Product
Discovery and execution. Zero-to-one and optimization. Strategy and operational delivery.
Product titles mean different things at different companies, and a product person's results are usually shared with engineering, design and sales. A polished case study can describe a team's success. We separate what each candidate decided from what the team delivered, and compare the problems they worked on with the ones in front of you.
Who we search for
Product managers and product designers, from a first product hire to specialists for a growing team.
- First product hire
- Product manager
- Senior product manager
- Group product manager
- Technical product manager
- AI product manager
- Growth product manager
- Product designer
- Product design lead
How we assess product people
Before outreach, your team agrees on what this product hire must accomplish. Each candidate's most significant product work is then compared with it, across four things.
Decisions and trade-offs
What they chose to build and what they set aside, and the evidence behind each call.
Discovery and delivery
How they found the problem worth solving, and how they carried it through to release.
Working across functions
How they brought engineering, design and sales along when none of them reported to them.
Measurable outcomes
The results their own work moved, separated from what the team achieved around them.
In their words
From a chief product officer who hired for product, and a candidate considered for a product role.
“One of the strongest people would not have survived our original screen. Their title was wrong, and their company wasn't on our target list. Once we looked at the product problem they had actually solved, the fit was obvious.”
“By the second conversation, I usually have three different versions of the job. Here, everyone described the same job. That sounds small until you've been through the opposite.”
Fees
Most Product searches run as Specialist Search. Product leaders, such as a Chief Product Officer or Head of Product, run as Leadership Search.
Usual fit
Specialist Search
$10,000
Retainer: $2,500
Balance at signature: $7,500
For individual contributors and people managers within a defined functional market.
Leadership Search
$20,000
Retainer: $5,000
Balance at signature: $15,000
For executives, heads of function, and searches that need broader market mapping, multi-stakeholder alignment, leadership assessment or heightened confidentiality.
Choose Exclusive Search and we're your only external firm for 20 business days, starting when you approve the Signal Spec and outreach is ready. Your fee becomes $9,000 for Specialist or $18,000 for Leadership, and replacement coverage extends to 180 days. View the fee schedule
Questions
Do I need a finished job description?
Bring the job description you have, or the role in your head. We define the role with you before outreach begins.
What is the difference between the calibration slate and the shortlist?
The calibration slate is 3 to 5 representative profiles, selected before anyone is contacted, to confirm the search is aimed at the right market. The shortlist is 3 to 5 assessed, identity-verified, compensation-aligned candidates who have confirmed interest in meeting your team.
How do you decide between Specialist and Leadership Search?
Leadership Search covers executives, heads of function and searches that need broader market mapping, multi-stakeholder alignment, leadership assessment or heightened confidentiality. We confirm the type before your engagement begins.
Tell us about the role. Within one business day, we confirm whether we are the right firm to lead the search.
Bring the job description you have, or the role in your head. We define the role with you.