Intro

I help companies find, hire and grow the leaders who shape them, and treat every senior hire as a decision about direction and culture.

• zalando

Years in talent & people leadership

15

Positions filled

200+

Companies hired for

30+

Hours of recruiting

20k+

Hover or tap a card to see more.

1. Director People & Culture

   Current

   Aeyde · 2026 – Present

   Leading People & Culture for the footwear and accessories brand: talent, leadership development, organization and culture as the company grows.

2. Executive Recruitment

   Zalando · 2024 – 2026

   Executive hiring across strategic business areas: identifying and engaging senior leaders and aligning recruitment with the company’s changing organizational needs.

3. 

   Head of People & Culture

   Totoli · 2021 – 2023

   Built and owned the full People & Culture function, covering hiring, people development and culture, at a company building a safer digital environment for families.

4. Recruiting Lead

   BCG Digital Ventures · 2016 – 2021

   Led executive hiring for leadership roles in healthcare and consumer goods ventures, including sourcing strategy, diversity initiatives, structured assessment, recruiting analytics and team coaching.

5. Team Lead, Talent Acquisition

   Rocket Internet · 2011 – 2016

   Led recruitment for central and portfolio leadership roles, hired management and specialist talent, and ran workshops and career development sessions for portfolio companies.

Philosophy

Hiring is one of the most human things a company does. People remember how you made them feel long after they forget the interview questions.

1. 01

   Warmth is part of the process

   Every conversation should feel welcoming, whether it leads to an offer or not. A good atmosphere brings out who people really are.

2. 02

   Respect, every single time

   Candidates’ time, honesty and ambitions deserve care. That means fast answers, clear feedback and no ghosting, at every level.

3. 03

   Kind and decisive

   Warmth and execution aren’t opposites. A clear process, sharp judgement and follow-through are what make kindness count.

Toolkit

• LinkedIn Recruiter“Still the best map of the market. I use it to understand who is out there long before I reach out to anyone.”
• Greenhouse“Structured scorecards keep interview panels honest: everyone assesses the same things, and it shows in the hires.”
• Personio“One home for people data. When the basics just work, my team has time for the conversations that matter.”
• Wellfound“Where startup-minded talent actually looks. Great for early teams and builders who want real ownership.”
• Notion“My second brain for search briefs, interview guides and onboarding plans that a whole team can build on.”
• Microsoft 365“Many clients and candidates live here, so Teams and Outlook keep every process simple to follow.”
• Google Workspace“Shared docs make calibration fast: one brief, comments from every stakeholder, decisions in a day instead of a week.”
• Claude“A thoughtful sparring partner for drafting role briefs and sharpening feedback. The judgement stays with me.”
• ChatGPT“Handy for quick research on markets and companies before a search. A starting point, never the final word.”
• + Lever, Workday, BambooHR, Lattice, Culture Amp, HireVue, Payscale & more

1. Hiring Executives: If You’ve Never Done the Job, How Do You Hire Somebody Good? Ben Horowitz, a16z · 2010 Executive SearchArticle “Step one, “know what you want”, is half my job in executive search. I send this to founders before we write a single line of a role profile.” — Lucia
2. Scaling People Claire Hughes Johnson · 2023 People ManagementBook “The most practical management book on my desk. Its templates for operating principles and goal-setting hold up in a fast-growing fashion company too.” — Lucia
3. The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology Frank L. Schmidt & John E. Hunter · 1998 RecruitingStudy “The paper behind my insistence on structured interviews and work samples. Every recruiter should know these numbers at least once in their career.” — Lucia
4. 8 lessons on building a company people enjoy working for Patty McCord, TED · 2019 HR StrategyVideo “Five minutes that remind me to treat people like adults. I’ve shown it to managers who think HR exists to write more policies.” — Lucia
5. Lessons from one of the world’s top executive recruiters Lenny’s Podcast with Lauren Ipsen · 2022 Executive SearchPodcast “It’s rare to hear a search partner explain the craft this openly. Her take on backchannel references matches how I run senior searches.” — Lucia
6. The Fearless Organization Amy C. Edmondson · 2018 CultureBook “When a team goes quiet, this is the book I reach for. Speaking up isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s how problems surface early.” — Lucia
7. 21st-Century Talent Spotting Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, Harvard Business Review · 2014 Executive SearchArticle “His markers of potential (curiosity, insight, engagement, determination) are in every executive briefing I write. The best leader may not have done the exact job before.” — Lucia
8. Revisiting the Design of Selection Systems Sackett, Zhang, Berry & Lievens · 2023 RecruitingStudy “I love that the science corrected itself. It strengthened my case for structured interviews and made me humbler about our favourite assessments.” — Lucia
9. Radical Candor: The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss Kim Scott, First Round Review · 2015 LeadershipArticle ““Ruinous empathy” named a habit I see in kind managers every week. The care-personally, challenge-directly grid shows up in almost every feedback training I run.” — Lucia
10. WorkLife with Adam Grant Adam Grant, TED Audio Collective · 2018 People ManagementPodcast “My commute companion. Each episode turns organizational psychology into something I can try with my team the next morning.” — Lucia
11. Work Rules! Laszlo Bock · 2015 HR StrategyBook “I go back to the hiring chapters every time I redesign a process. They gave me the data to say no, politely, to gut-feel decisions.” — Lucia
12. Understand Team Effectiveness (Project Aristotle) Google re:Work · 2016 CultureStudy “A good counterweight whenever we try to fix a team by hiring more stars. How a team works together matters more than who is on it.” — Lucia
13. High Output Management Andrew S. Grove · 1983 LeadershipBook “Grove’s idea that a manager’s output is the output of their team still sharpens every leadership coaching conversation I have.” — Lucia
14. Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility Reed Hastings & Patty McCord · 2009 CultureArticle “I don’t agree with every line, and that’s the point. The best example I know of a company writing down what it actually values, trade-offs included.” — Lucia
15. Are you a giver or a taker? Adam Grant, TED · 2016 CultureVideo “His point that one taker can do more harm than several givers can do good changed how I read references, and how I protect generous people on a team.” — Lucia