Questions, answered.

We fill manager-level and above roles, most often across the functions below.

Operations and delivery: warehousing, logistics, inventory, scheduling, vendor management, and multi-site operations. Finance and administration: accounting, Controller and CFO, AR and collections, HR and payroll. Technology and systems: IT and networking, ERP and business systems, software development. Commercial: sales, retail, customer experience, and service delivery. And the top of the house: CEO, COO, VP of Operations, general management, and transformation or turnaround roles.

The structure is straightforward. Retained searches are billed in milestone stages as the search progresses. Engaged searches start with a small upfront fee, and the balance is due once you make a hire.

The percentage itself is set per engagement based on the scope and seniority of the role. We walk through the specifics on a kickoff call, so you know exactly what you're paying before anything starts.

Yes. Discretion is built into how we run every search, whether that's a sensitive leadership transition or a role a current employee doesn't know is open.

Engaged professional search covers manager level through executive. A small fee starts the search, and the balance is due once you hire.

Retained executive search covers the top of the house: the CEO seat itself, plus the seats reporting directly to the CEO or owner, or sitting on the executive or leadership committee. It's a dedicated engagement, billed in stages as the search progresses.

Senior seats can fit either search. Which one we recommend comes down to where the role sits and how you want the engagement structured.

It depends on the seniority of the role and how narrow the specification is, but most searches move in weeks rather than months. Because we've run operations ourselves, we spend less time getting up to speed on your business and more time actually running the search.

It means the people running your search have sat in operating seats themselves. Every partner here has owned a business and held senior leadership roles, VP through CEO. We're not career recruiters reciting your job description back to candidates, and we know the difference between a resume that looks right and a person who is right for the seat.

It's a fit assessment that goes further than a gut-check interview. Every candidate we present is read against the requirements you set, with the evidence attached, plus a structured read on how the person actually works. Structured analysis organizes the information; the assessment is a partner's.

You see the reasoning, not just a recommendation. There's a full breakdown on the Compass Report page.

No. Louisville is home and where the firm started, but it isn't a limit on who we work with. Our searches reach candidates and clients across the country.

Reach out and we'll set up a kickoff call to learn about your company, your culture, and the specifics of the role and the team around it. From there we start identifying and approaching people who fit. You can start that conversation here.

No. All we ask for is transparency. If you're in process somewhere else, tell us. It helps us represent you accurately and keeps us from putting you in front of a company you're already talking to.

It starts with a real conversation. That conversation is also how we evaluate you, not a keyword scan of your resume, so we understand what you've actually run and what you want next. From there we'll walk you through the role and the company honestly, including where it's a genuine fit and where it might not be. If it is a fit, we manage the process end to end: introductions, interview prep, and feedback in both directions.

Manager level and above, through the C-suite. If you're earlier in your career but have the experience and skill to break into management, we'd still like to hear from you. Title matters less to us than what you've actually done.

Yes. We'd rather know good people before we need them than scramble to find them once a search opens. Tell us where you're headed.

No. Your search stays yours. We don't share your name or your background with a client company, or with anyone else, without your go-ahead first.

The nautical thread through the brand reflects how we think about hiring: charting a course, bringing the right person aboard, and making sure the placement holds up long after the offer is signed.

We spent years on the hiring side of this problem, as the operators trying to fill the seats, and never found anyone who solved it well. We promoted from within and watched it go wrong, because leading people is a different skill than doing the work. We hired search firms that sold speed instead of fit. We tried doing it ourselves and lost weeks to job boards without producing a real candidate.

What we wanted was a partner who understood the problems our company was facing, and enough real evidence about how someone works to know whether they'd succeed in the seat. We spent years looking for that partner. Eventually we stopped looking and became one. The full story is here.

Every search is run by a partner who has actually operated, not someone working from a job description they read that morning. When a seat calls for experience none of us has first-hand, we say so and bring in the right expertise rather than pretending otherwise. At Ahoy, "partner" describes the senior operators who lead searches. Our founding partners own the firm. Other partners are independent senior operators who join us on individual searches, and every partner has owned a business and held senior leadership roles. You see the reasoning behind every recommendation, so the decision stays yours to make instead of ours to sell. And we won't pad a slate to hit a deadline. Every candidate we bring you is someone we'd stand behind.

Most of us came up in hospitality and service, where a guest never has to ask twice. We run searches the same way. You shouldn't be chasing us for updates or repeating something you already told us. We take the process off your desk and keep it there until the seat is filled.