The client's digital transformation program had strong executive backing but was quietly stalling because roles requiring a specific mix of manufacturing domain knowledge and modern engineering skills were sitting open for months. Generic recruiting pipelines weren't finding candidates who understood both plant-floor operations and the software being built to modernize them.
We built a targeted sourcing approach around that specific overlap — engineers with industrial or manufacturing backgrounds who had since moved into software roles, rather than software generalists expected to learn manufacturing from scratch on the job. This narrowed the funnel but dramatically improved fit, since candidates could contribute to design conversations from day one instead of ramping for months first.
To keep quality high without slowing hiring down, we ran structured technical and domain-specific assessments in parallel rather than sequentially, and worked closely with the client's engineering leads to keep interview loops fast enough that strong candidates weren't lost to competing offers.
The program filled its most critical open roles within the first hiring cycle, and the transformation program resumed its original timeline. Beyond the initial ramp, the sourcing model we built became a repeatable playbook the client's internal talent team continued using for future hiring needs.