At Hunter & Michaels, we’ve spent more than three decades helping consumer companies build leadership teams that drive sustainable growth. As dedicated consumer brand headhunters since 1991, our firm focuses exclusively on the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail marketplace. That singular focus gives our clients access to deep category expertise, refined search methodologies, and an extensive network of leaders who understand how to scale businesses across eCommerce and brick-and-mortar channels.
Why finding the right leaders matters now
The retail and CPG landscape has never been more complex. Rapid shifts in shopper behavior, the rise of omnichannel commerce, compressed product lifecycles, and supply chain volatility require leaders who combine strategic vision with operational rigor. Hiring the wrong executive can delay growth, undermine culture, and cost far more than the search itself. The right hire, by contrast, accelerates category expansion, drives revenue through differentiated execution, and elevates organizational capability.
How consumer brand headhunters deliver the right leaders
Develop a personalized recruiting strategy
- We begin every engagement by embedding ourselves in your business. That means in-depth conversations with hiring stakeholders, market assessments, and alignment on short- and long-term priorities. Whether you need a Head of eCommerce, VP of Sales for mass retail, Chief Marketing Officer with retailer P&L experience, or a category leader who understands private label, we craft a recruiting blueprint that targets the precise competencies, cultural fit, and leadership behaviors required to scale your business.
Utilize our up-to-date, comprehensive database
- Our competitive advantage is our vetted, proprietary database of more than 70,000 CPG executives — updated daily. This isn’t scraped data; these are contacts we maintain through ongoing conversations, placements, and industry relationships. The database lets us quickly map the market, identify talent pools by category and channel, and surface people whose track records match your growth needs.
Secure candidates from many sources
- Top talent rarely lives in one place. We source through a combination of business development outreach, targeted social media engagement, professional networks, industry conferences, trade shows, and referrals. This multi-channel sourcing uncovers not only active candidates but also high-potential, passive executives who may be open to the right opportunity. The diversity of our sourcing approach increases candidate quality and reduces time-to-fill for mission-critical roles.
Present candidates not actively searching job postings
- Many of the executives who can substantially scale your business are not actively looking at job boards. As consumer brand headhunters with long-standing industry credibility, we gain access to these passive candidates through trusted relationships and a consultative approach that focuses on career fit and long-term opportunity. Presenting these leaders gives our clients an advantage: a deeper talent pool and a better match for strategic roles.
Ensure a smooth transition and maximize retention
- Placing an executive is only the beginning. We manage the interview process, provide candidate coaching, assist with compensation benchmarking, and help negotiate offers to ensure alignment. Post-offer, we support onboarding conversations and follow-up to maximize retention and accelerate impact. That end-to-end management reduces risk and shortens ramp time — key when speed matters in retail.
Real-world outcomes with consumer brand headhunters
Because we focus entirely on CPG and retail, we’ve placed leaders across the full spectrum of brand sizes and retail channels: private label and branded products, eCommerce-first startups, regional manufacturers, private equity portfolio brands, and Fortune 50 organizations. Clients tell us our searches lead to faster time-to-fill, higher cultural alignment, and leaders who deliver measurable improvements in distribution, merchandising execution, shopper marketing ROI, and gross margin management.
CPG categories we serve
Our expertise spans a wide range of categories including food, beverage, health & beauty (HBC), household supplies, pet care, nutrition, OTC, apparel, seasonal goods, and hardgoods among others. This breadth enables cross-category talent mapping — identifying leaders who can translate best practices from one category to another and bring fresh perspectives to drive innovation.
Why Hunter & Michaels stands apart
- Focused specialization: 100% of our recruiting time is devoted to CPG and retail leadership — that specialization yields deeper market knowledge and more relevant candidate recommendations.
- Scale and quality of network: over 70,000 industry contacts updated daily, plus long-term relationships cultivated since 1991.
- Consultative partnership: we act as an extension of your talent strategy team, advising on role design, compensation strategy, and succession planning.
- Flexible engagement models: we partner on both retained and contingency agreements, tailoring our commitment to your needs and timelines.
- Proven process: from strategy through onboarding, our repeatable process is built to reduce hiring risk and deliver leaders who can scale retail businesses.
Getting started with Consumer Brand Headhunters
Scaling retail requires leaders who combine channel expertise, commercial acumen, and the ability to operationalize brand strategy. If you’re facing rapid growth, entering new channels, or preparing for a retail reset, Hunter & Michaels can help identify the leaders who will accelerate your business. Our approach is designed to deliver not just candidates, but sustainable leadership that scales.
Contact Hunter & Michaels to discuss how our consumer brand headhunters can find the talent that scales your retail business — and help your brand win where shoppers buy.
