Searches completed
ALL SEARCHES, 2012 TO DATE
Executive search · Manufacturing and technology companies
8 in 10 clients come back, or come by referral.
Partner-led, first call to first day.
Retained search from director to the C-suite. Contingency from senior contributor through middle management. Founded 2012. Searches across the United States.
Live search viewWEEK 06 · CLIENT ANONYMIZED
Pipeline
Offer against the market
From a completed search. Base compensation, 15 candidates with data. Every retained client gets this view while the search runs.
1,000+
80%+
Repeat or referral
SHARE OF CLIENTS SINCE 2012, RETURNED OR CAME BY REFERRAL
70%
First-shortlist hires
RETAINED, MEASURED ON PLATFORM
85
Days to accepted offer
MEDIAN RETAINED SEARCH, 2017 TO 2026
~50%
Private equity
SHARE OF RETAINED WORK
Selected executive placements
The work, not the logos.
We do not publish client names, and we do not publish a list. A selection of the work, with company descriptions generalized. Each one opens to a short brief: the business problem, how the search ran, and what happened. References from the people who hired are available on request.
Functions
Operations · Commercial and Sales · Engineering and Technical · Human Resources · Finance · Quality · Supply Chain · General Management
Who we serve
Your company makes products. We find the people who make the company.
Manufacturers across industrial, automotive, aerospace, medical device, consumer, home building, and pharmaceutical markets, and technology companies in electronics, hardware, semiconductors, data centers, and software. The method does not change with ownership. Who we answer to, and how fast the clock runs, does.
Private equity
Sponsors and portfolio companies
About half of our retained work. One partner who knows the plan and carries it from one company to the next.
Public companies
Divisions, business units, and brands
The hire happens inside a division with its own P&L and culture. We work at the division's pace, to one standard across units.
Private companies
Family owned, founder led, or professionally managed
Fewer layers, so one hire moves more of the company and sits closer to the owner.
Two ways to engage
Two different problems. Two different products.
A retained search buys a deep, real-time understanding of a market and a partner who owns the outcome. A contingency search buys an introduction. We run both for the same clients, and the manager and senior contributor searches we take on contingency are how we come to know a client's operations, teams, and hiring managers below the executive level. That knowledge goes into every retained search we run for them.
| RetainedDirector through the C-suite. Exclusive. | ContingencySenior contributor through middle management. | |
|---|---|---|
| The product | A deep search. The full market mapped, every senior approach made by a partner, structured vetting, live visibility, and one partner accountable through the first day. | An introduction. Qualified, screened people, found with the research and outreach we run on retained searches, with a written summary on each, and no exclusivity, so your own channels stay open. |
| Process | The full nine-step method, from intake through onboarding. | Intake, targeted outreach, screening, submissions with a written summary on each, interview preparation, and close. |
| Assessment | Predictive Index behavioral and cognitive, a cultural interview, and a competency interview scored against your profile. | Structured screening against the intake profile. The full battery when the role warrants it. |
| Transparency | Live search view: pipeline, disposition, and compensation against market. | Submissions as they happen, and a straight answer on the market. |
| Guarantee | 180-day replacement. | 30-day refund. |
| Timing | Median 85 days from launch to accepted offer. | No retainer. Fee on hire, so the search starts the day we agree the profile. |
| Choose it when | You need to understand the market before you decide: who is available, how your role and compensation sit against it, and deep vetting before an executive hire. | The market is deep and speed matters, and you want to keep your own channels open alongside ours. |
The method
Nine steps, one line, every retained search.
The same partner carries the search from the first call to the first day, and every candidate is measured against the same profile. And the search is transparent while it runs: the client sees the companies we map, the people we approach, every decline and elimination with the reason, and where their pay sits against what candidates expect. Each step below shows the view they get.
-
Intake summaryBefore outreach
Role basics
- Team
- Six segment leaders, one customer service manager
- Owns
- Sales strategy, pricing, and the rep channel
- Travel
- About 50%, mostly in front of customers
- Why open
- Incumbent promoted
Risk profile
- Single-channel specialist
- A decade running one account or one channel; cannot build distinct strategies across six segments
- No PE muscle
- Never operated inside a PE-owned business; knows the buzzwords, not how sponsors create value
- Surface financial fluency
- Recognizes a P&L but cannot evaluate margin by segment or link the financial statements
- Chair-sitter
- Not customer-facing; expects the business to run without direct involvement
Signed off by the hiring leader and the partner before outreach starts. Every candidate is measured against it. -
Competitor analysisDetailed analysis
Target companies from a completed search, names removed Company Revenue Employees Ownership $410M 1,300 PE-backed $1.2B 3,800 Public $265M 900 Private $180M 650 PE-backed $640M 2,100 Private $2.4B 7,500 Public $135M 420 PE-backed $890M 3,100 Private The market is mapped before anyone is approached. -
Search funnelFull activity summary104Total outreach100%71Engaged68% of outreach16Vetted15% of outreach5Presented5% of outreach59Not proceeding57% of outreach23%Vetting rateof engagedWhy candidates declinedRole or scope too low4Committed to current role4Not interested3Compensation too low3Commute2Why candidates were screened outLacks industry experience14Lacks functional experience7Lacks required education5Overqualified2Lacks strategic capability2Declines and eliminations are logged with the reason.
-
Expected base compensation14 candidates with data
27th percentile. The client’s base of $200K to $225K, against what candidates expected to be paid to move.
