Fractional talent partner for growth-stage companies
Senior hiring, and the systems behind it, for firms on the verge of their next chapter.
I embed with growth-stage teams to hire the leaders who take them to the next stage, without the cost of a full-time head of talent or the distance of an agency. My edge: 14 years recruiting in financial services. If you sell into that world or need people from it, I know where they are.
Who I work with
Growth-stage companies, especially those with financial services in their world.
I partner with companies that are scaling faster than their talent function. Where I add the most is when your buyers or your next hires come from financial services: the world I've recruited in for 14 years and the network I sit in.
Selling into financial services
Fintechs and B2B companies
Go-to-market leaders, sales and BD hires who already know your buyers at banks, asset managers and funds, and can open doors from day one.
Hiring from financial services
PE- and VC-backed portfolio companies
Strategic finance, corporate development and M&A leaders drawn from banking, private equity and asset management.
Building the leadership team
Founder-led companies
First executive hires, run with the rigour of a global search firm, where one wrong hire sets you back a year.
How I work
Three ways to engage.
Fractional head of talent
A senior talent leader, part-time. I set your hiring plan, build the process, run your most important searches and coach your hiring managers.
Monthly retainer
Embedded recruiting
I work inside your team for a hiring sprint: outbound sourcing, inbound pipeline and closing, representing your company directly to candidates.
Fixed-term engagement
Retained executive search
One critical leadership hire, done properly: market map, outreach, assessment, references and offer, with the rigour of a global search firm.
Per search
Track record
14 years of senior search in financial services and B2B SaaS.
~12 wks
Average close for senior financial services searches
79%
Five-year retention of placed candidates
95%
Client retention through a firm merger
26
Portfolio companies supported from one talent function
- Founding team at FPIA Partners, a financial services search boutique; COO & Managing Partner after its merger into Boyden
- Won a place on a $1.7T sovereign wealth fund's search panel, competing against the largest firms in the industry
- Built the talent function from zero at Valsoft, a PE-backed software group of 26 companies
- Searches for analysts, portfolio managers, institutional sales and GTM leaders across asset management, hedge funds, PE and fintech
An engagement
What working together looks like.
- 01
Align
Get your decision-makers agreeing on what great looks like before a single candidate call.
- 02
Map
Build a map of the market: who the right people are, where they sit, and what would move them.
- 03
Engage and assess
Reach candidates directly, assess them rigorously, and bring you a short list you trust.
- 04
Close and build
Close the hire, then leave you with a process your team can run without me.
About
I'm Sowbagya Gokulram.
Before I recruited anyone, I spent four years running operations at my family's ice cream business. It taught me early that the strategy matters less than the people behind it.
I joined FPIA Partners at its founding, grew from researcher to partner, and led our merger into Boyden as COO & Managing Partner. At Valsoft I built a talent function from scratch across 26 portfolio companies. At both I was the person teams called when a hire couldn't go wrong.
I started Brahma Advisory to do that work directly: in the room with founders, finding the person a growing business needs next.
Connect on LinkedInCommon questions
What is a fractional talent partner?
A senior talent leader who works with a small number of companies at once. You get executive-level judgment on hiring for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire, and I work as part of your team rather than as an outside vendor.
How is this different from a recruiting agency?
Contingency agencies are paid to send résumés. I'm accountable for the outcome: aligning your team, mapping the market, assessing candidates in depth and building a process you keep after the hire.
When should we hire a full-time head of talent instead?
Usually once you're making well over a dozen hires a year, consistently. Until then, a fractional partner gives you the expertise without paying for idle capacity. I'm happy to help you hire that person when the time comes.
How is pricing structured?
Fractional and embedded work is a monthly retainer sized to your hiring plan. Executive search is a retained fee per search. We'll scope it together on the first call.
Planning a critical hire?
Tell me what you're building. In 30 minutes we'll know whether I can help, and what it would take.