Vela Talent is a boutique, partner-led executive search firm. We partner with founders, CEOs, and investors at VC/PE-backed companies to place leaders who shape the trajectory of their organizations.
We specialize in retained searches for high-impact People & Talent leaders across all stages of pre-IPO companies, and specialize in GTM execs from Seed thru Series C. From Director to C-suite, we focus on the roles that define culture, drive growth, and determine what a company becomes.
We don't just fill roles. We help you build what's next.
Every search is led directly by a founding Partner from kickoff to close. We operate as an extension of your leadership team -- aligned on outcomes, embedded in your context, and accountable for results.
We combine long-term, highly trusted relationships with disciplined market mapping. The result: exceptional, engaged candidates, not just available ones.
We’ve worked alongside founders and executive teams through pivotal growth stages. We understand the realities of scaling organizations and what great leadership looks like in practice.
Our approach is structured and transparent -- defining success upfront, aligning on competencies and values, and providing real-time visibility throughout the search. Focused, rigorous, and built for long-term impact.
.png)
Vela Talent was founded to offer clients an exceptional executive search experience.
We take on a select number of private-company searches to ensure every engagement receives senior-level attention and execution. No overextension. No handoffs.
Our founding partners bring experience across global search firms and leadership roles at iconic tech companies. We've lived as operators and understand what matters: values fit, candidate experience, and structured process. We specialize in People & Talent leadership and early-stage Go-to-Market roles. Precision matters, and we stay in our lane.
Every placement is evaluated for durability, cultural impact, and leadership maturity, not just résumé credentials. We prioritize alignment and speed, making the search process as rewarding as the outcome. We built Vela to be the kind of search partner we would want ourselves: focused, experienced, and deeply accountable.
Lisa has been helping technology companies find outstanding leaders for nearly two decades. As a search consultant, she has led searches for Series A through public technology companies across all corporate functions. In her operating years, she built the first in-house Leadership Recruiting team at Airbnb and helped scale Salesforce from 6,000 to 16,000 employees.
With over two decades in talent acquisition and executive search, Janet brings operational expertise and entrepreneurial success to Vela Talent. She began as a recruiting leader for high-growth startups, partnering with corporate executives to build leadership teams. In 2014, Janet founded HRSE, a successful boutique search firm focused on placing People leaders in privately held tech companies.
Suzy brings deep operating experience, industry knowledge, and a strategic approach to Vela Talent. She has nearly two decades of experience scaling talent at top technology companies such as Google, Salesforce, Stripe, and Hashi Corp. Specializing in the Go-to-Market space, she has spent the last decade recruiting top-tier leadership and guiding organizations through critical growth phases.