Startup executive search for early-stage and scale-up businesses, from first commercial hires to founder succession. Established 1988.
Oryx provides startup executive search for early-stage and scale-up businesses appointing their first senior leadership, from seed and Series A commercial and operational hires through to the chief executive, finance and manufacturing leaders a company needs as it moves from prototype to production. Our work with innovation-led organisations includes Tokamak Energy, Firefly Green Fuels, Kelpi and Flagstone. The hiring problem here is distinctive: the business usually cannot outbid a corporate on salary, the role is loosely defined because the company is still changing shape, and a wrong appointment in a team of thirty is materially more damaging than in a team of three thousand. We work most often with deep tech, engineering and science-led businesses, where the technology is proven but the commercial, manufacturing and quality functions have yet to be built, and with companies moving from grant and venture funding into revenue.
Retained by founders, boards and investors who cannot afford a miss
Firefly combines proven technology with a growing ecosystem of partners across waste water, fuel production, aviation and investment – all laser focused on scaling SAF, fast. Oryx were retained to recruit a new CFO at a critical stage in Firefly's development.
Kelpi is a sustainable materials innovation company that creates high-performance, seaweed-based coatings to replace fossil fuel plastics in packaging. Oryx handled the project to hire a new COO.
As a startup headhunter, we spend time at the outset defining what the role genuinely requires over the next eighteen months, then search for people who have operated at that stage rather than people whose job title matches. Our in-house research team maps founders, operators and corporate leaders who are ready to move into a smaller, equity-weighted environment, and we approach them directly with an honest account of the opportunity and its risks. Oryx has been running research-led searches since 1988 and is employee-owned, so we are candid with founders and boards about what a market will and will not yield. Every assignment includes weekly auditable progress reporting and a shortlist within eight weeks, with psychometric profiling available to test how a candidate will work alongside a founding team. Our startup recruiters also provide talent mapping and salary benchmarking for boards planning their next funding round. Boards also use our talent mapping to test whether the leadership a plan depends on exists at the salary and equity the business can realistically offer.
Rebecca Ross
Director
26 years with Oryx
Nic Davis
Senior Consultant
11 years with Oryx
Colette Brown
Director
27 years with Oryx
Alex Mitchell
Director
26 years with Oryx
Will Strange
Director
28 years with Oryx
Gemma Killin
Senior Research Manager
12 years with Oryx
Phil Moran
Managing Director
37 years with Oryx
Jon Badger
Senior Research Manager
22 years with Oryx
Alec Berry
Senior Research manager
14 years with Oryx
