Executive Search Firm in Mumbai
Leadership hires decide what a technology, product or design function becomes. Talhive runs confidential, dedicated executive search for companies that need a senior leader in Mumbai, including international businesses appointing their first India leader.
- Confidential, dedicated search
- Milestone-based fees
- 90-day replacement guarantee
The quality of a search is determined early. Start with the role, the context, and what a strong hire looks like at 12 months.
Your details are held in strict confidence and are not shared with third parties.
Received.
A senior team member will review your enquiry and respond directly.
Senior hires where the wrong appointment costs a year.
A leadership search is a different job from filling a vacancy. The person you appoint sets the hiring bar, the team culture and the way the function earns trust across the business. Talhive runs executive search for founders, boards and heads of talent who need a CTO, product, design or data leader in India, and who want the same people on the mandate from brief to joining.
Mumbai is where many of these mandates start. Financial services, fintech, media and entertainment, and large consumer and enterprise businesses keep senior decision makers in the city, and international companies often choose it for their first India leader. Our model is dedicated, not contingent: we take on a small number of searches and go deep on each, with milestone-based fees agreed before work starts.
A volume firm and a dedicated search, side by side.
Where the two approaches diverge on a leadership mandate.
Weighing dedicated search against other recruitment models?
Leaders we search for in Mumbai.
Seniority is set by the problem the leader must solve, not by a title ladder.
Chief Technology Officer
Technology strategy, architecture and engineering culture for companies where technology is the product or the moat. Our CTO hiring guide explains how the role changes by stage.
VP or Head of Engineering
Delivery, hiring and team health for engineering organisations that have outgrown founder-led management.
Chief Product Officer
Product vision and portfolio ownership for fintech, consumer and media products, or for an international company building product leadership in India.
Head of Design
Design leadership that sets the craft bar and links design to product and brand decisions.
Head of Data or AI
Leaders who turn data and applied AI work into systems the business relies on, with the governance regulated sectors expect.
India engineering site lead
The senior engineer who becomes the face of an international company's India team and builds it. Often the first appointment in a leadership-first team build.
What changes when the search is in Mumbai.
Context for how we run the search, not a claim about market size.
Leaders are rarely looking.
Senior people in financial services, media and consumer businesses are usually well placed in their current roles. A credible approach is discreet, specific about the problem and honest about what is on offer, rather than a broadcast job description.
The first India leader needs a story.
When a company is new to the market, candidates cannot judge the team, the stack or the culture from outside. Talhive's Mumbai build for NBA's India technology team began with leadership, and the employer narrative was written before outreach. Read the NBA India case study.
Regulated and high-visibility settings.
Where a leader will work under financial regulation or in a public-facing media business, references, conflict checks and notice-period planning start early, not at offer stage.
A confidential search, in four stages.
Each stage ends with a decision from you before the next begins.
- Stage one01
Define the mandate.
- Outcomes the leader must deliver in the first year
- Reporting line, scope and what is non-negotiable
- Compensation reality tested against the live market
- Stage two02
Map the market quietly.
- Target companies and the leaders inside them
- Approach written around the problem, not the title
- Confidentiality agreed for you and for candidates
- Stage three03
Assess and shortlist.
- Motivation, operating style, scale fit and stakeholder maturity
- Written synopsis for every profile
- Reference and retention-risk view before you meet anyone
- Stage four04
Close and protect.
- Offer strategy and counter-offer planning
- Notice-period tracking until the start date
- 90-day replacement guarantee on the placement
Questions employers ask
Plain answers to the questions we hear most often about this search.
Appoint the leader who sets the standard for the team.
Share the brief and a senior member of the team will respond. We will tell you honestly whether dedicated search is the right route for the role.
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