includes a monthly allowance of Credits and the features shown on our pricing page.
• "Headhunt" means a search in which hiCalibre hand-picks Candidates for one of your roles, available on the Plans that include it.
• "Hiring Intent" means the role(s), skills, and requirements you provide us with after signup, used to drive matching.

3. Your account

1. You must provide accurate company and contact information and keep it current. hiCalibre may verify your company's identity and reject or suspend accounts that appear fraudulent, or that are not genuine hiring companies or authorised recruiters.
2. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for keeping login credentials confidential. Notify us immediately at support@hicalibre.io of any suspected unauthorised use.
3. Providing at least one active Hiring Intent role (job title and core skills) is required to use the marketplace, and drives the "Matched to your roles" shelf described in Section 5.

4. The Service: Vetted and hiCalibre tiers

A Candidate hiCalibre has hand-picked for one of your roles through Headhunt costs 5 credits to Unlock, wherever on the Platform you Unlock them.

hiCalibre takes reasonable care in its vetting process but does not warrant that any Candidate is suitable for a particular role, will accept an offer, or will perform to any particular standard if engaged. You are responsible for your own due diligence, including right-to-work checks, reference checks, and compliance with employment law in the jurisdiction where the Candidate will work.

5. Browsing, matching, and Unlocks

1. Candidate cards are shown in blanked form (no name or contact detail) until Unlocked. The tier badge and Credit cost are always visible before you Unlock.
2. The "Matched to your roles" shelf surfaces Candidates using automated matching against your stated Hiring Intent (skills and title overlap). This is a ranking/recommendation feature, not a guarantee of fit - see Section 8 for how ranking works.
3. Unlocking deducts the displayed Credit amount from your balance and is permanent for that Client-Candidate pair, so you will not be charged again to revisit a Candidate you have already Unlocked. The one exception: if you request an Introduction and the Candidate declines it, or does not respond within 14 days, the Unlock is reversed and the Credits are returned to your balance automatically.
4. After Unlock, hiCalibre facilitates an Introduction between you and the Candidate rather than immediately transferring raw contact details. Any subsequent hiring process, offer, and employment/engagement is between you and the Candidate; hiCalibre is not a party to it.

6. Plans, Credits, and payment

1. Clients get Credits through a Plan, or through the Free plan in point 11. Each Plan includes a set number of Credits every month and the allowances shown on our pricing page, such as active job posts, team seats, and whether Headhunt and priority checks are included. Prices and allowances are shown on our pricing page and at checkout.
2. Only the account owner can start, change, or cancel a Plan.
3. Plans are billed in advance, monthly or yearly, through Stripe, by card or another payment method offered at checkout. By starting a Plan, you authorise us to charge that payment method through Stripe at each renewal, and for any upgrade, until the Plan is cancelled. We issue an invoice for every payment.
4. Credits are added when a Plan starts and then every month while it is active. On yearly billing, Credits are still added monthly. Credits are only added once the relevant payment has been received.
5. Plans renew automatically at the end of each billing period until cancelled. You can cancel at any time from Billing. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period already paid for, and the Plan keeps working until then. We do not refund part periods, except as set out in Section 11.
6. Upgrades take effect immediately: you pay the prorated difference for the rest of the current period, and the higher Plan's monthly Credits are added once that payment succeeds. Downgrades, and moves from yearly to monthly billing, take effect at the next renewal.
7. Unused Credits do not expire. They roll over from month to month and stay available to spend after a Plan ends or is cancelled, for as long as your account is open. This includes Credits bought before Plans were introduced.
8. Credits have no cash value and cannot be transferred or exchanged for money. Unspent Credits are not refunded, including when a Plan ends or your account is closed, except where required by law.
9. Clients on a Plan can buy extra Credits in bundles at the prices shown in Billing.
10. If a payment fails, Stripe will retry it. While a payment is outstanding, your Plan keeps working and existing Credits stay available, but no new Credits are added. If the payment still fails after the retries, we may end the Plan.
11. Without a Plan, an approved Client is on the Free plan, with one active job post and one seat. At the start of each month, we top its Credit balance up to 5 Credits if it holds fewer. Credits it already holds are never removed.
12. Enterprise Plans are agreed individually in writing and may be invoiced and paid by bank transfer. Where that agreement differs from this Section, the agreement applies.
13. We may change Plan prices or allowances. We will give at least 30 days' notice before a change applies to your Plan, and it takes effect from your next renewal after that notice. You can cancel before it does.
14. Payment card and billing data is collected and processed by Stripe, our payment processor, under its own terms and privacy policy. hiCalibre does not store full card numbers.
15. Credits spent on an Unlock are not refunded, except as described in Section 5, where required by applicable law, or at hiCalibre's discretion for goodwill or support reasons (for example, a technical error causing a duplicate charge).
16. All fees are exclusive of VAT or applicable sales tax unless stated otherwise, which will be added where required by law.
17. Manual credit adjustments (refunds, goodwill credits) may be made by hiCalibre admins at our discretion and are logged for audit purposes.

7. Permitted use of Candidate data

Once you Unlock a Candidate's profile, you may use their information solely to evaluate them for a genuine hiring or engagement opportunity. You agree not to:

1. sell, license, publish, or otherwise share Unlocked Candidate data with any third party, including another company within your group, unless that entity is also a party genuinely involved in the same hiring decision;
2. use Unlocked Candidate data for any purpose other than recruitment-related evaluation (e.g. marketing, data-mining, or building a competing database);
3. contact a Candidate outside the Platform's facilitated Introduction process to solicit them for a role, or to circumvent hiCalibre's Credit model, other than to progress a genuine hiring process already introduced through the Platform;
4. retain Unlocked Candidate personal data for longer than necessary for the hiring decision, and you must delete or anonymise it once that purpose ends, in line with your own data protection obligations as an independent controller of that data once Unlocked (see the Privacy Policy for the allocation of controller responsibilities).

