Hiring Case Studies
Real searches, operational challenges and the work behind each successful hire.
Quantmetry
Quantmetry is a Paris-based AI and data consulting firm founded in 2011, specialising in mathematical data modelling and trusted AI. After completing more than 350 client engagements, the company joined Capgemini Invent in 2022, where it became the group’s centre of expertise for AI.
During a period of strong demand for advanced data capabilities, Quantmetry needed to reinforce its Data Engineering practice to protect delivery across two strategic client accounts in retail and industrial manufacturing.
The challenge was not driven by recruitment volume alone. Quantmetry needed experienced Data Engineers capable of contributing quickly within demanding consulting environments, while operating in a market where the available permanent talent pool had contracted sharply.
A constrained permanent market
A significant share of senior Data Engineers had moved into freelance work. This reduced the number of professionals available for permanent positions at the same time that client demand and delivery pressure were accelerating.
Immediate delivery requirements
The recruitment strategy had to balance two objectives: securing long-term permanent capability for the Data practice and maintaining delivery continuity on active client engagements. Pursuing permanent recruitment without considering market reality could have resulted in lengthy searches and increased operational risk.
The search was structured around direct and continuous collaboration with the Lead Data Engineer. This created a shorter feedback loop between recruitment activity, technical evaluation and the actual requirements of each client engagement.
Search-by-search assessment
Each open role was evaluated individually according to its technical requirements, level of urgency and the realities of the available talent market. This avoided treating every vacancy as an identical recruitment problem.
Permanent and freelance calibration
Permanent recruitment remained the priority whenever the profile could realistically be secured within the required timeframe. When urgency made a permanent search impractical, a freelance route was recommended to protect delivery rather than allowing an unrealistic search to continue for several months.
Continuous technical alignment
Regular calibration with technical leadership helped refine priorities, maintain candidate quality and respond quickly to market feedback. Recruitment decisions were therefore connected to both the technical bar and the operational needs of the business.
- Seven senior Data Engineers hired within three months.
- Delivery continuity maintained across both strategic client accounts during one of the most constrained periods of the market.
- Permanent and freelance options assessed according to the urgency and feasibility of each individual requirement.
- Recruitment delivered without the need to engage a secondary agency.
- The relationship expanded beyond the initial assignment, with technical leadership consulting on recruitment feasibility before finalising internal headcount plans.
Effective technical recruitment requires more than sourcing scarce profiles. It requires an accurate understanding of the talent market, close calibration with technical leadership and the ability to distinguish between a difficult search and an unrealistic one.
By connecting recruitment feasibility with delivery priorities, Quantmetry was able to strengthen its permanent Data Engineering capability while protecting active client engagements. Recruitment became an input into workforce planning, rather than a process initiated only after headcount decisions had already been made.
Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services was experiencing significant growth across two strategic business units: Data and Digital. Both teams faced ambitious recruitment objectives but operated with fundamentally different structures, stakeholders and hiring challenges.
The assignment required accelerating the recruitment of Data and Technology professionals while adapting the delivery model to the specific needs of each business unit.
The challenge extended beyond filling vacancies. It required building recruitment processes that could operate effectively within two very different organizational models.
Data Business Unit
The Data practice was a large, multi-layered organization involving the Head of Data, several hiring managers, multiple client projects and external recruitment agencies. Coordination, prioritization and communication were essential to keep recruitment moving efficiently across the different teams and engagements.
Digital Business Unit
The Digital practice operated with a much leaner structure. Working directly with the Head of Digital, the objective was to quickly rebuild recruitment momentum after a prolonged period of limited hiring activity and establish an efficient recruitment partnership.
Rather than applying a single recruitment methodology, the operating model was adapted to the structure, priorities and pace of each business unit.
with
- Partnered closely with the Head of Data and multiple hiring managers.
- Coordinated recruitment activity across several technical teams and client engagements.
- Acted as the primary liaison between external recruitment agencies and internal stakeholders.
- Helped hiring managers prioritize recruitment needs while maintaining clear communication throughout the process.
Digital
- Built a close recruitment partnership with the Head of Digital.
- Established an agile process based on fast decision-making and continuous feedback.
- Focused on delivering high-quality candidates quickly while creating a collaborative and trusted working relationship.
- Six successful hires completed within the Digital business unit.
- Three hires completed during the first month, helping restart recruitment activity after a prolonged slowdown.
- Recruitment successfully managed across two business units with entirely different operating models.
- Stronger collaboration established between hiring managers, leadership and external recruitment partners, resulting in a more efficient recruitment process.
This assignment demonstrated the importance of adapting recruitment strategy to the organization in which it operates. Whether partnering directly with a business leader or coordinating multiple stakeholders across a complex technical organization, the process was structured around each unit’s priorities, decision-making model and delivery pace while keeping business objectives at the centre.
