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Executive Search
Manufacturing
Building a new leadership team for a foreign manufacturer’s Thailand launch.
5
leaders placed
90 days
from brief to full team
100%
retained at 12 months
The challenge
A European manufacturer was establishing its first plant in Thailand and needed a complete senior team — plant director, operations, quality, supply chain and finance — in place before commissioning. With no local entity yet and a fixed opening date, speed and judgement both mattered, and discretion was essential while existing operations continued elsewhere.
What we did
•Mapped the Thai manufacturing leadership market and built a confidential target list across five functions.
•Ran parallel searches so the team was assessed as a group, not in isolation — protecting culture fit and chemistry.
•Advised on market salary, titles and total package to keep offers competitive and consistent.
•Coordinated offers and notice periods so the team could onboard together ahead of commissioning.
The result
All five leadership roles were filled within 90 days of the brief, ahead of the plant’s commissioning date. Every hire was still in place a year later, and the client has since engaged Q Hunter for further mid-management hiring as the site scaled.
“They understood that we were hiring a team, not five separate people. The chemistry across the leadership group is a big part of why the launch went so smoothly.”