Real mandates. Real results. A selection of our most challenging and successful talent acquisition engagements.
Anduril takes a big-tech, move-fast culture and capital structures to deliver next-generation autonomous systems and technologies to the defence and security marketplace.
Retained by the COO and SVP of Engineering to rapidly scale the start-up team in Australia. The initial project was the design, build and manufacture of the XL-AUV (autonomous submarine), with the expectation that the team would serve as an autonomous vehicle centre of excellence for the broader company — working on land, air and space in addition to maritime.
Building a high-performance engineering team from scratch is never easy. The level of complexity in Anduril's products, and the pace at which they move, meant that only the top end of the already candidate-short autonomous systems and robotics market were going to make the cut. All candidates needed to be eligible for defence security clearance and residing in — or willing to relocate to — Sydney.
The high-profile launch campaign in Australia and extensive advertising through all the usual channels failed to attract the calibre of candidates needed.
A systematic research program was initiated to map the local Australian talent pool, and the international market (Silicon Valley, EU, Japan & Singapore) for expat Australians that could be lured home with a compelling opportunity.
In total, 1,000+ candidates were identified and approached directly, achieving an exceptional response rate of over 90%. Of the 26 shortlisted and recommended for interview, 20 successfully completed the process and 18 accepted offers and were onboarded.
BCGX is the corporate venture builder division of the Boston Consulting Group. Their global teams work with clients to launch businesses that solve society's biggest challenges — with a strong design-driven innovation culture and in-house expertise across growth, product, venture building and software development.
Retained by the APAC Managing Partner to manage the recruitment of the transition team that would take over from the BCGX team that had launched a new digital insurance business on behalf of a global insurance client.
Managing the recruitment of a full start-up team in a short period of time was complicated by the need to secure talent that not only satisfied the insurance client requirements, but also the stringent recruitment standards of the BCGX process.
Prioritising the search order — with the CEO, Head of Product, Insurance Technical Expert and Growth Manager first — a systematic research initiative covering successful local Australian and international InsureTech businesses was conducted, plus local teams that had demonstrated results in the non-insurance digital B2C market.
In total, 217 potential candidates were approached and assessed. 4 potential CEOs, 8 Heads of Product, 3 Insurance Technical Experts, and 4 Growth Managers were headhunted and presented. All preferred candidates were approved by the Insurance client CEO and executive team.
The application development positions were secured by identifying an existing team of 3 that came across as a unit.
PowerTec is an independent, family-owned technology venture offering game-changing products in the power and microgrid sector — a prime example of a bootstrapping Australian start-up that has taken the lead in a critical sector through homegrown design, development and manufacture of world-leading technology innovation.
Retained by the founder and CEO on a single-role search to recruit a Principal Software Engineer / Product Owner who would be tasked with re-architecting the software stack for the core product.
The complexity in the search was the breadth of expertise required — spanning from PLC industrial controls, through embedded software / firmware, into cloud-based application incorporating complex algorithms, to a Raspberry Pi user interface. Add to that the safety-critical nature of the products operating within large-scale electricity networks — and we were looking for a unicorn.
Advertising channels had failed. The CEO's professional networks came up empty. A formal market mapping exercise was initiated — identifying companies that could potentially have people with skills across the full product stack.
The CEO and Work8.co put together a target company list of approximately 70 companies based on analysis of relevant industry verticals and participants in industry conferences and associations. In total, 300+ potentials were identified, approached and engaged.
After 3.5 weeks, the near-consistent outreach paid off. A candidate we approached — who was not interested — had a former colleague whose own start-up had failed to secure funding and was considering options. Skills matched, interviews were swift, and the client stretched the budget to accommodate such a good fit.