Leadership Hiring Consultant (Executive Search)

Leadership Hiring Consultant Executive Search

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Leadership Hiring Consultant to establish and manage an in-house executive search function. The role will focus on identifying, engaging, assessing, and hiring senior leadership talent across business functions, including Technology, Sales, Delivery, HR, Finance, Product, and Operations.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in executive search or senior-level talent acquisition, excellent market-mapping and passive-candidate sourcing capabilities, and a proven track record of closing Director, VP, Head, and CXO-level positions.

This role requires a consultative recruitment professional who can partner with founders, CEOs, and business leaders while maintaining the highest standards of confidentiality and candidate experience.

Key Responsibilities

1. Leadership Hiring & Search Strategy

• Own end-to-end recruitment for Director, VP, Head, and CXO-level positions across multiple functions.
• Partner with founders, CEOs, and business leaders to understand hiring requirements, define role scorecards, and establish candidate success profiles.
• Advise hiring managers on talent availability, market benchmarks, compensation expectations, and hiring timelines.

2. Executive Search & Market Mapping

• Conduct detailed market research, competitor mapping, and target-company identification.
• Identify and engage passive senior candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter, referrals, professional networks, and direct sourcing.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of leadership talent for current and future hiring requirements.
• Develop long-term relationships with senior professionals across relevant industries.

3. Candidate Assessment & Evaluation

• Conduct structured competency-based interviews and leadership assessments.
• Evaluate candidates on leadership capability, strategic thinking, functional expertise, cultural alignment, and business impact.
• Prepare detailed candidate profiles, assessment summaries, and recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• Coordinate reference checks and background verification in accordance with company policies and applicable law.

4. Offer Management & Closure

• Manage senior-candidate engagement throughout the recruitment lifecycle.
• Lead compensation discussions and negotiations involving fixed pay, variable compensation, ESOPs, joining bonuses, and notice-period buy-outs, where applicable.
• Manage counter-offers, notice periods, and joining commitments to improve offer-to-joining conversion.
• Ensure a professional and confidential candidate experience.

5. Recruitment Process & Analytics

• Establish leadership recruitment processes, ATS practices, dashboards, and hiring reports.
• Track time-to-fill, offer acceptance, joining ratios, source effectiveness, and quality of hire.
• Manage external executive search firms when required, ensuring service quality, agreed SLAs, and fee discipline.
• Support leadership employer branding and market positioning initiatives.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 8–18 years of experience in executive search, leadership recruitment, or senior-level talent acquisition.
• Proven track record of successfully closing Director, VP, Head, and CXO-level positions.
• Experience hiring across multiple functions, particularly Technology, BFSI, Sales, HR, Finance, and Operations.
• Strong expertise in passive-candidate sourcing, market mapping, competitor intelligence, and talent pipelining.
• Experience partnering with founders, CEOs, CXOs, and senior hiring managers.
• Strong understanding of leadership compensation, salary benchmarking, offer negotiation, and candidate closure.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, relationship-building, and analytical skills.
• High standards of confidentiality, professionalism, and ethical candidate management.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with a recognised executive search firm or a specialised leadership recruitment consultancy.
• Exposure to senior hiring in technology, financial services, consulting, or high-growth organisations.
• Familiarity with LinkedIn Recruiter, ATS platforms, talent intelligence tools, and AI-assisted sourcing.
• Experience building or scaling an in-house executive search function.

Key Skills

Executive Search | Leadership Hiring | CXO Hiring | Talent Acquisition | Market Mapping | Passive Candidate Sourcing | Stakeholder Management | Compensation Benchmarking | Offer Negotiation | Talent Intelligence | Candidate Assessment | LinkedIn Recruiter

What We Offer

• Direct engagement with founders and senior leadership.
• An opportunity to build and lead a strategic executive search function.
• Competitive compensation and performance-linked closure incentives.
• Scope to influence leadership hiring strategy and employer branding.

Employment Type: Full-time, Permanent
Work Mode: Hybrid
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka
Reporting To: Head of HR / CEO