Senior Executive Search Leader

Kraken; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken seeks a seasoned Executive Recruiter to own end-to-end searches across our multi-brand platform, working directly with the Co-CEOs and global leadership. You will run confidential, high-stakes searches for C-level, Board, VP+, and bespoke advisor mandates with discretion and speed.

You will partner with Compensation & Benefits and HR business partners to align on strategy, compensation, and equity discussions while managing external search partners to scale hiring across the organization.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of executive recruiting experience, with ownership of executive searches (VP, C-level, Board) from mandate through close.
• A selection mindset over a screening one. You calibrate candidates against business strategy and can defend a shortlist to a skeptical executive audience.
• Closing and negotiation strength at executive level: pre-closing, offer construction, equity and comp complexity.
• Experience partnering closely with Compensation & Benefits and the HR business partners to ensure full alignment throughout a search lifecycle.
• Business acumen to understand and pitch a complex platform business credibly. Executive candidates buy the thesis, not the job spec.
• Proven agency and retained-firm management — briefing, accountability and spend control.
• Exceptional written and verbal English at executive register.
• Discretion by default, with a track record of executive searches quietly.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity, with responsiveness to candidates and executives across all time zones.
• Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, given the proximity this role requires to our executives and to board and advisory mandates.

Responsibilities

• Own executive recruiting end to end across the Payward platform spanning C-level, Board, VP+ and bespoke Advisor mandates.
• Partner directly with the Co-CEOs and the executive team on the searches that matter most, absorbing their pace and operating as a trusted advisor.
• Run board and advisory mandates with the discretion they require. Confidentiality here is structural, not a preference.
• Define how executive hiring scales as a shared service across a growing, multi-brand platform.
• Own the external search partner strategy: managing relationships with key retained firms, and ensuring seamless partnership if and when they are engaged.
• Report to the Head of Talent and operate as a member of the talent leadership team, with a dotted line into the Chief People Officer.

Skills

Executive recruitment

Strategy alignment

Negotiation

HR partnership

Agency management

English proficiency

Discretion

Location fit

Job description

Kraken seeks a seasoned Executive Recruiter to own end-to-end searches across our multi-brand platform, working directly with the Co-CEOs and global leadership. You will run confidential, high-stakes searches for C-level, Board, VP+, and bespoke advisor mandates with discretion and speed.

You will partner with Compensation & Benefits and HR business partners to align on strategy, compensation, and equity discussions while managing external search partners to scale hiring across the organization.