Breach of this Section is a material breach of these Terms and may result in immediate suspension, in addition to any other remedy available to hiCalibre or the affected Candidate.

8. Ranking and matching transparency (P2B Regulation)

In line with Regulation (EU) 2019/1150, the main parameters determining how Candidates are ranked or surfaced to you are:

1. overlap between a Candidate's stated skills/role and your Hiring Intent (drives the "Matched to your roles" shelf);
2. the filters you actively apply (tier, availability, category, experience);
3. recency and completeness of the Candidate's profile.

hiCalibre does not accept payment from Candidates for preferential ranking. No party can pay to be ranked higher on the Platform. We may adjust these parameters over time to improve match quality; material changes affecting how you are shown Candidates will be communicated as part of Section 11 (Changes to these Terms).

9. Notice-and-action and content standards (Digital Services Act)

1. hiCalibre's point of contact for regulatory authorities and for users on DSA-related matters is support@hicalibre.io.
2. If you believe a Candidate profile contains false, fraudulent, or unlawful information, you may report it to support@hicalibre.io. We will review reports and take proportionate action, which may include removing or suspending the profile pending investigation.
3. Job requirements or hiring criteria you submit to the Platform (via Hiring Intent or otherwise) must not be unlawfully discriminatory under applicable employment and equality law. hiCalibre may remove or refuse to act on Hiring Intent that appears to breach this.

10. Internal complaint handling

If you are unhappy with any decision we make about your account (including suspension, a rejected report, or a billing dispute), you may raise a complaint via support@hicalibre.io. We aim to acknowledge complaints within 5 business days and resolve them within 15 business days. This internal process does not affect your right to pursue mediation (Section 15) or legal proceedings.

11. Changes to these Terms

We will give you at least 30 days' notice (by email or in-Platform notice) of any material change to these Terms before it takes effect, except where a change is required immediately for legal, security, or fraud-prevention reasons. If you do not agree with a material change, you may close your account before it takes effect. If you do, any Plan you have will not renew, and if you are on yearly billing we will refund your yearly fee pro rata for the full months remaining. Unspent Credits are handled per Section 6.

12. Data protection

1. hiCalibre acts as controller for Candidate and Client account data while it is held on the Platform (e.g. profiles, credit transactions, Hiring Intent). Once you Unlock a Candidate and use their data for your own hiring process outside the Platform, you become an independent controller of that data for your own purposes and must comply with GDPR/UK GDPR yourself, including having your own lawful basis, retention limits, and responses to data subject requests relating to your use of it.
2. You must not ask hiCalibre to obtain special category data (health, disability, etc.) about a Candidate beyond what they have voluntarily disclosed, and must handle any such data you receive in line with applicable law.
3. Full detail on lawful basis, retention, sub-processors (including Stripe, our hosting/database providers, and email providers), and your rights is in the Privacy Policy.

13. Disclaimers and liability

1. hiCalibre provides a vetting and matching service; we do not guarantee any Candidate's honesty, qualifications, right to work, or performance, and we are not a party to any employment or engagement contract you enter into with a Candidate.
2. The Platform is provided "as is" without warranties of uninterrupted availability or error-free operation, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
3. Nothing in these Terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.
4. Subject to the paragraph above, hiCalibre's total liability to you under these Terms, whether in contract, tort, or otherwise, is limited to the total fees for Plans and Credits you have paid to hiCalibre in the 12 months before the claim arose. hiCalibre is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits, lost hires, or reputational harm.
5. You agree to indemnify hiCalibre against claims arising from your breach of Section 7 (Permitted use of Candidate data) or your unlawful use of the Platform, including any employment-law claim brought by a Candidate against you.

14. Suspension and termination

1. We may suspend or terminate your account for breach of these Terms, suspected fraud, non-payment, or legal requirement. Except where immediate action is necessary to prevent harm or comply with law, we will give you notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy the issue first. If we end your account because you breached these Terms or committed fraud, any Plan ends at the same time and fees already paid are not refunded.
2. You may close your account at any time by contacting support@hicalibre.io. Outstanding unspent Credits are handled per Section 6; transaction records may be retained after closure for legal, accounting, or audit purposes as described in the Privacy Policy. If you have an active Plan, cancel it from Billing first. Payments already made are not refunded except as set out in Section 11, and unspent Credits are handled per Section 6.

15. Complaints and dispute resolution

1. Contact support@hicalibre.io first for any dispute.
2. If unresolved, either party may refer the dispute to mediation, on a without-prejudice basis, before one of the following mediators: the Centro de Arbitragem Comercial da Câmara de Comércio e Indústria Portuguesa (Lisbon), or the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR, London). This is offered in line with Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 and does not remove either party's right to bring court proceedings.

16. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of Portugal. The Portuguese courts have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from these Terms, save that hiCalibre may also bring proceedings in your country of incorporation to enforce payment obligations.

17. General

1. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest continues in effect.
2. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any Enterprise agreement under Section 6, are the entire agreement between you and hiCalibre.
3. You may not assign your rights under these Terms without our consent. hiCalibre may transfer its rights and obligations in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, provided your rights under these Terms are unaffected.

18. Contact

Cidade Extremada, trading as hiCalibre - Bloco A2, Suite 7, 8650-117, Portugal

General/billing queries: support@hicalibre.io

Data protection queries: privacy@hicalibre.io

DSA point of contact: support@hicalibre.io