Comprehensive Leadership Solutions

Retained executive search is a committed, exclusive engagement where the firm is paid a retainer upfront to dedicate full research and partner attention to the mandate. Contingency recruitment is paid only on placement and is typically run on multiple mandates simultaneously — creating a volume-over-quality dynamic. For C-suite and board-level roles, retained search is the industry standard because it ensures the firm does the work of finding the best candidate in the market, not just the best available candidate. Every Gladwin International mandate is retained.

Our 12-Month Candidate Guarantee covers every executive we place. If a leader departs or underperforms within 12 months of their joining date — for reasons related to role fit, cultural alignment, or misrepresentation during the search process — we conduct a full replacement search at no additional professional fee. This is the most comprehensive placement guarantee available from any executive search firm in India. It is included as a commitment in every search engagement letter we sign.

A standard retained executive search at Gladwin International is completed in 45–60 days from signed engagement to accepted offer. This includes: Week 1–2 (discovery and position success profile), Week 2–3 (market mapping and research), Week 3–5 (outreach, qualification and assessment), Week 5–7 (client presentations and interview rounds), Week 7–8 (reference checks, offer management, acceptance). CEO and board-level searches may require 60–75 days. Post-offer onboarding support continues through the first 90 days of the new leader's tenure.

We work with organisations across the full growth spectrum — from Series A startups making their first senior hire to Fortune 500 multinationals building leadership teams in India. Our Meaningful Pricing Tiers are specifically designed to make world-class executive search accessible at every stage: startup-friendly retainer structures, mid-market packages, and full enterprise search programs. Every client, regardless of size, receives the same quality of partner attention, research depth, and candidate commitment.

India is home to over 1,700 Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and this number is growing at 11% annually. Setting up or scaling a GCC requires a very specific type of leader — one who understands the global corporate parent's culture and expectations while possessing the India-specific expertise to build, recruit, and operate a high-performing centre. Gladwin International has placed GCC Heads, COOs, CTOs, CHROs, and full leadership teams for GCCs across banking, technology, insurance, and pharma sectors. Our GCC Leadership practice is one of the most active in the industry.

Three things set Gladwin International apart: (1) Our consultants are former industry practitioners — not career recruiters — giving us genuine domain depth across 20 industry sectors. (2) We offer India's most comprehensive candidate guarantee at 12 months — the longest in the market. (3) We have a Guaranteed Placement commitment — we do not close a search file until the right leader is placed, regardless of how long it takes. This is backed by our deep 50,000+ executive network built since 2010 and our proprietary assessment framework that evaluates competency, character, and cultural fit.

Interim leadership is the deployment of a pre-vetted, senior executive on a temporary basis — typically for 3 to 24 months — to fill an urgent leadership gap. Companies need interim leadership during a permanent search (to avoid a leadership vacuum), during a turnaround or crisis (when an expert is needed immediately), post-merger integration (when specialised leadership is required for a defined period), or for a special project that requires senior leadership bandwidth not available internally. Gladwin International's pre-vetted interim network can deploy within 5–10 days.