Executive Search Lead

Kraken • San Francisco, CA

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Payward, the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services, and CF Benchmarks, is seeking an Executive Search Lead. This role is part of an agile, globally distributed talent acquisition team focused on revolutionizing talent attraction. The Executive Search Lead will operate as a Payward-wide shared service, reporting to the Global Head of Talent Acquisition with a dotted line to the Chief People Officer. This position requires a high level of discretion and will handle confidential searches, sensitive succession conversations, and market intelligence, working directly with the Board, C-Suite, and broader Payward leadership team.

Requirements

• 6+ years of executive recruiting experience, with demonstrable ownership of executive searches (VP, C-level, Board) from mandate through close.
• A selection mindset over a screening one.
• Ability to calibrate candidates against business strategy and defend a shortlist to a skeptical executive audience.
• Closing and negotiation strength at executive level: pre-closing, offer construction, equity and comp complexity.
• Experience partnering closely with Compensation & Benefits and the HR business partners to ensure full alignment throughout a search lifecycle.
• Business acumen to understand and pitch a complex platform business credibly.
• Proven agency and retained-firm management — briefing, accountability and spend control.
• Exceptional written and verbal English at executive register.
• Discretion by default, with a track record of executive searches quietly.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity, with responsiveness to candidates and executives across all time zones.
• Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, given the proximity this role requires to our executives and to board and advisory mandates.

Nice To Haves

• In-house executive recruiting experience at a fintech, brokerage, exchange or payments company.
• Background inside a retained executive search firm, in addition to in-house work.
• Experience building executive recruiting as a shared service across multiple entities, or across multiple portfolio companies
• Exposure to crypto or digital assets.

Responsibilities

• Own executive recruiting end to end across the Payward platform spanning C-level, Board, VP+ and bespoke Advisor mandates.
• Partner directly with the Co-CEOs and the executive team on the searches that matter most, absorbing their pace and operating as a trusted advisor.
• Run board and advisory mandates with the discretion they require.
• Define how executive hiring scales as a shared service across a growing, multi-brand platform.
• Own the external search partner strategy: managing relationships with key retained firms, and ensuring seamless partnership if and when they are engaged.
• Report to the Head of Talent and operate as a member of the talent leadership team, with a dotted line into the Chief People Officer.

Benefits

• We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.
• As an equal opportunity employer, we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed