The internal bench isn't ready
Someone is leaving in six months and the obvious successor needs two more years. You need the market checked before you decide.
Executive search firm in Mumbai
Executive search in Mumbai, for the roles that decide the next five years.
Retained executive search for business-critical leadership roles: the functional heads, business unit leaders and P&L owners who sit around and one layer below the CEO. Based in Andheri (East), Mumbai, working across Mumbai, Pune, Maharashtra and India's industrial belts. If you are comparing the top 10 executive search firms in Mumbai, this page sets out exactly how we work so you can judge the fit.
India & EMEA
Founder-led
Confidential
100Leaders mapped per mandate
The short answer
What does an executive search firm in Mumbai actually do?
An executive search firm is retained by a company to research a defined market, approach senior leaders confidentially and recruit them into business critical roles. Rather than advertising a role, executive recruiters in Mumbai map every relevant leader in the target industries, approach them directly, assess them against an agreed competency brief, and present a small, argued shortlist. ASTC Services has run these searches from Mumbai since 2013.
This is our core practice and where most Mumbai clients start. It suits a role that is consequential but not board-level: a business head with revenue responsibility, a plant head for a new site, a first professional CXO in a promoter-led business. The search is run by both founders, on a retained fee agreed before work begins no contingency, no CV forwarding, no competing agencies working the same brief.
Is this you?
Succession
Growth
First hire
Three situations that usually bring companies here.
If one of these sounds like your quarter, the first conversation will be useful whether or not you appoint us.
A new business head with real P&L
Revenue responsibility, multi-site or multi market. The people who can do it are running something already.
The first professional CXO in a promoter-led business
The role has never existed. Half the work is agreeing what authority it actually carries.
Roles
What we are typically retained for.
If your role isn't on this list it is still worth a call the answer takes five minutes.
- Functional heads sales, marketing, operations, supply chain, HR, finance
- Business unit and regional heads with full P&L ownership
- General managers and plant heads for manufacturing-led businesses
- Category and vertical leaders in consumer, chemicals, auto and retail
- Succession-critical roles where the internal bench isn't ready
- First professional leadership hires into promoter run companies
How it works
Four weeks to a shortlist you can argue about.
The full method runs to eight stages. This is the shape of it from your side of the table.
- 01
Brief & challenge
We interrogate the role, the reporting line and the compensation before any search begins.
- 02
Map the market
You approve the target companies. We map roughly 100 relevant leaders.
- 03
Approach & assess
46 approached in confidence, 14 assessed in depth against the agreed competencies.
- 04
Shortlist & close
Four candidates with written appraisals, then interviews, references and offer management.
What's different here
Large-firm research, run by the two people you met.
The reach and research discipline of a large executive search company, without your mandate being handed to an associate the week after it's signed. That is the whole reason the firm stays small.
- Both founders personally on every search, from briefing to onboarding
- Approved target market before any candidate is approached
- Around 100 leaders mapped for a typical CXO role in India
- First shortlist in about four weeks, with written appraisals
- Off-limits agreement we don't re-recruit anyone we place for you
What you actually receive
Market map
Every relevant leader in the agreed target market, named and levelled.
Shortlist of four
Each with a written case for, case against and compensation position.
Reference reports
Structured references with people who actually managed them.
Offer & onboarding
Counter-offer management and check-ins through the first months.
Proof
Twelve years with one client is the only proof that counts.
Our longest client partnership, at the intersection of chemistry and consumer goods, is in its twelfth year and has spanned multiple leadership generations. In logistics, we rebuilt senior leadership for DTDC around a network serviceability problem. In specialty chemicals, we staffed Baerlocher's Dewas plant leadership as it expanded near Indore.
He took the time to truly understand our organization, culture and business, and helped define a profile that was right not just for our current stage, but for the several fold growth we are targeting.
Anatomy of one search
What a single CXO mandate looks like from the inside.
Most executive search companies show you the placement. This is the work behind it: the market we map, the leaders we approach in confidence, and the very small number who reach your table.