Exxelia
Operating within the highly specialised aerospace industry, Exxelia needed to strengthen its technical organisation across IT, systems, ERP, business intelligence and engineering.
The assignment combined a significant number of concurrent recruitments with requirements for profiles operating in distinct technical environments. Delivery therefore depended on maintaining recruitment pace without applying the same sourcing or evaluation logic to every position.
The central challenge was to deliver a high volume of technical hires while preserving the level of specialisation required for each position. The searches covered different functions, technologies and levels of responsibility, from infrastructure leadership to ERP and business intelligence expertise.
Multiple technical environments
IT infrastructure, systems and networks, Sage X3, business intelligence and engineering each required a distinct understanding of the market. A broad technology search would have generated volume, but not the level of relevance required by the teams.
Volume without loss of precision
Managing multiple recruitment processes simultaneously required clear prioritisation, consistent follow-up and the ability to allocate sourcing effort according to the scarcity and urgency of each requirement.
Over a six-month assignment, the recruitment activity was managed in direct collaboration with the CEO and the BI Manager. This provided access to both business priorities and the technical context required to distinguish critical requirements from secondary preferences.
Requirement-by-requirement calibration
Each search was scoped according to its technical environment, expected level of ownership and operational priority. This made it possible to adapt the search strategy instead of processing all vacancies through a single recruitment model.
Targeted headhunting
Specialised and harder-to-identify profiles were approached through focused direct sourcing. Search parameters were adjusted around the relevant systems, technologies and responsibilities rather than job titles alone.
Parallel pipeline management
High-volume recruitment and targeted searches were managed in parallel. Priorities were reviewed continuously so that urgent positions retained momentum without allowing specialist searches to lose the sustained attention they required.
- More than 45 successful technical hires completed within six months.
- Recruitment delivered across IT, systems, ERP, business intelligence and engineering functions.
- Multiple recruitment processes managed simultaneously while maintaining targeted sourcing for specialist requirements.
- Successful appointments included an IT Manager specialising in Systems and Networks, a Sage X3 Engineer and a BI Consultant.
- Recruitment priorities aligned directly with senior leadership and technical management throughout the assignment.
High-volume technical recruitment does not require every search to be managed in the same way. It requires a common operating structure combined with different sourcing strategies for different technical markets.
By separating broad pipeline activity from targeted specialist searches, Exxelia was able to complete more than 45 hires in six months while continuing to address roles requiring specific expertise in infrastructure, ERP and business intelligence.
Shiseido
Shiseido needed to recruit a specialised SAP professional for a business-critical position connecting its technology environment with Finance and Supply Chain operations.
The requirement combined SAP expertise with a detailed understanding of the underlying business processes, significantly reducing the number of candidates able to operate effectively across both dimensions.
The position had remained open for several months despite Shiseido’s existing recruitment channels having already been activated.
The difficulty was not generating additional applications. It was identifying professionals with the right combination of SAP capability, functional expertise and experience operating within a complex international organisation.
Technical and functional depth
General SAP experience was not sufficient. The role required an understanding of how the system supported Finance and Supply Chain processes, together with the ability to operate across technical and functional stakeholders.
A narrow candidate market
Conventional sourcing based primarily on SAP keywords produced profiles with only partial relevance: technical candidates without sufficient functional depth, or functional specialists without the required level of ownership within an SAP environment.
The search was rebuilt around the actual operating scope of the position rather than its title alone.
Requirement decomposition
The technical and functional requirements were separated into clear evaluation criteria. Essential experience was distinguished from knowledge that could be transferred or developed after joining the organisation.
Targeted market mapping
Target companies and candidate populations were mapped according to their SAP environments and the level of interaction between technology, Finance and Supply Chain teams.
Direct sourcing beyond existing channels
Direct sourcing focused on professionals whose experience demonstrated the required combination, including candidates who were not actively applying through the channels already used by Shiseido.
Evidence-based assessment
Each profile was evaluated against the business processes supported, the scope of SAP responsibility and the candidate’s ability to work across technical and functional stakeholders.
- One critical SAP hire completed during the three-month assignment.
- A position that had remained unresolved for several months was brought to completion.
- Relevant candidates were identified outside the recruitment channels previously activated.
- Candidate evaluation was refocused on the intersection of SAP capability and functional business knowledge.
- The position was filled without reducing its essential technical and functional requirements.
A stalled specialist search is not always resolved by increasing recruitment volume. In narrow SAP markets, search quality depends on defining the precise intersection between system expertise, business-process knowledge and the operating scope of the position.
By rebuilding the search around that intersection, Shiseido was able to reach candidates who had not been identified through its existing channels and complete a recruitment that had remained open for several months.