H2 2026 Search Recap
AI & Machine Learning / Product
A confidential mandate where the market was narrow, the business need was immediate, and the hiring decision required more than a stack of résumés.
The work behind the hire
Brass Tracks organized the uncertainty, tested the assumptions, and gave the leadership team a smaller set of better-supported decisions.
A boutique, growing software consultancy needed product leaders who could walk into unfamiliar B2B businesses and ask sharp questions. They had to turn ambiguous problems into prioritized plans and know when AI was the answer and when it was not. These people had to earn trust with executives and operators alike, then partner closely with small, senior engineering teams to ship software people use.
Product experience alone was not enough. The strongest candidates could diagnose an unfamiliar business, understand the commercial stakes, prototype quickly, and apply AI with restraint rather than forcing it into every answer.
The search produced two complementary profiles worth hiring. One brought operational discovery and commercial thinking; the other brought deeper technical fluency, hands-on product work, and user-experience judgment.
Brass Tracks built the profile around discovery, commercial judgment, delivery, and client communication. We searched nationwide, generally targeting 5 to 10 years of experience. Every candidate was screened personally on AI use, UX exposure, compensation, and motivation, then calibrated in one grid so interviews went only to the strongest fits.
Search evidence
The work narrowed a national market into a calibrated slate, then kept both candidates and the client moving through a fast close.
Position specification built
Slate of eight delivered with calibration grid
Meet-and-greets with four finalists
Culture-fit and product interviews
Decision to hire both; verbal offers extended
Both offers accepted
The result
Two hires, one mandate
Brass Tracks handled every interview schedule, extended both verbal offers, and advised on offer strategy. When one candidate countered, we recommended a number that stayed within budget, and he signed the same day.
Operational discovery, commercial thinking, and prototyping.
Technical fluency, hands-on product work, and user experience.
Mandate architecture
Added two product leaders who can turn ambiguous client problems into commercially sound, buildable software.
Client discovery, commercial judgment, product delivery, pragmatic AI fluency, and executive credibility had to exist in people comfortable moving between unfamiliar businesses.
Evidence that each candidate could turn ambiguity into a clear product decision, earn client trust, and work closely with a small senior engineering team through delivery.
The hardest role on your plan
The role is unusually specific, the market is narrow, and the business cannot afford to wait. That is where Brass Tracks does its best work.