Case Study: Global Mobility Tech Executive Search Results

Global mobility platforms live or die by the quality of their customer experience. When your product sits between “super apps” and a fragmented world of mobility service providers, the support function is not a cost centre, it is operational risk management, retention strategy, and brand reputation in one.

This case study shows how Optima Search | Europe & America supported a fast-growing global mobility technology company in London to hire a Head of Customer Experience who could build structure, scale remotely, and sustain impact long after onboarding.

About the client and the leadership gap

The client is a fast-growing technology company connecting super apps with global mobility service providers. As its product and partner ecosystem scaled, so did the complexity of customer support: multiple geographies, multiple stakeholders, and high expectations for speed and consistency.

They needed a senior leader to establish and scale the customer experience strategy, with clear accountability for:

• Designing and overseeing a global customer support framework
• Managing remote and multicultural teams
• Introducing systems and processes to improve customer satisfaction

This was a pivotal hire. The wrong profile would have created bottlenecks, inconsistent service standards, and slow operational learning. The right hire would professionalise the function and create a platform for growth.

The executive placed: Béla B.

Optima Search identified and placed Béla B. in London as Head of Customer Experience.

Béla brought extensive experience across:

• Team leadership and customer support
• Process design and operations management
• Cross-functional collaboration

Before joining the mobility business, he built a broad foundation across industries (including technology and music), which strengthened his adaptability and operating discipline. In high-growth environments, that range matters. Customer experience leadership often touches product, operations, commercial teams, and partner management, not just “support”.

Search approach: targeted, insight-driven, and built for alignment

This engagement was run as a focused executive search, designed to surface leaders who could scale a function and stay the course.

1) Insight-driven discovery

Optima Search engaged closely with the client to understand:

• The operational challenges behind current service delivery
• The growth objectives driving the hire
• What “great” would look like in 6, 12, and 24 months

This stage is where many searches are won or lost. A Head of Customer Experience can mean anything from “senior escalation manager” to “global operating model builder”. The mandate here was clearly the latter.

2) Candidate profiling based on delivery, not just domain

Béla stood out because his experience matched the real work required:

• Building and leading global teams
• Creating scalable processes (rather than relying on heroics)
• Operating effectively across cultures and time zones

Instead of over-weighting narrow sector experience, the profiling focused on evidence of execution in complex environments.

3) Cultural and strategic alignment

Beyond competence, the hire needed the right working style for an innovative, fast-moving organisation. Béla’s open-minded, results-oriented approach aligned with the company’s culture and the pace of change expected from the function.

Through careful screening and close collaboration with stakeholders, Béla was presented as the leading candidate and successfully onboarded.

Results: measurable progression and sustained impact

Many case studies stop at “a successful placement”. This one is defined by what happened after the offer was signed.

Promotion within three years

Béla joined to design and manage the customer experience strategy. Within three years, he progressed from Customer Experience Manager to Head of Customer Experience.

That trajectory signals two things hiring teams care about:

• The role was scoped correctly for growth
• The candidate had the capability to scale with the business

In executive hiring, progression is one of the clearest indicators that the match was not superficial.

Five-year tenure and continued growth

Over five years, Béla’s tenure has been marked by consistent contribution and leadership development, significantly exceeding the duration of his previous roles.

In a market where senior customer experience talent is routinely poached, retention is a business outcome. A long tenure at leadership level reduces the “hidden tax” of re-hiring, re-training, and re-establishing credibility across teams.

Expansion of capability versus previous roles

Béla’s transition enabled him to apply and expand skills from earlier positions, including:

• Remote team leadership
• Advanced CRM implementation

Unlike roles with shorter tenure or limited scope, this environment allowed him to thrive in a high-stakes, fast-paced setting, while building something durable.

Why this mattered to the business

For global mobility platforms, customer experience is tightly linked to commercial performance. Improving support quality and consistency can reduce churn, improve partner satisfaction, and accelerate adoption across regions.

Independent research consistently supports the business value of strong customer experience. For example, PwC has reported that customers will pay more for a great experience, and that experience is a key differentiator when products are similar.

In operational terms, this hire helped the client move from “support as a reaction” to “customer experience as a system”, which is the shift most high-growth platform businesses must make to scale.

What this case study highlights about executive search in Europe

Hiring senior customer experience leadership in London or across the region is not just about finding someone with the right job title. It is about validating whether they can build and lead an operating model.

For CEOs, COOs, CROs, and Heads of Talent, there are a few repeatable lessons here.

Customer experience leadership is an operating role

In scaling companies, CX leadership often functions like a mini-COO role for the customer journey.

A strong Head of Customer Experience typically demonstrates:

• Systems thinking (process design, escalation paths, handoffs)
• Cross-functional authority (product, engineering, commercial, ops)
• Talent leadership across geographies
• Comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration

Remote and multicultural management is now a baseline requirement

Global growth almost always introduces distributed teams. The ability to lead across cultures and time zones is not a “nice to have”, it is part of the success profile.

This is especially true for platform businesses with complex compliance and payment flows. For example, regulated digital platforms such as crypto-ready iGaming infrastructure providers face similar operational realities: rapid scaling, high user expectations, and the need for consistent support experiences across markets.

Longevity is not luck, it is engineered through alignment

This placement’s long-term success reinforces a core executive search principle: retention improves when the search process tests for both capability and fit.

If you are refining your hiring approach, Optima’s guidance on common executive search mistakes to avoid is a useful reference point, particularly on role definition and cultural fit.

What Optima Search did differently

This case underscores the value of boutique, precision recruitment when a role is business-critical.

Optima Search | Europe & America combined:

• A discovery process grounded in real operational objectives
• Targeted identification of a high-fit candidate
• Screening that prioritised scalability and alignment

The outcome was not just a filled vacancy. It was a leader who progressed, stayed, and helped build a function that could support global growth.

If you are hiring a Head of Customer Experience for a scaling platform

If you are planning a senior customer experience hire in 2026, particularly in a platform business, mobility, SaaS, or adjacent high-growth sectors, the key is to define the success profile in operational terms.

A strong brief typically answers:

• What must be built (processes, systems, team structure)
• What must improve (consistency, speed, satisfaction, partner outcomes)
• What must scale (geographies, languages, channels)
• What the leader must influence cross-functionally

Optima Search | Europe & America supports business-critical leadership hiring through targeted executive search in Europe, with a focus on finding candidates who deliver and endure.

If this case study reflects the kind of outcome you want, you can explore Optima’s approach at Optima Search Europe and start a conversation about the role you are building next.