Transformational Hire

Challenge

Prior to our engagement, they had worked with another executive search agency for several months with no success.

Oliver Bernard was referred internally as we had a long existing relationship with the business, having previous experience hiring software engineers, devops, QA and product managers over the years. With our understanding of the business and culture, Oliver Bernard stepped in and take over the mandate for the Senior VP Engineering position.

Process

We understood that the successful candidate would be tasked with defining and executing the global product and technology strategy as well delivery.

Therefore, the search needed to present candidates that shared the business' passion for sports, a strong technical background, and the required leadership skills to make it happen. Other core requirements were a genuine interest in current technology trends, and someone who has worked on large scale, analytical, data heavy, consumer facing products.

We used this understanding to refine our search to only present candidates that met both the technical competencies and had the required soft skills and passion to be successful.

Results

We presented a shortlist of candidates within a fortnight, all of which progressed through the interview process with 2 reaching final stage.

Jon Mullen, the first-choice candidate, was offered and accepted the position just 4 weeks after we took the role brief. Jon spoke highly of his experience:

“It was a quick and smooth process, professional and well-handled. Oliver Bernard was responsive to any questions I had and expertly liaised during the offer. We were able to have some open and honest conversations which meant a lot.”

Jon has since progressed to senior leadership, responsible for defining the technical and product road map for the business and subsequent explosive growth phase which included acquisitions, introducing new tech, and growing the tech and product team to 250 globally.

We worked directly with the business' President, as the hiring manager for this role, who speaks highly of the process and more importantly the impact Jon is continuing to make: “Oliver Bernard helped us identify an individual, quickly and hassle free, who didn’t just tick the technical requirements, but someone who had the leadership skills to expertly navigate our business. This has had a profound impact on our business and Jon has grown with their success from our first dedicated tech hire to managing a global team and continuing to own and drive our product roadmap.”

It was an excellent match, which Jon reflects fondly on his interactions with the business: “I didn’t know where it was going to go, but I believed in their vision and wanted to be part of that journey. In a tech leadership role, we should be enablers of business strategy and he gave me the autonomy to be able to do that.”