Private equity search runs on a different set of rules than corporate hiring. This is the structure behind a three-year partnership with a leading mid-market sponsor, and what it produced across the portfolio.
Where a Search Begins
SPONSOR LEVEL
Head of Talent
Senior searches begin with the sponsor. TYGES is briefed on the role, where the portfolio company sits inside the value creation plan, and the sponsor’s priorities for the hold period.
Portfolio Level
Company Leadership
Functional and tactical searches start directly at the portfolio company, where the operating need is defined by the people who own the outcome day to day.
What the search has to account for
The Private Equity Discipline
Four conditions separate a sponsor-backed search from a corporate one. Getting them wrong is how searches drift, and drifting searches get reassigned.
Hold-Period Math
Every month a senior seat sits empty or underperforms is a month of EBITDA growth the sponsor cannot recover.
Dual Buyers
The sponsor and the portfolio company must both align on the candidate, the role, and the package. Communication runs in both directions.
Equity Compensation
Management incentive plans and equity rollovers get modeled into the candidate conversation early, not introduced at the offer stage.
Confidentiality
Many searches stay confidential to the market and sometimes to parts of the portfolio company. The wrong move can compromise a deal.
What the Partnership Produced
12
Placements in 3 years
Commercial leadership, supply chain, distribution and logistics, continuous improvement, and plant operations, across portfolio companies from $50M to nearly $1B in revenue.
92%
Retention Rate
Leaders placed are still in their seats. In private equity, a mis-hire costs more than a fee: it costs quarters the sponsor cannot get back.
$5M+
Value Created
Documented and projected savings traced to individual placements, including $3M in year-one freight cost reduction from a single distribution executive.
Signals of a Partnership, Not a Vendor Relationship
2 : 1
Two placements from one search. A plant operations search produced both a plant manager, promoted to director of operations within a year, and a head of continuous improvement. Research deep enough to create options, not just fill a seat.
The relationship survives the exit. Two portfolio companies have kept engaging TYGES under new ownership after the sponsor moved on, reversing the usual pattern where an exit ends the search relationship.