About Us
Built to understand the talent market—not just search it.
Transparent Search Group combines market mapping, evidence-led research and retained precision search for difficult engineering and technical leadership mandates.
Our Story
Born from a Gap in the Market
Critical technical hiring is rarely a simple database search. The useful starting point is a clear view of the market: where relevant people sit, how transferable adjacent experience is, and which constraints will shape the search.
TSG was designed around that intelligence layer. Research systems expand coverage and create consistent evidence, while senior recruiters manage conversations, assessment, candidate interest and close.
The result is not a promise of an automated hiring outcome. It is a more transparent way to decide whether to search, where to search, whom to engage and how to respond to what the market says.
Map the market
Define the target employers, role families, geographies and adjacent pools.
Compare evidence
Show why a person fits, what remains uncertain and which constraints matter.
Run through close
Keep recruiter judgment in relationships, qualification, negotiation and commitments.
Our Values
Mission & Values
Everything we do is guided by four core principles that define how we serve our clients, treat candidates, and build our business.
Transparency
Clear visibility into search evidence, constraints and recommendations -- no black boxes.
Responsiveness
We surface market constraints, evidence gaps and next actions early so clients can make better search decisions without waiting for a final report.
Precision
We define the target market, compare candidates against explicit criteria and show the evidence behind each recommendation.
Partnership
We are retained partners, not contingency vendors. Our interests are fully aligned with yours from day one of every engagement.
Leadership
The Team
A focused team combining recruiting judgment, market research and governed software.
Gary Smith
Founder & CEO
Veteran recruitment leader with deep expertise in engineering talent acquisition. Built Transparent Search Group on the conviction that better evidence and well-governed software can improve how critical industries find their technical leaders. Also the founder of Career Standing, a separate career-intelligence platform for individuals and workforce-transition programs.
Connect on LinkedInHead of Delivery
Delivery capability
VP of Sales
Growth capability
Our Technology
The Intelligence Behind TSG
A vertically integrated technology stack that no legacy recruitment firm can replicate.
Research and Workflow Systems
Software supports intake, sourcing, enrichment, outreach preparation and coordination while people retain responsibility for assessment and commitments.
Searchable Talent Intelligence
Canonical profiles, role evidence and market signals support focused research across TSG's sector specializations.
Career Standing Relationship
Career Standing is the individual-side career intelligence platform. Personal data is not available to TSG recruiters without explicit product-level consent.
Two-Sided Market Perspective
Employer-side search intelligence and individual-side career intelligence inform separate products with an explicit privacy boundary.