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Deep-tech R&D leaders don't come from a job post.

ER&D centres own the hard end of engineering: systems, embedded, silicon, controls, and platform. The people who can lead it have spent fifteen years going deep in one domain and are settled where they are. Reaching them is a mapping problem, and pricing them takes a benchmark the generic surveys don't have.

Start a Mandate See our impact
Systems · embedded · platform
Where we place
Deeptech
Reach
Offmarket
The Problem

The expertise is narrow, the pool is settled, and depth is hard to verify.

An ER&D leadership role asks for genuine depth in a specific domain, embedded systems, power electronics, autonomous controls, that takes a career to build. The people who have it are few, well-placed, and not reading job posts. A wide search returns generalists who interview well and unravel in the technical deep-dive.

Comp is hard to pin too. Deep-tech leadership doesn't map to a software band, and surveys lump it in anyway. Set the number on the wrong reference and the rare specialist you need never moves.

For deep ER&D roles, verifying real domain depth is where most searches quietly fail.
Across ER&D mandates
Our Approach

Depth, reach, and a band that fits.

We map the narrow specialist pool, verify real domain depth, and benchmark deep-tech leadership on its own terms.

01 · Map the specialists
Find the few with real domain depth
We build the map of who genuinely holds the specific expertise, across India and the diaspora, including people in adjacent domains who could step across. When the pool is small, you want all of it, not the handful who happen to be visible.
02 · Verify the depth
Assess past the keywords on the CV
Deep-tech roles fail on shallow expertise that read well on paper. We assess for genuine, hands-on domain depth so the shortlist holds up under a real technical deep-dive, not just a first screen.
03 · Benchmark deep-tech
Comp that isn't borrowed from software
We price deep-tech leadership against comparable ER&D placements, not a software band that pulls the number in the wrong direction. So the offer lands with a specialist who knows exactly what their depth is worth.
What This Changes

The numbers that move.

Aggregates across ER&D mandates we ran in 2024 to 2025. Not promises, the pattern on deep specialist roles.

~7 wks
Typical brief-to-offer on deep ER&D leadership mandates
Senior time-to-offer
~94%
Of placed leaders still in seat at twelve months
12-month retention, firm-wide
53,000+
VP-and-above leaders we can approach directly, most settled inside peer companies
Off-market senior network
Frequently Asked

Questions we get asked.

If you don't see what you're looking for, the form below is the fastest route. Most enquiries get a response within one working day.

Which ER&D roles do you place?
Systems and embedded engineering, hardware and silicon, controls and autonomy, mechanical and electrical, platform and tooling, and the engineering-leadership layer that runs a deep-tech R&D centre.
How do you verify genuine domain depth?
We assess for hands-on depth, not keyword matches, so the shortlist holds up in a real technical deep-dive. Where a domain is unusually narrow, we tell you how confident the assessment is before you rely on it.
The specialists we want are settled elsewhere. Can you reach them?
Yes. Most deep ER&D leaders are off-market. We map the qualified universe across India and the diaspora and approach them discreetly, which is where the strongest shortlists come from.
How do you benchmark deep-tech comp?
We benchmark against comparable ER&D placements rather than a software band, so the number reflects what deep-tech leadership actually commands and lands credibly with a specialist.
Start a Conversation

Tell us the R&D role you need to fill.

Give us the domain and the city. We'll come back with a read on the specialist pool and the comp, even if we don't end up running the search.

Tell us what you're hiring for.
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Thanks. We'll come back within one working day.