TA Advisory Head — Forward-Deployed Consultant & Business Builder Role : Head — Executive Search & RPO (working title; final title to be aligned with the incumbent)

Reports to : Founder & CEO, People Equation

Location : Pune/ Mumbai (with travel to client sites as engagements require)

Practice : Org. & Talent Advisory — anchored in Executive Search and RPO, extending into organisation design and workforce advisory

Experience : 15 years, with significant depth in Executive Search and/or Global RPO on the service-provider side About People Equation

People Equation (PE) is a boutique advisory firm focused on capability transformation — helping companies translate strategy into results. PE runs Practices across Org. & Talent, AI, and GCC (Global Capability Centre) advisory, working primarily with mid-market and other growth-oriented companies, including technology-based and engineering-focused GCCs.

Why This Role

Exists

This is not a standard TA leadership hire. PE is scaling its Executive Search and RPO business — commercially, operationally, and in delivery capability — and needs a leader who has run this kind of business before: someone who knows how to win clients, price and structure mandates, build a delivery team, and be accountable for P&L-level; outcomes.

At the same time, PE does not see Talent Acquisition as a standalone delivery function. The person in this role is expected to operate as a forward-deployed advisory partner — having one deep subject-matter expertise, staying close enough to the client's business to see the organisational problem behind the hiring mandate, and capable enough to shape a broader solution around it.

Over time, that scope is expected to extend into organisation design, workforce planning, and other parts of the Org. & Talent Advisory practice.

In short: this role is built for someone who refuses to let recruitment be the boundary of their contribution. Role Mandate The role has three connected dimensions. They are sequential in emphasis, not in importance — the business must be built for the advisory ambition to have a platform, but the advisory ambition is why the business is being built in the first place.

- Build and run the TA business (Executive Search & RPO)





Own commercial outcomes for the Executive Search and RPO line — client acquisition, mandate pricing/structuring, revenue and margin.

Build and lead delivery capability — hire, structure, and manage a team of researchers, consultants, and RPO delivery staff.

Run operations — client onboarding, delivery governance, quality and TAT standards, and reporting rhythm across live mandates.

Represent PE in the market for search and RPO opportunities, including pitches, proposals, and client relationship management at leadership level.

- Operate as a forward-deployed advisory partner

Stay client-anchored, not requisition-anchored — understand the client's broader organisational context (structure, leadership bench, capability gaps) behind any hiring or RPO mandate.

Shape solutions beyond the brief — where a hiring problem is really an organisation design, role definition, or workforce planning problem, say so and help solve it.

Stay close to execution — this is not a hand-off-and-move-on advisory style; the expectation is to remain involved through delivery, not just diagnosis.

Extend into adjacent Org. & Talent Advisory areas over time — organisation design, workforce planning, and related engagements, as capability and client trust develop.

- Build the business and the institution

Treat this as an important P&L; — the mandate is to scale a function and a business, as a P&L;, not maintain an existing one.

Shape how the TA business is structured within PE — team design, service lines, pricing models, and go-to-market— with real latitude to build rather than inherit.

Grow into a larger institutional role at PE as the business scales — this is explicitly framed as a path, not a fixed job.

What Success Looks

Like

0–6 months : TA business (Search + RPO) operating rhythm established:



active mandates under structured delivery governance, core team in place, and at least one adjacent-advisory conversation opened with an existing client. 6–12 months : Client base and revenue for Search/RPO growing on a repeatable (not founder-

dependent) engine; delivery team scaled and running with defined quality/TAT standards;

one or more engagements has expanded beyond a pure hiring mandate into org design or workforce planning. 12–24 months :TA business recognised internally and in the market as a distinct, well-run line within PE's Org. & Talent practice; the role has evolved into a broader institutional leadership position, with a credible case for further scope.

Candidate

Profile

Must have

15 years of experience, with significant depth in Executive Search or Global RPO, on the service-provider (not purely in-house) side

Direct experience setting up or running a business, service line, or team — including acquiring clients and talent, and managing day-to-day operations

Robust commercial and business acumen — comfortable owning revenue, pricing, and delivery accountability, not just candidate pipelines

Genuine interest in advisory work beyond recruitment — organisation design, workforce planning, or related areas— and the credibility to be taken seriously in those conversations

Ability to build and lead a team, and to operate with the ownership mindset of someone building their own business inside a larger firm Good to have An engineering degree followed by an MBA — though the quality of experience and the ability to build will matter more than the qualifications

Prior exposure to GCC (Global Capability Centre) hiring or advisory, given PE's focus on tech-based and engineering-focused GCCs What This Role Is Not

This is not an internal TA leadership role inside an established function or organisation, and it is not a role limited to managing recruitment delivery. It is a mandate to build — a business, a broader advisory capability, and, in time, a larger role within People Equation. How to Apply

Interested candidates — or referrals for someone exceptional—can write in confidence to [email protected]

📌 Director Executive Search (India)
🏢 People Equation
📍 India