A Defined 4-Step Search Process for Engineering Leadership

We start with a working session, not a job description handoff. A partner sits with the hiring manager and the technical stakeholders to define what the role actually has to accomplish in its first year: the systems it owns, the architecture decisions it will make, the team it inherits. We pressure-test the requirements against the live market. If the stack, the compensation band, and the location are mathematically incompatible, we tell you in week one rather than week ten.

• Written search brief and scorecard
• Comparable compensation data for your market
• Target company list for approval

We build a map of every engineer who plausibly fits, not a keyword pull. That means naming the specific teams at specific employers, the integrators, OEMs, primes, and venture-backed platforms where the relevant work is happening, and then working the map person by person. Passive candidates are the majority of our outreach, because the engineer who is already shipping the exact system you need rarely has a resume posted anywhere.

• Named market map with coverage status
• Direct outreach to passive candidates
• Weekly written progress report

Every candidate speaks with a partner before you ever see them. We probe depth rather than buzzwords: how a controls engineer handled a tuning problem under cycle-time pressure, how an ML engineer measured drift in production, how an autonomy lead handled a safety case. You receive a shortlist of three to five candidates with a written assessment covering technical fit, motivation, compensation expectations, and any risk we see in the offer stage.

• Shortlist of 3–5 vetted candidates
• Written assessment per candidate
• Coordinated interview scheduling

The close is where searches are lost. We stay in the middle of it, managing counteroffer exposure, relocation logistics, clearance timelines, and start-date negotiation with both sides informed. After the accept, we check in with the candidate and the hiring manager at 30, 60, and 90 days. If a placement does not stick inside our guarantee period, we go back to work at no additional fee.

• Offer structuring and counteroffer strategy
• Reference and background coordination
• 30/60/90-day retention check-ins