Confidential search for an AI leader at a Hangzhou Six Little Dragons company

Background

The client, one of Hangzhou’s Six Little Dragons, needed a leader who could own the AI business end to end. The role was sensitive: the client could not reveal its hiring intent, yet still had to compete for the same people as several top AI companies.

Challenge

• The client identity could not surface early — revealing it would affect fundraising, the team and competitive position.
• Most target candidates held critical roles at leading companies and were extremely cautious about any approach.
• Business capability, organisational execution and long-term motivation all had to be judged at once.

What we did

• Built an anonymised talent map through systematic search across target companies and adjacent pools.
• Double-blind matching: candidates saw the business and reporting line first, the client saw anonymised profiles and the reasoning behind them.
• The consultant committee joined the critical judgment, focusing on whether candidates had fought real battles and could land inside the existing organisation.
• Client identity, communication cadence and information boundaries were controlled end to end; every document was redacted.

Timeline

1. Month 1Role diagnostic and confidentiality boundary design; the double-blind process was fixed.
2. Months 2–4Talent mapping and anonymous outreach, continuously calibrating the candidate profile.
3. Months 5–6Progressive unlocking once both sides showed interest; deeper conversations arranged.
4. Months 7–8Offer, background conversations and onboarding follow-up, without ever exposing the client.

Outcome

• 1,853profiles searched
• 1hire
• 0identity leaks

1,853 profiles searched over eight months, one leader hired, zero identity leaks. Candidates learned who the client was only after both sides confirmed interest.