22 Engineering Roles. 91% Retention. The Problem Was Never Pipeline Volume.
Stockholm-headquartered Series B logistics SaaS. 22 roles in 6 months via embedded RPO. 91% 12-month retention. 29-day average time to hire. The sourcing thesis problem was domain expertise, not volume.
22 roles. 91% retention.
The problem was never
pipeline volume.
A Stockholm-headquartered Series B logistics technology company was scaling its India engineering team from 8 to 40. They needed engineers with logistics domain knowledge, EDI, TMS, and WMS expertise, in a market where that combination is genuinely rare. Their internal TA team of two had been running the search for four months and produced two hires. A contingency agency running alongside had produced none.
A sourcing thesis problem,
not a pipeline volume problem.
Logistics domain engineering expertise, EDI, TMS, WMS, freight forwarding systems, concentrates inside a small number of enterprise logistics and ERP companies in India. These engineers are employed, rarely visible on job boards, and do not respond to cold outreach framed as "software engineer" roles at unknown brands. The previous search had been treating this as a software engineering sourcing problem. It was a domain expertise sourcing problem.
- Inbound postings attracting generic backend engineers with no logistics context
- Agency sending raw applicants, not domain-assessed shortlists
- No calibration loop, brief drifting silently between hiring managers
- Internal TA team overwhelmed by screening volume with no domain knowledge to assess it
- Rebuilt sourcing thesis around logistics domain expertise, not job title
- Mapped target companies: Mahindra Logistics, Blue Dart, TCI, Delhivery, DTDC tech teams
- Established single-recruiter pipeline ownership with weekly reporting to CEO and VP Engineering
- Calibration call after every two interview rounds, brief recalibration documented in writing
Full pipeline ownership. Weekly reporting. Brief discipline.
Kickoff & role prioritisation matrix
All 22 open roles reviewed. Priority matrix built: which needed to close fastest for product delivery milestones, which profiles were scarcest, where to build pipeline depth first. Three roles deprioritised as non-urgent. Internal TA briefed on what Talhive owned vs what they owned.
Sourcing thesis rebuilt and first shortlists delivered
Domain-specific sourcing targeting logistics and ERP companies in India. First assessed shortlists delivered in week three, candidates with EDI/TMS/WMS production experience, not just backend engineers who could learn logistics. Hiring managers received assessed candidates, not raw CVs.
Weekly pipeline report + bi-weekly calibration
Every Monday: roles by stage, interview-to-pass rate, offer stage, and market observations. Formal recalibration after every two rounds of interviews. Three brief recalibrations over the 18 months, each one documented in writing and shared with leadership before the next search cycle began.
22 roles closed
All 22 roles closed in the first six months. The remaining 12 months of the engagement were spent on new headcount added as the team scaled from 30 to 40, retention management, and brief calibration as the product evolved.
22 roles in 6 months. 91% 12-month retention. The same team ran in four months what had not moved in four months before.
RPO is not about more pipeline. It is about ownership of the right pipeline, built on a sourcing thesis that matches the actual talent market, with calibration loops that prevent brief drift, and reporting that tells leadership what is working before it becomes a problem.