How we work
Every engagement is different. The rigour is not.
We do not run a volume hiring operation. We work on a defined number of mandates at any time, and every engagement is led directly by the founding team. Search is the practice; fractional HR and custom benchmarking we take on for sizeable engagements, in India and internationally. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Our core practice · Talent Acquisition
Talent Acquisition, from brief to closure
Success-fee specialist search for financial services and fintech firms. This is what we do, and almost all of what we do.
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Brief and calibration
We start with a structured briefing. Not a JD review but a conversation about the role context, team dynamics, and what good looks like. We push back where the brief needs sharpening.
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Market scan and sourcing
We source from our active network in financial services and fintech, not job portals. Our pipelines are built from direct outreach to passive candidates who are not actively applying elsewhere.
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Assessment and shortlist
Every candidate is assessed against the brief before submission. We do not forward CVs. We submit a shortlist with the Domain Screen, our written assessment of each profile: technical depth, and whether the person can hold a working conversation with the business they will build for.
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Client review and interviews
We coordinate and support the interview process: scheduling, briefing candidates, managing feedback loops. You will always know where every candidate stands.
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Offer and closure
We manage offer negotiation, candidate engagement through the notice period, and post-joining follow-up. Our offer-to-join rate stays high because we do not abandon an engagement at offer stage.
Sizeable engagements · Fractional HR
Fractional HR, embedded by design
Where we take it on, for sizeable engagements in India or internationally, a senior HR business partner is embedded with your team on a monthly retainer. For firms that have outgrown founder-led HR but are not ready for a full-time CHRO. When we do take it on, this is how it runs.
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Diagnostic and 90-day priority plan
We start by understanding the current state of the firm's people layer: what works, what does not, and what the next 90 days need to deliver. The output is a written priority plan with the founder or CHRO, not a generic HR audit.
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Embedded delivery
The senior HR business partner is embedded with the team. They work the priority plan, attend leadership and people-decision meetings, and own the work alongside the founder. Not advisory at arm's length. Embedded.
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Quarterly review and recalibration
Every 90 days, a structured review of what was delivered, what shifted, and what the next quarter's priorities are. The cadence is the discipline. It keeps the retainer focused rather than open-ended.
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Knowledge transfer and exit planning
Fractional engagements are designed to build internal capability, not to create dependency. We plan transition points from the start, and the engagement ends when the internal team can carry the work.
What we publish · Compensation intelligence
How we read compensation
Because we run a search desk, we see current offer and joining data across financial services and fintech. We publish what we can from it, and the salary benchmarks are free to use. This is the method behind those numbers.
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Scope and benchmarking parameters
We start by understanding what decision the benchmark will inform. Then we define the role families, the markets, and the dimensions (base, variable, equity-versus-cash, seniority bands) the report needs to cover.
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Data collection and analysis
We draw from our active placement activity, current offer data across financial services mandates, and the market intelligence we hold from our retained relationships. Typical turnaround is 10 to 15 working days.
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Delivery and decision support
The deliverable is a written report with ranges, observations, and recommendations. We are available for a follow-up discussion on how to apply the findings to a specific hiring or compensation decision.
What we publish · Hiring effectiveness
How we think about a broken funnel
We do not sell this as a standalone audit. But running search, we see where hiring processes leak candidates, and this is how we diagnose and fix it, usually as part of a mandate rather than instead of one.
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Diagnostic
We audit the firm's current hiring process and identify where breakdowns occur: sourcing, briefing, screening, interviewing, offer, or joining. A 2 to 3 week diagnostic phase with structured observation and stakeholder conversations.
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Process redesign
Specific recommendations for the hiring workflow, evaluation framework, and decision architecture. The deliverable is a written redesign document mapping specific changes to specific failure modes.
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Implementation support
A 60-day implementation phase. We support the firm in adopting the redesigned process, training hiring managers, and embedding the new workflow inside live mandates.
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Measurement and handover
Measurable outcomes against the metrics defined at the start: shortlist acceptance, offer-to-join, time-to-fill. Handover to the internal team with a documented operating model.
What you can expect
These commitments hold on every mandate we run.
No CVs without context
We send a shortlist with our written assessment of each candidate, not a dump of forwarded profiles.
Seven-day status rule
No candidate stays without a status update beyond seven days. You will always know where things stand.
One team, not a relay
The person you brief is the person who delivers. Engagements are led directly by the founding team.
What we do not do
Negative positioning is part of the operating model. The refusals are deliberate.
- No volume mandates (we do not take 30+ open roles per recruiter).
- No work outside financial services and fintech, unless the role looks like ours: technology, data or risk, with the same regulatory weight, taken on its merits.
- No placements without our own written assessment.
- No mandates we cannot defensibly close.
Who this works for, and who it does not
Honest pre-qualification. The first conversation goes better when both sides know the brief.
Works for
- Heads of HR at NBFCs, fintechs, and financial services firms.
- Founders making specialist financial services hires for the first time.
- Firms hiring 5 to 20 specialist roles per year rather than 50+.
- Buyers who value judgment and accountability over speed alone.
Does not work for
- Firms looking to fill 30+ open roles quickly.
- Companies outside financial services and fintech.
- Buyers seeking the lowest fee rather than the right outcome.
- Engagements requiring 24/7 dedicated recruiter coverage.
Common questions
How long does a typical recruitment engagement take?
For technology roles in financial services, most mandates close within 3 to 5 weeks from brief to offer. Niche or leadership roles may take 6 to 8 weeks.
What is your fee structure?
Talent acquisition is success-fee: you pay when a candidate joins. Fractional HR, taken on for sizeable engagements, is a monthly retainer with scope agreed after a discovery conversation.
Do you work with startups or only established firms?
We work with growth-stage fintechs, established NBFCs and banks, and financial services GCCs. The common thread is the financial services domain, not company size.
What roles do you specialise in?
Technology, product, risk, compliance, and senior business roles within financial services and fintech firms. We do not take generalist mandates.