Leadership Recruiters
When a critical leadership role sits vacant, the pressure lands on everyone around it. Onboard Recruiting Partners works with growing companies across the United States as dedicated leadership recruiters, focused on identifying the kind of functional leaders who can step in, earn trust, and drive results without months of orientation. Headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan, the firm serves clients nationally, with a process built around understanding what the role actually demands before a single candidate is evaluated.
A Retained Search Model Built Around the Right Hire
Most recruiting engagements are transactional by design. A contingency firm moves fast because speed determines whether they get paid. That structure works against finding the right person, particularly for senior operational, HR, engineering, and commercial roles where a poor hire creates far more disruption than the original vacancy.
Onboard Recruiting Partners operates on a retained basis, which means the firm is fully committed to each search from the first conversation through final placement. Founder Chris Masson brings more than twenty-five years of hands-on management experience, including corporate leadership at Sherwin-Williams and AkzoNobel, as well as time running his own entrepreneurial venture. That background shapes how every search is framed: not as a resume-matching exercise, but as a business decision with real downstream consequences.
Every search at Onboard Recruiting Partners is run personally by Chris. Clients work directly with the person who understands the role, not an account manager who passes information between teams.
What Strong Leadership Recruiting Actually Requires
Placing a leader well requires understanding what the team needs, not just what the job description says. Before sourcing begins, Onboard Recruiting Partners works to establish clear alignment on the functional requirements, the leadership style that fits the team’s culture, and the organizational context the new hire will step into.
This matters especially in operational environments. A Director of Operations at a multi-site distribution company faces a different set of challenges than one at a single-facility manufacturer. The same title can mean entirely different things depending on team structure, reporting relationships, and the state the operation is in when a new leader arrives. Evaluating candidates through that lens requires the kind of practitioner knowledge that career recruiters rarely develop.
Functional Areas Where Onboard Serves as Leadership Recruiters
-
Operations: Multi-site distribution, supply chain leadership, facility management, and logistics roles where hands-on experience and team leadership depth are non-negotiable.
-
Human Resources: Senior HR leaders who can build people infrastructure while staying aligned with business objectives and leadership team dynamics.
-
Engineering: Technical and functional engineering leaders in manufacturing and industrial environments who bridge execution and strategy.
-
Marketing: Leaders who can direct brand, demand generation, and commercial strategy with a clear connection to business growth.
-
Merchant and Commercial Roles: Category management, sourcing, and commercial leadership positions that require both functional expertise and strong cross-functional partnerships.
The firm does not engage in high-volume staffing or entry-level placement. Each engagement is structured around roles where the hire will have a direct and lasting effect on the organization’s direction and team health.
Why Growing Companies Benefit from This Approach
Companies in the fifty to five-hundred-employee range face a particular challenge when filling leadership roles. Internal HR teams are often managing operational demands that leave little bandwidth for a thorough senior-level search. Job boards surface active candidates but rarely the experienced practitioners who are performing well in comparable roles and not actively looking.
As experienced leadership recruiters on LinkedIn, Onboard Recruiting Partners accesses candidates through direct outreach, industry relationships, and peer networks, reaching people who would not surface through a standard posting. More importantly, the evaluation process goes beyond credentials. Leadership approach, how a candidate manages difficult team dynamics, and how they communicate with peers and senior stakeholders all factor into who gets presented.
If you’re carrying a critical leadership vacancy or planning ahead for a key hire, the right starting point is an honest conversation about what the role requires and what the team needs to succeed. That conversation is where Onboard Recruiting Partners begins every engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to work with a retained leadership recruiter rather than a contingency firm?
A retained search means the firm is exclusively committed to your search from the start, rather than competing with other firms to be first to submit a candidate. Onboard Recruiting Partners is fully engaged on each role, which allows for deeper candidate evaluation, more thorough vetting of leadership style and cultural fit, and consistent communication throughout the process. Contingency recruiting prioritizes speed above all else, which often works against finding the right long-term hire for a senior role.
Which leadership roles does Onboard Recruiting Partners specialize in?
Onboard Recruiting Partners focuses on leadership and key functional roles across operations, human resources, engineering, marketing, and merchant or commercial functions. The firm does not handle high-volume or entry-level staffing. Each engagement is reserved for positions where the hire will have a meaningful and lasting impact on the organization’s performance and team structure.
How does Onboard Recruiting Partners evaluate candidates beyond their resume?
The evaluation process at Onboard Recruiting Partners centers on leadership approach, team dynamics, and long-term cultural fit, not just technical credentials or functional experience. Founder Chris Masson uses his background as a hands-on operator to assess how candidates have led through difficult situations, how they manage people across different levels of an organization, and whether their style aligns with the client’s team and company stage. Resumes provide a starting point; structured conversations and reference context provide the real picture.
Does Onboard Recruiting Partners work with companies outside of Michigan?
Yes. While Onboard Recruiting Partners is headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan, the firm serves growing companies across the United States. The search process is designed to identify and engage qualified leaders wherever they are located, and the firm works with clients in distribution, manufacturing, and a range of other industries on a national basis.
What size of company is best suited to work with Onboard Recruiting Partners?
The firm’s primary focus is on growth-stage companies in the fifty to five-hundred-employee range that are building or strengthening their leadership teams. That said, Onboard Recruiting Partners also serves mid-market companies up to roughly one thousand employees, particularly those going through organizational change, expansion, or succession planning that requires a more deliberate approach to senior hiring.
How does the search process begin?
Every engagement starts with a direct conversation, typically involving the hiring manager and HR lead, to establish a clear picture of the role’s requirements, the team context, and what success looks like at the twelve-month mark. Onboard Recruiting Partners uses that alignment work to guide candidate sourcing and evaluation, ensuring that the people presented are genuinely prepared for the specific environment they would be stepping into, not just broadly qualified on paper.