Candidate expectationsClient baseExpected midpointDots mark candidates; the curve is the market they make up. -
Candidate assessmentCandidate brief
Assessment of one candidate against the targets for the role Assessment Candidate Target Rating Castle Alliance score 4.8 / 5 4.0 / 5 Strong recommend Behavioral interview 4.3 / 5 4.0 / 5 Recommend PI Cognitive 45099th percentile, match 10 of 10 Hiring manager 320PI aggregate 250 Strong fit PI Behavioral Captain Captain, Strategist, or Venturer Strong fit Every candidate takes the same structured behavioral interview: seven competency areas, each answer scored 1 to 5 on the transcript. -
Shortlist summaryRanked by composite
- 1Candidate AAvg 4.6Strong recommendCastle 4.8Behavioral 4.3PI Cognitive 450 exceedsPI Behavioral Captain both targets
Probe: kill-decision ownership (he described a capex kill as a team call, not his call); financial diagnosis depth beyond the income statement.
- 2Candidate BAvg 4.4RecommendCastle 4.7Behavioral 4.0PI Cognitive 270 meetsPI Behavioral Maverick aggregate target
- 3Candidate CAvg 4.3RecommendCastle 4.4Behavioral 4.1PI Cognitive 250 meetsPI Behavioral Captain both targets
- 4Candidate DAvg 4.2RecommendCastle 4.5Behavioral 3.9PI Cognitive 270 meetsPI Behavioral Promoter neither target
Each candidate brief adds the evidence, the compensation picture, and the questions the client should still ask. -
ShortlistLive statusCandidate 1In client process
Vice President
Target base $245,000
Candidate 2WithdrewGeneral Manager
Target base $265,000
Received competing offer
Candidate 3Client eliminatedVice President, Operations
Target base $225,000
After the first interview; feedback shared with the candidate
Candidate 4In client processCorporate Director, Manufacturing
Target base $260,000
Candidate 5In client processGeneral Manager
Target base $220,000
Status and target pay for every candidate, kept current between interviews. -
CloseOffer strategy, set against the marketDoneNegotiationDoneCounteroffer planDoneOffer acceptedSignedRun by the partner who knows the candidate's real motivations from the process.
-
Integration summaryBefore day one
- Include him from day one in every decision that touches the commercial organization, and roll nothing out to the commercial side without him in the room.
- Set the vision and the why, then hand him the commercial mandate with full decision rights. He is at his best with trust and latitude.
- Give feedback directly, with the reason attached.
StartSummaryDay 30CoachingDay 60CoachingDay 90Close-out memoDay 180MemoWritten for the hiring executive before day one. Coaching calls at days 30 and 60, a close-out memo at day 90, and follow-up memos from day 180.
Views from our search software and client documents, with names removed and some figures changed to protect clients and candidates.
What clients say
“We came to Castle just after a private equity acquisition, with significant growth opportunities and a senior management team to build. Castle listened, probed, and understood that we needed a team, not a group of individuals. Two senior executives hired, complementing our team, in a disciplined and timely process.”
“We needed a unicorn. Amit was able to propose a candidate who was not actively looking for a position, but with whom he had a long-standing professional relationship. The unicorn is now an employee of our company, and we will soon be asking Amit to help us start a herd!”
“When a candidate comes from Castle, I know the conversation will be worth my time, and more often than not that conversation is what moves them forward. When something goes sideways, which it does in any search, Castle tells me. Good, bad or indifferent, I hear it from them first.”
“Amit never approaches a search as simply filling a position. He brings strong business insight into the conversation, challenges me to think about where the company is going, and helps shape the role, responsibilities and succession plan around that bigger picture.”
Excerpts, used with permission.
Candidates
We work with far more people than we place.
Senior contributor to C-suite. Manufacturing and technology companies hire us to fill specific roles, and we are clear about that. But we are built on long-term partnerships. We offer market insight, candid feedback, coaching, and introductions across our network. Our goal is to add value to as many people as we can on a daily basis, whether or not a search comes of it. Feel free to share your resume and basics on target roles, compensation, and geographies. Your information goes nowhere without your say-so.
About
One method, partner-led, since 2012.
Castle Alliance is an executive search firm for manufacturing and technology companies. Retained and contingency, senior contributor to the C-suite, searches across the United States.
The firm is the method
Most searches that go wrong do so because they start wrong. The role was never properly defined, the intake didn’t capture the assignment, the stakeholders never agreed on what they needed, or the person who understood the business handed the work to someone who didn’t. The firm is built to avoid these failures.
Every retained search runs the same nine steps in the same order. The same partner takes the first call, makes the senior approaches, leads the vetting, runs the offer, and supports onboarding through the first 180 days. These critical steps do not get handed down. Every candidate in a search is measured against the same profile and the same assessment battery, built for that engagement, so the result comes from the method rather than from whoever happened to run it.
Clients see the search through our custom-developed search and analytics software: who has been identified, approached, screened, and advanced, and what the market pays against the target. As the search runs, they see where their role and compensation stand against the companies competing for the same people. Not compensation data pulled from stale databases, a status deck after the fact, or generic market reports.
Contingency work uses the same tools, processes, and technology, but with a shorter timeline, for roles where speed matters and the market is deep. We will advise which model fits before you decide.
- Founded 2012
- Manufacturing and technology companies
- Retained and contingency
- Senior contributor to the C-suite
- Searches across the United States
- 1,000+ searches completed
- 80%+ repeat or referral clients
Perspectives
Three pieces for anyone hiring. More on LinkedIn.
Contact
Tell us the role, and the problem behind it.
Every message reaches a partner. If it is not something we should take, we will say so and point you somewhere better.
info@castle-alliance.com
(224) 444-6222
candidates@castle-alliance.com for candidates
Founded 2012 · Searches across the United States
(224) 444-6222
candidates@castle-alliance.com for candidates
Founded 2012 · Searches across the United States