Talent Partnerships & Role Architecture
Most executive office hires fail before the first interview because the mandate is blurred. We help founders and leadership teams architect the right role, then shortlist strategic operators from our practising community.
An Executive Assistant, a Chief of Staff and a Founder’s Office lead solve fundamentally different problems. Combining all three into a single job description guarantees a mismatch.
What the role owns
Time, priorities, communication flow and the operating rhythm around a leader.
When to make this hire
A founder is losing hours every week to coordination, inbox and calendar.
What the role owns
Cross-functional execution, leadership cadence, special projects and decision support.
When to make this hire
Strategy is set but follow-through across teams is slipping.
What the role owns
High-priority initiatives straight from the founder's desk: launches, partnerships, new markets.
When to make this hire
The founder needs a builder who can take an idea from zero to running.
A structured five-stage sequence from initial diagnosis through the first 90 days in seat. Process wording TBC
We learn how you work, what is slowing you down and what the role must change.
Together we define the role: scope, reporting line, success measures and the right title.
We shortlist from our operator community and wider network, assessed for judgement, not just experience.
We run the process with you and help you compare candidates against the role you designed.
We check in with both sides through onboarding so the hire lands well.
We partner with founders and executive teams across industries. Technology, biotech, healthcare and high-growth startups are frequent mandates, not limits.
Biotech, medtech and healthcare founders often need Founder’s Office leads and Chiefs of Staff who understand both laboratory rigour and venture execution. Through our academic advisory network, COvia connects high-aptitude students and graduates from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the IITs and peer research institutions with executive office roles in life sciences and deep tech.
Biotech & Healthcare Advisor
Professor and former Chair, Department of Developmental Biology and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science. 28+ years in biomedical research, 90+ publications, and adviser to biotech and healthcare startups and BIRAC selection boards.
Keyword-matched CVs cannot tell you how a candidate handles a board pack at midnight or a shifting founder priority. Our co-founders evaluate candidates from 35+ combined years inside executive offices.
Senior administrative business partner with 15+ years supporting C-suite leaders at Google, Citi, Credit Suisse, Nomura and DuPont. Writes The EA Edge and co-founded Giftwork Solutions.
Anticipation, agility and execution: clarity to chaos, structure to complexity, trust to every interaction.
20+ years across strategy, executive office operations, PMO and business operations at Aviva, IBM, Quintiles, Philips, Publicis Sapient, Flipkart and Pine Labs. Co-founded a biotech startup and founded an ed-tech venture.
Frameworks, pragmatism and people: clear structure, sound governance and teams that perform.
Engineering leader with 13+ years across Edge AI, automotive telematics and trading platforms. Leads software engineering at Tribes Digital, Auckland; formerly Site Lead at EdgeTensor and VP at Citi. IIT Kanpur.
Advises on technical and engineering-adjacent Founder’s Office and Chief of Staff mandates across Auckland and India.
Direct answers on how we scope roles, run searches and partner with leadership teams.
That is where most engagements begin. Before we write a brief or approach candidates, we run a role architecture session to map what is slowing the founder down, where decisions bottleneck and which mandate will create the highest leverage.
Engagements are scoped around role architecture and full-cycle placement. Specific fee structures, retainer milestones and replacement terms are shared during the initial discovery conversation.
Timelines depend on seniority, location and notice periods. Role architecture is completed first so candidate shortlisting from our operator community and wider network moves without false starts.
COvia operates from Bengaluru, India and Auckland, New Zealand, partnering with founders and leadership teams across India, APAC and global remote or hybrid executive offices.