The cost of a failed senior transformation hire is not just the placement fee. It is 18 months of lost execution velocity, a change programme that stalls, and a team that loses confidence in the process before the work even begins.
APT was built to end this. Not by finding more candidates - but by finding the right ones for the actual conditions of the role.
The problem you already know
What transformation roles actually need
Tolerance for ambiguity. Speed of pattern recognition under pressure. The energy to act before the map exists. Comfort with conflict when the organisation resists change. These traits are rarely in the job description - and almost never assessed in a standard interview.
What standard recruiting delivers
Candidates who perform well in structured settings. Who give coherent answers to prepared questions. Who have credentials that match the template. And who, in 40 to 60% of transformation roles, leave within 18 months because the environment was not what the hiring process implied.
How APT works for companies
Stage 01 - Role Context Profile
Before we assess a single candidate, we assess the role. You complete a structured brief covering transformation complexity, the degree of decision autonomy, tolerance for non-linear behaviour in the team, and the cultural environment the hire will land in. This step takes 45 minutes and changes everything downstream.
Stage 02 - CognitiveEdge Assessment
Every candidate in our network has completed a 20-minute validated digital screen measuring hyperfocus tendency, ambiguity tolerance, risk calibration, and pattern recognition speed. No medical data collected. No labels attached. GDPR-by-design.
Stage 03 - APT Match Score
We match your Role Context Profile against candidate cognitive profiles and generate a ranked recommendation with a predicted retention probability for each candidate. You receive a structured case - not a shortlist - with the reasoning behind every name.
The APT difference
What you pay for elsewhere
- Credential matching against a job description
- Interviews that test presentation, not performance
- A shortlist of available candidates, not the right ones
- 20 to 25% fee with no retention guarantee
- No support after the offer is signed
What APT delivers
- Cognitive fit to the actual conditions of the role
- CognitiveEdge Assessment that predicts transformation performance
- Ranked recommendation with retention probability
- 90-day post-placement support included
- Retention prediction updated at 30, 60, and 90 days
Who we work with
APT operates in three beachhead segments where transformation hiring failure is most costly.
PE-backed Mittelstand in post-merger integration. Where cognitive fit between hire and integration complexity is directly value-determining.
DACH Series B/C deep tech scale-ups. Where the organisation is moving fast, the environment is ambiguous, and standard profiles stall.
Transformation-heavy corporates. Running active change programmes across digitalisation, energy transition, or supply chain restructuring - where the wrong hire sets the whole initiative back.
The numbers
Standard Recruiting | APT | |
Placement fee | 20-25% of salary | 20-25% + retained |
Assessment method | Interview + CV | CognitiveEdge + Role Context |
Transformation failure rate | 40-60% in 18 months | Predicted before placement |
Post-placement support | None | 90 days included |
Retention data | Not tracked | Updated at 30/60/90 days |
The APT fee is equivalent to one month of a failed transformation hire. The risk-adjusted case is not a conversation. It is arithmetic.
Start a mandate
We work with a small number of companies at any one time. If you have an active transformation programme with senior hires needed in the next six months, we want to hear from you.
First mandates: Preferred fee in exchange for reference rights and anonymised retention data.