Case Study
Flatiron Energy

From contingent search to an embedded talent partnership.

Flatiron Energy is a private equity-backed, market-leading Independent Power Producer (IPP) that develops, builds, owns, and operates standalone utility-scale energy storage assets across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic US. Since November 2024, Sourcechange has exclusively driven Flatiron's growth through executive, leadership, and mid-level placements across the organization.

92%
Offer acceptance
96%
Placement retention
24
Placements made
65
Average days to hire
$287,376
Fees saved to date

The Challenge

With fresh capital secured, Flatiron needed to roughly double its hiring without inflating cost or lowering the bar. Three pressures shaped the brief.

Cost of talent

Flatiron needed to optimize both sides of the cost equation: reduce direct recruiting spend on acquisition, and keep compensation competitive but not excessive, preserving margin without sacrificing quality.

Time

The founding team had made seven hires over the prior 12 months and was stretched thin on bandwidth. With fresh capital secured, hiring needed to double, and moving too slowly had become the execution risk.

Brand & market perception

As a first-mover with a distinct thesis, Flatiron could read as risky to top candidates. Accurate, informed positioning was essential to attract aligned talent without compromising standards.

The Approach

We replaced one-off contingent search with a custom embedded talent partnership, owning the hiring process end to end and solving for each pressure directly.

Cost of talent

We built a custom embedded talent partner model that cut the cost per hire by 25% against standard industry terms of 25% of base compensation.

Time

Functional specialism inside our team let us move fast and present top-tier candidates with precision. We invested time up front to understand Flatiron's culture, thesis, and standards, so the people we put forward were genuinely excited and qualified, which minimized wasted interviews. We also took ownership of applicant tracking system (ATS) screening, freeing the leadership team for high-impact conversations only.

Brand & market perception

We crafted an accurate, compelling narrative around Flatiron's risk profile and vision, positioning the opportunity for candidate resonance. That drew in strong candidates who might otherwise have overlooked the role or priced in a risk premium. Our reach across multiple client types also opened channels to candidates who did not yet know the Flatiron brand.

The Results

The embedded partnership has scaled Flatiron's team quickly while lowering the cost of every hire and keeping quality high. The people placed are staying.

25%
Lower cost per hire versus standard industry terms of 25% of base compensation.
$287,376
Saved to date through the embedded talent partner model, compared with conventional contingent fees.
96%
Placement retention rate across the roles filled, a measure of fit, not just speed.
65 days
Average time to hire across executive, leadership, and mid-level roles, with a 92% offer acceptance rate.

The Placements

Role placedRecruited from
Chief Development Officer
RWE Clean Energy
VP of Origination & Structuring
Equilibrium Energy
VP of Engineering & Construction
Avantus
VP of Procurement & Supply Chain
Balanced Rock Power
VP of Building Based EPC
MGN Microgrid Networks
VP of Policy
REV Renewables
Senior Counsel, Legal
DESRI (DE Shaw Renewables)
Director of Capital Planning & Strategy
Pine Gate Renewables
Director of HR
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Director of Development
Aypa Power
Director of Procurement
Plus Power
Director of Fire Protection & Safety
Wartsila
Director of Project Management
NineDot Energy
Director of Environmental & Community
WE ACT
Senior Manager of Origination
Key Capture Energy
Senior Manager of Interconnection
RWE Clean Energy
Senior Manager of Development Engineering
Energix North America
Principal Project Engineer
Vesper Energy
Principal Project Engineer
Intersect
Construction Project Manager
Bureau Veritas
Senior Analyst, Capital Markets
EDF Renewables

Our placement track record to date with Flatiron Energy, all placements made by the Sourcechange team. Inquire for more data regarding placements, partnerships, framework agreements, and employee track record.

What Flatiron Energy says about us
I would recommend working with Sourcechange for a variety of reasons, but most succinctly, they act as a very skilled in-house HR recruiter who takes time to understand your business, its pitch to outsiders, and unlike 95% of other recruitment search firms, they understand that it is not the candidate paying the placement fees, but the company. They act in our best interest and avoid the standard recruiter model of simply just tossing out 20 candidate resumes and making no attempts to qualify leads for your company specifically. In short, Fred and his team are about quality, not quantity, which comes as a great relief to any company that understands how difficult it is to hire, and importantly maintain, quality personnel.
Flatiron Energy

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