Northwind Robotics

Series B automation company building out its platform org after a raise. A permanent Director of Software Engineering search is opening now, and no search firm holds the mandate yet.

The mandate

RoleDirector, Software Engineering

BasisPermanent

First-year comp~$260,000

Fee22% contingency

Container option. The same mandate can run engaged, with a 30 percent deposit taken upfront for exclusivity, roughly $17,000, and the balance billed on placement. The deposit holds if the search runs long or the role is pulled, which is the commitment a first-time-critical hire usually warrants.

Trigger, why now

Closed a Series B eight weeks ago, with the deck naming a platform rebuild and a doubling of engineering as the primary use of funds. The org has no engineering director to run it.
The CTO is still carrying the org directly and is the bottleneck. The first outside leadership hire is the one that unblocks the roadmap, and it is the one founders most often get wrong on their own.

Signals

Series B closed, platform build named in the raise last 60 days

Funding language ties the spend to engineering leadership. Senior eng leadership searches usually open within a quarter of a raise this size.
CTO carrying the org, no VP or Director layer current

A structural gap, not a backfill. The search is net-new leadership, which favors an exclusive, well-mapped process over a spray of resumes.
A nearby competitor reorganized its platform group last 30 days

Senior engineering leaders there are newly reachable, so the passive pool for this exact profile is unusually open right now.

Company context

Roughly 140 employees, about 55 in engineering, scaling a platform org for the first time.
Needs a builder who has taken an engineering org from founder-led to structured, not a caretaker. Fit and track record decide this, not speed alone.
The exact profile Halyard places well, and the search rewards a firm that arrives with the market already mapped rather than one starting from a blank board.

Decision-makers

Contact	Why they matter
Cameron Wu CTO and co-founder cameron.wu@northwindrobotics.com · (415) 555-0142	Owns the bar and the final call. Feels the bottleneck first, and the one to reach with a market read, not a pitch.
Devin Ashford Chief Operating Officer devin.ashford@northwindrobotics.com · (415) 555-0188	Economic buyer. Signs the search agreement and cares about time-to-hire against the roadmap.
Alexis Romano Head of People alexis.romano@northwindrobotics.com · (415) 555-0119	Runs the search-firm process and the interview loop. The path to an exclusive engagement.

Why it matters

A first leadership hire that runs open and non-exclusive turns into a resume race that a founder does not have time to referee. The firm that wins this mandate exclusive, on a container or contingency basis, controls the process and the placement.
Arriving with the reorganized-competitor talent already mapped, and a point of view on the build, lands Halyard as the search partner rather than one of three agencies sending the same three profiles.

Opening message, to Cameron Wu, CTO

Signal, read of the moment, curiosity. No meeting ask.

Cameron, congratulations on the Series B. The first engineering leader you bring in to take the org off your plate is the hire that unlocks the roadmap, and it is the one most founders end up redoing once. A platform group nearby just reorganized, so a short list of leaders who have done exactly this build is reachable right now in a way it will not be in a quarter. Curious whether your timeline for that hire matches what we are seeing. Worth a quick reaction?

Intelligence prepared by Redline Growth. Signal-enriched search mandate dossier.

Illustrative. Names and signals are fictional. Confidential.