India team build · GCC setup

Build the team your India strategy depends on.

Tell us the plan. India team build starts with city strategy and leadership sequencing, not job postings. We design the structure before filling it, because the first few hires define the ceiling of everything that follows.

1,200 senior hires closed for US, UK, European and APAC companies since 2016. 93% still in seat a year later. Most India GCC failures happen in the decisions made before the first hire.

City and compensation strategy before any sourcing begins
Leadership first. The India lead sets the calibre ceiling for every hire after
90-day retention programme on every placement

A senior team member responds within one business day · 93% still in role at 12 months · 90-day guarantee

1,200+
Senior closes, since 2016
93%
Still in role at 12 months
6
India cities with live talent data
97
Client NPS (2024-26). B2B avg: 31.
Share your hiring brief
A senior team member responds within one business day

The quality of a search is determined early. Start with the role, the context, and what a strong hire looks like at 12 months.

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Selected clients
NBA·Atlan·Writesonic·Arya.ai·DNEG·Loopio·ketteQ·Khatabook

Why India builds fail, in four places.

Defaulting to Bengaluru, anchoring comp to global surveys, hiring the pod before the lead. Walk the four below.

01City default
CHOSEN WITHOUT ANALYSIS
02Compensation anchor
GLOBAL SURVEY, NOT LIVE MARKET
03Pod before lead
SEQUENCE REVERSED
04No employer brand
ZERO INDIA PRESENCE
Where it breaks

Bengaluru is the right city for some roles. Not for most.

Companies default to Bengaluru then overpay and compete with FAANG for profiles that sit in Pune or Hyderabad at 30% less cost.

34%cost premium in Bengaluru vs equivalent talent in Pune or Hyderabad
What Talhive does

We map talent supply by city before recommending one.

City recommendation follows a data model: role-level talent density, live compensation bands, competition intensity and flight time to your nearest hub.

Map the right city →
Where it breaks

India market rates move faster than global compensation surveys.

Global survey data lags the market by 12 to 18 months. In a market moving 20% annually, anchoring on survey data produces offers the shortlist rejects.

20%annual movement in senior India tech comp bands
What Talhive does

Live compensation benchmarks, role and city specific.

We provide compensation data from active mandates, not published surveys. Role-specific, city-specific, updated from live market activity.

Get live comp data →
Where it breaks

The India lead is the talent magnet. Hire the pod first and you have no magnet.

Candidates evaluate a GCC opportunity based on who is already there. Pod-first builds produce a team without a ceiling.

2xhigher 18-month retention on leadership-first builds vs pod-first
What Talhive does

Leadership first. The India lead is the first dedicated search we run.

The India lead is sourced through a full dedicated search mandate before any pod hiring begins.

Start with the India lead →
Where it breaks

You have no employer brand in India. Senior candidates know it.

A company with no India presence and no compelling narrative for why India is strategic gets ignored by the profiles it most wants.

3xmore candidate responses when the India narrative exists before outreach
What Talhive does

We build the India employer narrative before the first outreach.

Candidate-facing positioning, interview experience design and the India leadership story are built before sourcing begins.

Build the India narrative →

Six areas that determine whether a GCC succeeds or stalls.

Strategy before sourcing, leadership before team. Run on every India team build mandate.

01

City and compensation strategy

BEFORE ANY OUTREACH

Talent density mapped by city and role. Live compensation benchmarks, 40th to 80th percentile. Competition intensity analysis.

6India cities with live talent data
02

Org design and hiring sequence

LEADERSHIP FIRST

The India lead is hired through dedicated executive search before pod hiring begins.

2xhigher 18-month retention on leadership-first builds
03

Employer brand in India

CANDIDATE-FACING POSITIONING

The India narrative, the leadership story, the interview experience design. Built before the first outreach.

3xmore responses when the narrative exists before outreach
04

Hiring process and SLA design

SPEED WITHOUT DRIFT

Interview stage design, hiring manager calibration, SLA structure and offer management.

30daverage from brief to accepted offer
05

Passive talent outreach

WHERE THEY ACTUALLY WORK

140 or more target firms mapped per search. Outreach built around the candidate’s career logic.

140+target firms mapped per mandate
06

90-day retention programme

OUTCOME, NOT PLACEMENT

Structured check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days. Early retention signals surfaced before they become exits.

90dguarantee on every placement

Bring the plan. We will tell you what the market actually looks like.

Request a build review →

Comparable builds, and what they took in weeks.

Numbers from real mandates, not aggregated averages.

India capability build · Engineering · NBA

Six senior closes in eleven weeks, all six still there at month eighteen.

NBA needed senior engineering talent in India. Earlier efforts had failed on calibration.

100%
Offer acceptance
11d
Time to shortlist
6/6
Retained at 18 months
India team build · Technology · NBA

India Technology Team, NBA. 100% offer acceptance. Zero attrition at 12 months.

Built the NBA's India technology team in Mumbai. Leadership-first sequencing: the India lead was hired through dedicated search before any individual contributors.

100%
Offer acceptance
0
Attrition at 12 months
Read the NBA case study →

The five questions every India build buyer asks us.

Answered plainly, including the commercial ones.

01

Which city should we build in?

CITY+

We run a talent density and compensation analysis before recommending any city. The brief determines the city, not convention.

02

How does the fee structure work?

COMMERCIALS+

Each placement fee is a percentage of first-year base. The India lead runs through the executive search model. Pod roles use milestone billing.

03

Why does the India lead need to come first?

SEQUENCE+

The India lead defines the calibre ceiling for every hire after them. Leadership-first builds have measurably higher 18-month retention.

04

How long does it take to build a team of five?

TIMELINE+

Typically 14 to 20 weeks. The India lead search runs four to eight weeks. Pod roles run in parallel from week six.

05

What if the India lead does not work out?

RISK+

Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee. Post-placement check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days are included.

Bring the brief. We will tell you what the market actually looks like.

Tell us the role, the level, the city preference and the timeline. A senior team member responds within one business day with the sourcing thesis, compensation reality and whether we are the right partner.

93%
Still in role at 12 months
97
Client NPS
14days
Brief to shortlist
Case study

NBA India Technology Team. Zero attrition.

Built the NBA's India technology team in Mumbai. 100% offer acceptance. Zero attrition at 12 months. Leadership-first sequencing.

Read the NBA case study →
100%
Offer acceptance
0
Attrition at 12 months
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