Senior Associate

About Maneva Group

Maneva Group is a women- and minority-owned national executive search firm that partners with mission-driven organizations to place bold, values-aligned leaders. We are committed to advancing meaningful change and positive impact through every engagement, championing leadership that inspires progress and empowers organizations to thrive.

Our clients include renowned national nonprofits, cultural institutions, community development organizations, education leaders, civic movements, and foundations. From fighting human trafficking to rebuilding Black Wall Street to elevating mental health services, we are proud to support transformative leadership in the sectors that shape society.

Maneva is a rapidly growing, entrepreneurial, and innovative firm built around relationships, exceptional client service, and a genuine commitment to our mission. We are building a collaborative and high-performing team that cares deeply about both the quality of our work and the people behind it.

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The Director is a key member of Maneva's search team, helping support the execution of executive searches from the first conversations with a client through the successful placement of a new leader. This is not a business development role, and is ideal for a senior talent professional who loves the execution side of search.

This is a highly collaborative, client-facing role for someone who loves the intersection of people, strategy, research, storytelling, and project leadership. On any given day, you might be learning the intricacies of a rare disease organization, helping a board articulate what it needs in its next CEO, interviewing an accomplished executive, developing a creative sourcing strategy, or helping a client navigate an important hiring decision.

Working closely with Maneva's Partners and Search Leads, the Director will manage multiple executive search engagements and take meaningful ownership of the search process. You will translate what you hear from clients into a compelling leadership profile and search strategy, build and assess strong candidate pipelines, develop thoughtful client deliverables, and create an exceptional experience for candidates and clients alike.

We want someone who is curious, thoughtful, proactive, and willing to bring ideas to the table - someone who can see around corners, recognize when a search needs to shift, and help the team determine the best path forward.

As Maneva continues to grow, so will this role. The Director will have increasing opportunities to lead search strategy, deepen client relationships, mentor other members of the team, contribute to the firm's growth, and ultimately develop toward independently leading executive search engagements.

• Lead exceptional executive searches: Manage the day-to-day leadership of multiple retained searches, keeping the team aligned, anticipating what comes next, and ensuring every engagement moves forward with thoughtfulness, urgency, and care.
• Understand what great leadership looks like: Listen deeply to executives, board members, staff, and other stakeholders to understand an organization's strategy, culture, opportunities, and challenges - and translate those insights into a clear leadership profile and search strategy.
• Candidate development: Develop creative sourcing strategies and build strong, diverse candidate pools through research, networking, outreach, referrals, and market intelligence. Proactively engage passive candidates through direct calls, personalized emails, Linked In outreach, and targeted relationship-building. Look beyond the obvious candidate and make connections across organizations, sectors, and experiences.
• Assess executive talent: Interview and evaluate senior leaders, digging beyond the resume to understand leadership competencies, accomplishments, motivations, career decisions, and fit with a client's needs. Exercise judgment about which candidates should move forward and communicate those insights through compelling candidate assessments.
• Advise and engage clients: Serve as a trusted day-to-day partner to clients throughout the search. Lead portions of client meetings, present candidates and market insights, synthesize feedback, and help clients navigate decisions throughout the process.
• Create a standout candidate and client experience: Build trusted relationships and ensure that candidates and clients experience Maneva as responsive, thoughtful,…