A Product Lead for an AdTech founding team, on a budget the market said was unrealistic.
Tech / AdTechA highly specific senior search for a product leader with hands-on AdTech experience, partnering directly with the CPO and CEO. US market exposure was non-negotiable since the client's competitors and customers operated there. Compensation was anchored to a lower-cost market, which meaningfully shrank the senior pool we could reach. The brief asked for leadership and technical depth at the same time: subject-matter fluency in ad operations, software architecture, and performance frameworks.
Targeted sourcing into a niche pool of AdTech operators, not a broad PM funnel. Culture-first screening for value alignment and long-term fit before checking domain depth. Personalised outreach to convert passive senior candidates into engaged conversations. The role was published with a public salary, which pulled the eventual hire in inbound, on top of the active search. Curated shortlist kept tight to protect founder time.
Full hiring cycle from intake to hire completed in six weeks. The candidate exceeded the original brief: consistent AdTech product leadership, prior early-stage scale experience, direct US market exposure from working in San Francisco, and bilingual communication that fit the regional team. Hired through a process the founders described as fit, quality, and time-to-value, in that order.