Relio

Executive and specialized search for the roles that matter most.

Ready to close the role yesterday?

Leadership seats, business-critical hires, and specialized roles with a narrow pool.

Book an intake call

I take on a limited number of searches at a time so each one stays senior-led from intake through close.

Each week the role isn’t filled, something else gets delayed and the team keeps absorbing the impact.

Every candidate presented comes with context on why they may be worth your time, what stands out, and what is worth testing in the interview.

I've cut time-to-hire significantly in prior roles while keeping the priority on making the right hire, not simply making a fast one.

Particular depth in complex environments, where specialized requirements, a narrow market, or the operating context make a search harder than it first appears.

400+
Hires led
340+
Hires in regulated industries
100+
Agency searches completed
96%
Offer acceptance rate
57 → 20 days
Sales time-to-hire while doubling the team and increasing diversity
98 → 3 days
Specialized engineering vacancy turnaround
Fit

When to bring me in

  • The role is business-critical and inbound is not producing the right people.
  • The candidate pool is narrow, specialized, or difficult to reach.
  • The internal recruiting team is already at capacity.
  • The search has stalled or the same approach is no longer producing new information.
  • The brief itself still needs calibration before the search can move well.
Approach

Why Relio for search

01
Senior judgment throughout. You work directly with the person leading the search, with context carried from intake through candidate presentation and offer.
02
Hiring-side experience, not agency experience alone. Experience includes leading talent acquisition internally, building a recruiting function from the ground up, and creating and leading a candidate experience committee at a SaaS startup.
03
Search plus hiring-system context. A difficult search can surface a candidate-market problem, or expose something deeper in the role, process, interview, compensation, or decision-making.
What the work covers

Roles covered

Leadership and executive
Senior manager through C-level, and first leadership hires in a function.
Specialized
Roles where the pool is narrow, the requirements are unusual, or the operating environment is complex. These are often the searches where general recruiting approaches stop working.
Priority searches
Business-critical roles that need dedicated search ownership, especially when the internal team is stretched or the role cannot afford to sit open.

Depth in:

  • In-house counsel and legal
  • GTM, including sales, marketing, customer success, and revenue leadership
  • Healthtech and health IT, including HL7 and interoperability
  • 503B pharma and FDA-regulated manufacturing
  • Engineering and technical roles, particularly in specialized or complex environments
  • Talent and people leadership

Experience spans pre-revenue through Fortune 500 organizations, including VC-backed, PE-backed, public, privately held, and government environments.

The engagement

How it works

  1. Calibrate the role. Get clear on scope, priorities, success criteria, and what the market actually needs to produce before outreach begins.
  2. Find and assess the market. Targeted sourcing and screening, with candidate context on fit, motivation, strengths, concerns, and what is worth testing in the interview.
  3. Keep the search moving. Recalibrate when the market gives us new information and support the process through offer.
Terms

How it's structured

Search is engaged rather than contingency-based. Fee structure is matched to the individual search or hiring need and agreed before work begins.

Available structures include staged, split, and monthly engagements.

Fees are set after we discuss the role, seniority, scope, and the level of search effort required.

If the market shows that the original brief needs to change, I'll surface that early and recalibrate with you rather than spending weeks working against requirements that are not producing the right market.

Book an intake call

Common questions

Questions about search

What does an executive search cost?
Fees are set after the role and scope are discussed because seniority, search complexity, and the level of effort can vary. Search is engaged rather than contingency-based, with staged, split, or monthly structures available depending on the need.
Can you cover more than one role at a time?
Yes. For multiple concurrent searches, a monthly structure may make more sense than pricing each role separately. The right structure depends on the number of roles, timing, and how much dedicated search coverage is needed.
Do you recruit for roles below the executive level?
Yes. Specialized individual-contributor and business-critical roles are a significant part of the work, particularly when the candidate pool is narrow, the requirements are unusual, or the internal team needs dedicated search support.
What industries do you recruit in?
My background spans SaaS and startups, healthcare and health tech, pharma and regulated manufacturing, industrial and technical businesses, professional services, and organizations going through growth, M&A, or integration. I've worked across VC-backed and PE-backed companies, public companies, government environments, and Fortune 500 organizations. I'm also open to specialized searches outside those sectors when the role and search need are a strong fit.
How long does a search take?
It depends on the role and the market, and I'd rather give you a useful estimate after scoping than a generic timeline here. If the compensation, requirements, or market make the search materially harder than expected, you'll hear that directly rather than finding out after weeks of activity.
Are you a recruiting agency?
Relio is a specialized talent practice. You work directly with me as the person leading the search from intake through close. Depending on the engagement, additional specialists may support sourcing, research, assessment, or other parts of delivery.
Where are you based, and do you recruit outside that area?
Raleigh, North Carolina, in the Research Triangle. Searches run nationally and remotely.
Can you help with the hiring decision itself, not just the search?
Yes, when that support is useful. Depending on the engagement, I can help with role calibration, interview structure, candidate assessment, and decision support alongside the search. We can scope that involvement to what your team actually needs.
Start here

Ready to close the role yesterday?

Send me the role and where the search stands. I'll tell you whether it fits the kind of search I take on and what I'd recommend as the next step.

Two ways to reach me

Email: kate@relioengine.com
Book a 30-min intake call: calendar link →

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