Associate principal

About Native:

Native is a leading executive search firm, partnering with organisations to build high-impact leadership teams. We connect people and organisations so that they grow effortlessly. We understand the lay of the land through a unique blend of instinct and data, and use this to help people and organisations make smart decisions about where and with whom they work. We call this the Power of Informed Intuition. With a reach across 14 industries, our 140+ consultants across our three offices - Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore - have helped over 4,500 business leaders find companies native to them.

About the Role:

We are growing our finance leadership hiring team in Mumbai and are looking to onboard an Associate Principal/Principal to lead client acquisition and own senior mandates independently.

You will work as part of the Finance practice, driving CFO and senior finance leadership searches across sectors.

This is a business-ownership role - you will build and manage your own client relationships, lead mandates end-to-end, and play a key role in growing the practice's revenue and market presence.

Key Responsibilities:

- Driving business development - identifying, pitching, and converting new client relationships for leadership hiring mandates

- Owning senior finance and CXO-level search mandates end-to-end, from client scoping to closure

- Building and nurturing long-term relationships with founders, CFOs, and CXOs as trusted advisors on leadership hiring

- Leading market mapping, target company research, and candidate assessment for complex, senior-level searches

- Building and mentoring a team of consultants supporting your mandates

- Owning revenue targets and contributing to the practice's overall growth in the West region

- Building market intelligence - talent maps, compensation benchmarks, and industry trackers - to strengthen client conversations

- Use AI to create repeatable recruiting workflows, document processes, and reduce manual operational drag

Ideal Candidate Profile:

-8 to 10+ years of experience in Executive Search, with a proven track record of client acquisition and mandate ownership; candidates from B2 B Sales / Business Development with strong stakeholder-facing experience will also be considered

- Demonstrated ability to build and grow client relationships independently, with a strong commercial and consultative mindset

- Strong communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, with experience engaging CXO-level audiences

- Familiarity with responsible AI usage in hiring, including human oversight, consistency, fairness, and compliance-sensitive process design

- High ownership and accountability; comfortable driving revenue targets in a fast-paced, client-facing environment

- Genuine interest in building a long-term career in leadership hiring and talent advisory

Location:

Mumbai (in-office)