Bypassing recruiters after 1st call

For large multinational financial service firms like banks and investment companies, is their recruiting budget separate from their max budge that they can give a candidate? Let’s say a recruiting firm charges $40k (my guess based off stories that it’s 20% of base salary) for a placement, does that fee take away the max compensation they can give their hire? Let’s say the max they can give you is $350k and then they pay $40k for the placement, is the new max now $310k? 
 

Im in the know about the industry and our competitors and I was aware that there was a certain opening from linkedin posts, indeed, conversations with friends. A recruiter reached out and I bit and sent him my resume and it ended up being for the job that I was already aware of. I’m sure the recruiter will make sure I get a first round interview and that the hiring manager sees my shit, but I can’t help but feel like the recruiter is an unnecessary middle man, especially since I have the hiring manager’s email.

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