Executive Search
The leadership for your next chapter.
Confidential, partner-led search for Director, VP and C-suite roles in technology. Led personally by a Saiyō founding partner, never delegated to a consultant you have not met.
Request a confidential conversationA private discussion with a founding partner. No pitch deck.
The right leader for your business, not just the role.
The right leader needs to be right for your business, not just impressive on paper. Their experience matters, but so does how they lead, the decisions they make and their ability to earn the confidence of the people around them.
Finding that person starts with understanding what you need them to achieve. We get to know your ambitions, the team they’ll inherit and the challenges they’ll face, then identify leaders with the experience and judgement to succeed.
Many are already doing well elsewhere. Engaging them takes a credible, informed conversation about your business and why the opportunity deserves their attention.
Who runs your search
Led by a founding partner. From start to finish.
Every executive search is personally led by a Saiyō founding partner, giving you direct access to the person responsible for your appointment.
They take the time to understand your business, agree what success looks like and stay closely involved throughout. From approaching candidates and assessing their suitability to taking references and guiding the offer, they bring judgement and continuity to every stage.
That relationship continues through onboarding and the leader's first 180 days, helping both sides build a strong start.
How we assess
Every candidate is scored, not just interviewed.
A standard search delivers a shortlist. An executive search delivers evidence.
Before any longlist is built, we agree what matters for the role. Every candidate who reaches your shortlist has been through full competency screening against that scorecard. You receive the score, the written rationale, the reference depth and an honest note on where the risk sits.
Scorecard first
Competencies, critical skills and the priorities that decide the appointment, agreed before the search opens.
Structured competency screening
Every shortlisted candidate assessed against the same criteria, in the same way.
Scored and weighted
Not a gut call written up afterwards. A score you can compare and defend to a board.
Reference depth early
Backchannel and formal references gathered before the final decision, not after the offer.
Director, VP and C-suite.
Executive Search covers single, strategic leadership appointments: C-suite, VP, board and Director-level roles where the scope warrants a full retained process. Ongoing team building at Director level and below runs through RaaS. If you are not sure which your brief is, we will tell you honestly on the first call.
C-suite
VP
Director and board
How an executive search runs
An eight-week cadence, built for decisive boards.
01
Week 1
Brief and scorecard
A founding partner aligns with you and the board on mission, outcomes, competencies and the leadership profile your stage actually needs. The scorecard is agreed before the search opens.
02
Weeks 1 to 3
Confidential market mapping
We map the full relevant market across regions and adjacent categories, not just the people we already know. If the search needs calibrating, we do this with you before any outreach starts, based on the data from the market.
03
Weeks 3 to 6
Assess and shortlist
Multi-channel outreach and proactive headhunting across the mapped market. Full competency screening against the agreed scorecard, scored and weighted, with reference depth gathered early. You meet a tight shortlist that holds up to a board.
04
Weeks 7 to 8, then 180 days
Offer, onboard, integrate
We manage all interviews, feedback and risk. We close the offer, support onboarding and stay involved through the first 180 days, because the hire is not done at signature.
Retained, in three parts, against delivery.
Executive search is retained work and we are straightforward about it. The fee is fixed at the outset and paid on kick-off, on shortlist delivery and on signature.
Two of the three payments depend on us delivering something. That is deliberate. The search carries a 45-day delivery guarantee and a 180-day free replacement, because at this level we should be in it with you for longer.
45-day delivery guarantee
If we have not delivered a full interviewable shortlist within 45 days, we pay back the retainer. The eight-week process is built to reach an interviewable shortlist well inside that window.
180-day free replacement
The true measure of success is whether the executive stays and is successful. We share this risk with you, so our goals are aligned.
Judged on the hire, not the speed.
8 weeks
average time to signature
96%
offer-to-acceptance
180-day
replacement guarantee
Discretion is a deliverable, not a courtesy.
Confidential by default
Searches run without your name in market until you choose otherwise. Approaches are made partner to candidate, by phone.
Total transparency
Live, 24/7 access to your search via Slack, and a direct link to it in your ATS, so you can see exactly where things stand at any moment.
Controlled information
Your board deck, your round, your incumbent. None of it leaves the search.
Selected searches
Searches we have run.
Skeepers
Skeepers: Two VP searches in Europe, delivered in parallel
Read the case study →
Artisan
Artisan: Building senior pipelines at hyper-growth speed
Read the case study →
Sparetech
Sparetech: A niche search where networks matter
Read the case study →
Relex Solutions
Relex Solutions: A retained PMO leadership search in North America, shortlist inside two weeks
Read the case study →
Blue Ridge Global
Blue Ridge: Sales Director for the Nordics, offer accepted in under 21 days
Read the case study →
From a CEO we have placed with
What it is like to run a search with us.
Executive Search
"The Saiyō team are extremely talented and insightful professionals, having helped me source top-notch talent to fuel the growth of the company.
Chief Executive Officer, Powwr
World-class Executive Talent
"Through a well defined and thorough search process, the consultants at Saiyō are able to identify and secure world class executive talent. Their hyper focus on customer experience is a differentiator.
Chief Technology Officer, Blue Ridge Global
Executive search, answered.
Then we build the team beneath them.
Once the leader is in seat, the function has to be built. That is what our embedded headhunting subscription does, using the same market map and the same network your search ran on. Most executive search partners move into RaaS within the first two quarters.
How RaaS worksLet's talk about the role you cannot afford to get wrong.
A confidential conversation with a founding partner. Comparable searches, honest market signal, and a realistic timeline.
Request a confidential conversationHeld in confidence. No pitch deck.