Building the People Foundation for a PE-Backed DACH SaaS Platform

The Challenge

The client is a software company operating across DACH, backed by a private equity firm that took a majority stake in 2021 with a clear value-creation mandate to scale the business over the following years.

By the time this search opened, PE ownership was about three years in. Headcount had grown fast, but no one was running people as a function, just ad hoc hiring and a patchwork of policies inherited from the pre-buyout team. The value-creation plan called for professionalising HR before the business could scale further.

The company needed someone who had done this exact job before: building a people function from a fragmented base, inside a PE-owned business, reporting to a board that measures HR the same way it measures revenue. Generic corporate HR leaders don't fit that brief, and neither do people who've only ever managed a function someone else built.

They turned to The Big Search.

Overview of the executive search

• PE-backed data and marketplace software company, Germany
• Chief Human Resources Officer
• March 2025 → June 2025
• PE value creation: people foundation phase

Between March and June 2025, The Big Search partnered with the client to place a Chief Human Resources Officer to build its people function from the ground up. The search closed in 80 days, kickoff to hire. Client NPS: 10/10.

Executive Search Across DACH People Leadership

The hunting strategy targeted people leaders who had operated inside a comparable ownership structure: PE-backed, board-accountable, growth-stage. The thesis was simple, someone who has built HR infrastructure once under those conditions moves faster than someone learning the playbook for the first time.

Profile criteria:

• Prior CHRO or Head of People role at a PE- or VC-backed company
• Direct experience scaling headcount through a defined growth phase
• Built HR infrastructure from a fragmented or non-existent base, not inherited it
• Comfortable reporting into a PE board and translating a value-creation plan into people strategy
• Bilingual German/English with an active DACH network
• Hands-on by default, with no expectation of a large existing team or big-company support systems

We mapped 60 candidates against this profile.

First shortlist

21 days from kick-off

Of the 60 candidates mapped, 50 were screened out early, 8 reached Tier 1, and 1 moved to Tier 2. The client personally interviewed all 8 Tier 1 candidates, then ran multiple rounds with the final 2 before deciding. That's a tight funnel for a function this specific, and it reflects a deliberately narrow target list rather than a broad, high-volume search.

Client NPS

10/10

The Placed Candidate: A People Leader Who Had Already Built HR Inside a PE Portfolio Company

They came in from the CPO seat at a consumer marketplace scale-up. Before that, they built the people function at a PE-backed fintech, growing headcount from roughly 100 to 350 employees and lifting employee engagement scores by more than 25 points over the same period, per their account.

• Built from scratch — stood up the people function at a PE-backed fintech during a headcount surge from 100 to 350.
• Engagement proof — raised employee engagement scores by more than 25 points over that period.
• PE-native — reported directly into a PE board and operated against a value-creation plan.
• DACH fluency — bilingual German/English with an established regional network.
• Lean-team mindset — built infrastructure without relying on big-company support systems.

PE-backed software companies rarely miss their value-creation plan because the market disappears. Most have a leadership layer that isn't built to execute it. The Big Search mapped 60 candidates, delivered a first shortlist in 21 days, and closed the hire in 80 days. The client rated the search 10/10.

Most experienced people leaders have managed something someone else built. Very few have built it themselves, inside a PE-owned business, against a board timeline.

If you're running a similar PE value-creation plan and your people function isn't built for it yet, let's talk.