Around 100 relevant leaders exist in a typical Indian CXO market. Four of them will meet you.
Market mapped
Approached in confidence
Assessed in depth
Shortlist presented
Offer accepted
Representative shape of a completed CXO search. Volumes vary by sector and geography.
Choosing
Not sure this is the right practice?
The three practices share a method and differ in who the hire reports to and how the search runs. If you're between two, call us we'll tell you which one your role belongs in.
| Practice | Typical roles | Reports to | How it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Search | Functional heads, business unit heads, P&L owners, plant heads | CEO or CXO | Retained, one mandate at a time |
| Leadership Hiring | Senior management layer, category and regional leaders, succession bench | Function head or BU head | Retained, often a multi-role programme |
| C-Level Recruitment | CEO, CFO, COO, CHRO, CIO, board and promoter-office roles | Board, promoter or investor | Retained, confidential, often off-market |
Case studies
Mandates we can talk about.
Chemicals × Consumer · 12 years
A twelve-year talent partnership at the intersection of chemistry and consumer goods
What keeps a client relationship alive through three CEOs and two market cycles.
Read the case study →
Logistics · Leadership transformation
Orchestrating a leadership transformation for DTDC
Solving the serviceability puzzle at one of India's largest logistics networks.
Read the case study →
Specialty chemicals · Greenfield
Baerlocher's strategic expansion and growth in Indore
Building a plant leadership team in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, from the ground up.
Read the case study →FAQ
Questions about executive search
What does an executive search firm in Mumbai do?
It is retained by a company to research the market for a senior role, approach qualified leaders directly and confidentially including those not looking to move — assess them against an agreed brief, and present a shortlist with written appraisals. ASTC Services does this from Andheri (East), Mumbai, for clients across Mumbai, Pune and the rest of India.
How do I choose between the top 10 executive search firms in Mumbai?
Ask four questions. Who will actually run the search the person pitching, or an associate? How many live mandates does that person carry? Can they name the leadership bench in your sector without opening a database? And will they tell you when your brief is unrealistic? Firm size matters far less than who does the work.
How is executive search different from a recruitment agency?
A recruitment agency typically works on contingency from applicants, job boards and databases, and is paid on placement. An executive search firm is retained upfront for one defined mandate, researches the whole relevant market including passive executives, and is accountable for the search itself rather than for sending CVs.
How much does executive search cost in India?
Retained search is normally priced as a percentage of the role's first year total compensation, staged across the mandate an engagement fee at the start, a fee at shortlist, and a balance on completion. ASTC agrees the fee per mandate in writing before work begins.
How long does an executive search take in Mumbai?
A first shortlist usually reaches the client about four weeks after briefing. Most searches complete within eight to fourteen weeks, depending on seniority, the size of the talent pool and the client's interview cycle.
Which sectors do you run executive searches in?
Chemicals and agro chemicals, industrial and manufacturing, consumer (FMCG and FMCD), auto and auto components, pharma and healthcare, real estate, retail, e-commerce and digital, consumer technology, energy, logistics, and engineering and projects.
Do you cover roles outside Mumbai?
Yes. Mumbai is our base, but mandates regularly cover Pune, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, and our London practice covers EMEA.
Are you executive recruiters, headhunters or an executive search firm?
All three describe the same work. Executive recruiters in Mumbai and headhunters are informal terms for consultants who approach employed leaders directly; executive search firm is the formal description of a retained practice that maps a market, approaches leaders and assesses them against a brief. ASTC Services works exclusively on retainer.
Start here
Tell us the role. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right firm for it.
A first conversation takes about 30 minutes and costs nothing. You'll leave with a view of the market for that role the talent pools, a realistic compensation band, and how long the search should take whether or not you appoint us.
- 01
You send the role
The title, the reporting line and why the seat is open. Two paragraphs is enough to start.
- 02
We come back within a day
With a first read on the market: who exists, what they cost, how long it should take.
- 03
You decide
No proposal deck, no pursuit calls. If we're not the right firm for this one, we'll say so.