Executive Leadership, Designed Before It’s Hired
Executive search for creative, product, and design leadership — built for companies that can’t afford to get it wrong.
Hiring senior creative, product, or design leadership isn’t a sourcing problem.
It’s a clarity and systems problem.
Most growth-stage companies rush to fill VP-level roles before defining what success actually looks like. Hive helps leadership teams design the role, mandate, and operating model first — then runs a focused, high-conviction executive search.
Talent Architecture™ = designing the leadership role, mandate, and success criteria before executive search.
The Biggest Failure in Business Isn't a Bad Product.
It's Misaligned Leadership.
Great companies don’t fail because they can’t build. They fail because their leadership model wasn’t built for what’s next.
Roles shift, markets evolve, and growth outpaces the systems behind the people.
Hive’s Talent Architecture™ process realigns leadership, structure, and hiring around your future state — before your next critical hire.
“40-50% of executive hires fail within 18 months—
not because of skills, but because of structural misalignment.*”
Why Traditional Executive Search Fails for Creative Roles
They Start with Candidates, Not Clarity
Most search begins before success is defined.
The result isn’t a lack of resumes — it’s strong candidates evaluated against a role that was never designed for the business you’re building now.
They Can't Evaluate Creative Leadership
VP-level creative and product leadership isn’t about output.
It’s about decision-making, influence, and systems thinking — none of which show up on LinkedIn profiles or in standard interviews.
Those gaps surface months after the hire.
They Disappear After Placement
Traditional search optimizes for placement, not outcomes.
No onboarding support. No success criteria beyond “they accepted.”
By the time misalignment shows up, the cost is already sunk.
This is why most leadership failures aren’t talent problems.
They’re design problems — baked in before the search begins.
Our Approach: Talent Architecture™
We design the system first. Then we hire for it.
Hive’s proprietary Talent Architecture™ framework aligns leadership, structure, and hiring around your future state, not your current one.
This isn’t how most search firms work —because most search firms get paid to fill roles, not to tell you when not to hire.
Before anyone is sourced, interviewed, or evaluated, we design the system the leader will operate inside.
This includes:
the role
the mandate
the success criteria
conditions required for that leader to succeed
That work doesn’t disappear once the hire is made. We stay involved through evaluation, decision-making, and integration — ensuring the leadership you install actually works in practice, not just on paper.
This is why Hive engagements feel different and why our hires last.
See where you should start.
Where You Start Depends on One Thing: Clarity
Start with clarity.
Hire with confidence.
Build for scale.
Most companies don’t need to guess where to start — the answer becomes obvious once clarity is defined.
Leadership Readiness Assessment
Clarity before commitment
A focused two-week diagnostic to determine whether you should hire, redesign the role, or pause and what leadership move actually makes sense.
Investment: $6,000
Timeline: Two weeks
This is the required starting point for most engagements.
This is right for you if:
You know something isn’t working, but aren’t confident the answer is “hire”
You want an outside perspective before a high-stakes leadership decision
You’re willing to hear that the right answer may be not to hire yet
What you get:
A clear recommendation: proceed, pause, or redesign
A defined leadership mandate (or confirmation not to hire)
Executive Leadership Installation
When one hire will redefine how the company works
For companies making a single, high-stakes creative, product, or design leadership hire — where the role will materially change how the organization operates.
This is not recruiting-as-a-service.
We design the role, pressure-test the mandate, and install leadership that works, not leadership that interviews well.
This is right for you if:
You’re hiring a VP, SVP, or C-level creative/product/design leader
You need the hire to change how the organization functions — not just fill a seat
Your last leadership hire didn’t work, and instinct alone isn’t enough this time
What this ensures:
The role is designed for your current stage — not copied from a job description
The mandate is clear before candidates ever see it
The hire changes how the company operates
Talent Architecture™ Retainer
Build a creative leadership engine, not isolated hires
For companies making 2–3+ senior leadership hires over 6–12 months, where sequencing, structure, and continuity determine success.
This is outcome-driven, time-bound partnership, not open-ended advisory.
This is right for you if:
You’re building or rebuilding a creative or product organization
You need leadership roles to reinforce each other — not compete
You want an embedded partner, not transactional placement
Hiring decisions are tied to broader organizational design
What this changes:
You stop hiring reactively and start sequencing leadership intentionally
Roles, timing, and structure are designed together
Multiple hires reinforce each other instead of creating friction
Why Companies Choose Hive
We design leadership systems before sourcing candidates
So hires are evaluated against a mandate built for your next stage — not recycled job descriptions.
We take on selective engagements
Because high-stakes leadership decisions require judgment, not volume.
We operate as strategic partners, not transactional vendors
Staying involved through role design, decision-making, and integration — not disappearing once an offer is signed.
Hive isn’t for every company.
If you need to fill a role this month, we’re not the right partner. If you want resume volume instead of strategic rigor, we’re not the right fit.
But if you’re:
Building for the next stage of growth
Making leadership decisions that will impact the business for years
Willing to invest in getting it right the first time
Then we should talk.
Who Hive Is (and Isn’t) For
Ready to Make the Right Leadership Decision?
Book a Leadership Readiness Assessment.
We’ll diagnose your hiring readiness, identify gaps, and map the right next step — whether that’s search, redesign, or pause.