HAWK.AI

The Challenge

The initial mandate began at Series A.

To support US expansion, Hawk required a General Manager to establish and build the North American business. This was not simply a regional leadership hire, it was a foundational appointment intended to anchor the company’s international growth strategy.

As funding milestones were achieved and customer traction accelerated, the strategic challenge evolved. Hawk’s growth trajectory created new pressures:

• Transitioning from mid-market customers to Tier 1 enterprise banks
• Scaling commercial infrastructure across the UK, US and APAC
• Building enterprise-level sales capability
• Strengthening product marketing and brand positioning
• Enhancing customer experience and implementation functions
• Maintaining deep AML, KYC and financial crime domain expertise

Selling into global banks introduced longer buying cycles, more complex procurement frameworks and heightened expectations around implementation and customer success.

To compete effectively, Hawk needed to upgrade its go-to-market architecture, leadership, sales capability, marketing sophistication and enterprise customer experience, while continuing to hit funding-driven growth milestones.

The Solution

Engage PSG Search partnered with Hawk from Series A onwards, operating as a retained strategic advisor alongside the internal talent team.

Phase 1: Anchoring US Expansion

The first mandate focused on appointing a General Manager to establish and scale the North American business.

Given Hawk’s early-stage positioning and limited brand awareness across competitor talent pools, this required, full market mapping across US RegTech, AML and fraud vendors, validation and referencing across domain-specialist networks, strategic headhunting of enterprise-experienced operators, careful positioning of Hawk’s growth story to passive senior talent.

This appointment created the leadership foundation for US growth.

Phase 2: Establishing the Executive Function

As Hawk progressed through funding rounds, Engage supported key leadership hires to stabilise and professionalise the commercial organisation, including:

• VP Marketing (subsequently promoted to Chief Marketing Officer)
• CTO
• Product Marketing (New York)
• Regional and enterprise sales leadership

These hires strengthened the executive layer required to transition from founder-led growth to structured enterprise execution.

Phase 3: Building Enterprise GTM Capability

With customer traction increasing among larger financial institutions, Hawk required specialist enterprise capability beneath the leadership tier.

Engage supported across:

• Enterprise Sales hires in the UK
• German-speaking commercial expansion in DACH
• Development of enterprise-focused customer experience and success functions
• Revenue operations reinforcement

Hawk would not compromise on profile quality, language capability, AML/KYC expertise and enterprise experience were non-negotiable requirements.

Engage’s industry-specialist network within financial crime and RegTech gave Hawk access to top-percentile performers, not simply candidates from competitor logos, but proven commercial operators validated through back-channel intelligence and industry insight.

Operating alongside Hawk’s internal talent team, Engage provided:

• Market intelligence and competitor benchmarking
• Advisory guidance on talent calibration
• Access to passive enterprise-grade candidates
• Strategic input into organisational build sequencing

The relationship evolved from executive search provider to long-term growth partner.

The Outcome

The partnership has spanned Hawk’s evolution from Series A to Series C.

Hawk has transitioned from a mid-market challenger to an enterprise-ready RegTech provider, with the leadership depth and go-to-market architecture required to serve Tier 1 financial institutions globally.

Today, the relationship remains active, reflecting a partnership built not on isolated placements, but on aligned growth strategy across funding stages, geographies and enterprise maturity.