NAOS International

What NAOS International does

NAOS International SAS is a Paris-headquartered boutique executive search and HR consulting firm founded in 2008 by Philippe Joly and operating today through wholly-owned subsidiaries in Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, plus regional French offices in Lyon and Aix-en-Provence. Its core offering is recruitment and executive search for senior leaders and middle management across eight named verticals: Industry & Engineering; Aeronautics, Defense & Security; Environment, Water, Energy & Transport; Technology, Digital & Innovation; Retail, Consumer & Services; Beauty, Health & Pharma; Food Industry; and Banking & Insurance. Disclosed clients are predominantly large French and European enterprises with international footprints (Thales, Egis, Suez, Keolis, Veolia, Sodexo), and the firm claims recruitment mandates completed in 40+ countries.

The firm's service platform is built on a proprietary 'Direct Approach' (Approche Directe) methodology that maps target organizations, identifies passive candidates, and engages them through discreet outreach; a 16-year candidate database managed in HubSpot CRM; the Assessfirst psychometric layer delivering Brain/Drive/Shape candidate assessments; and a project-based delivery model with weekly client reporting. Surrounding the core search practice are nine adjacent offerings, including Transition Management (interim executive placement across 55+ countries), NAOS Insight (M&A human capital due diligence), Talent Mapping, Compensation & Benefits Consulting, Pre & Onboarding Strategy, and a Digital Strategy & Acceleration Program, plus a partnership with LPHI Partenaires for HR consulting and executive coaching.

NAOS operates on project-based, custom-quoted professional services engagements with no public pricing tiers; services are billed per mandate with multi-year client relationships where repeat business occurs. The go-to-market is sales-led, anchored by direct senior consultant engagement with enterprise buyers; the firm does not use channel intermediaries. Ownership remains with co-founders Philippe Joly (CEO, Paris) and Dimitri Vardakas (Group Managing Director, Singapore), with no disclosed institutional investment. Headcount is stated at 25+ multilingual consultants across the four main subsidiaries.

Name

NAOS International

Legal name

NAOS International SAS

Website

https://naos-international.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NAOS International is a Paris-headquartered boutique executive search and HR consulting firm founded in 2008. It serves enterprise clients across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia with executive recruitment, transition management, M&A human capital due diligence, and related advisory services through 25+ multilingual consultants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Executive Search & Recruitment: Premium executive search services placing senior executives and leaders in strategic positions across Europe, Asia, and Middle East. Engagements treated as separate projects with customized methodology.
2. Transition Management: Interim management services providing immediately available recognized managers for corporate emergency situations, transformations, and restructuring assignments.
3. NAOS Insight - Human Capital Due Diligence: Pre and post-M&A human capital assessment services for investors, evaluating executive committees and management teams for investment decisions and integration optimization.
4. Talent Mapping: Customized talent market mapping services across broad geographical areas providing detailed information on skills, experience, and compensation for strategic hiring decisions.
5. Assessment Services: Customized assessment services evaluating technical skills (hard skills) and behavioral competencies (soft skills) through tailored tests and exercises.
6. Leadership Assessment: Managerial profile assessment using Assessfirst platform to identify suitable manager/leader compatibility and predict team dynamics.
7. Compensation & Benefits Consulting: Salary studies and competitive compensation analysis across Asia, Middle East, and Europe to inform talent attraction and retention strategies.
8. Pre & Onboarding Strategy: Premium onboarding strategy services ensuring successful integration of new executive hires through personalized planning and close collaboration.
9. Digital Strategy & Acceleration Program: Digital transformation leadership recruitment and advisory services for selecting outstanding digital leaders to guide company digital strategies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

NAOS International is a boutique executive search and HR consulting firm that recruits executives, senior managers, and industry experts for clients across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm delivers end-to-end executive recruitment through a proprietary Direct Approach methodology, supported by adjacent services including talent mapping, psychometric and leadership assessments, transition/interim management, human capital due diligence for M&A (NAOS Insight), compensation and benefits consulting, pre- and onboarding strategy, and a digital strategy and acceleration program. Operations are anchored by wholly-owned subsidiaries in Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai.

Product overview

NAOS International operates as a boutique executive search and HR consulting firm offering a unified portfolio of complementary services organized around a core Executive Search practice augmented by specialized modules. The core offering is Recruitment & Executive Search, underpinned by a proprietary Direct Approach methodology. Around this core, the firm offers three distinct assessment tools (Assessment, Leadership Assessment, and AssessFirst Integration) for candidate evaluation; Transition Management for interim executive needs; NAOS Insight for Human Capital Due Diligence in M&A contexts; Talent Mapping for strategic workforce planning; and Compensation & Benefits Consulting for competitive remuneration strategy. Supporting modules include Pre & Onboarding Strategy and a Digital Strategy & Acceleration Program, all delivered through offices in Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The firm positions itself as a human-centric consultancy, combining personalized service with international reach across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Recruitment & Executive Search Expert executive recruitment service placing senior executives and leaders in strategic positions across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, from middle management through senior executive roles, using a project-based direct approach methodology.
• Transition Management Interim/executive management service providing immediately available, recognized expert managers for corporate emergency situations including bridging assignments, transformation, restructuring, turnaround, and crisis management, delivered across over 55 countries.
• NAOS Insight - Human Capital Due Diligence Pre and post-M&A human capital due diligence service for investors, assessing executive committees and management teams to inform investment decisions and optimize post-acquisition integration, addressing the fact that over 50% of M&A failures are attributable to human and cultural factors.
• Talent Mapping Customized talent market mapping across broad geographical areas, countries, or specific cities, providing detailed information on skills, experience, and compensation to support strategic hiring decisions, subsidiary openings, or recruitment campaigns.
• Assessment Services Custom assessment methodology using tailored tests and exercises to evaluate technical hard skills and behavioral soft skills of preselected candidates to support informed and objective hiring decisions.
• Leadership Assessment Managerial profile assessment service, in partnership with Assessfirst, identifying suitable management styles and leadership approaches (Direct, Participative, Independent, Supporter) to match leaders with teams and organizations.
• Compensation & Benefits Consulting Compensation and benefits consulting service including targeted salary studies across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe to help clients define competitive compensation packages for leadership and executive positions.
• Pre & Onboarding Strategy Tailor-made pre-boarding and onboarding strategy service ensuring successful integration of new executive hires through personalized planning aligned with company culture and needs.
• Digital Strategy & Acceleration Program Digital transformation strategy program for selecting outstanding digital leaders and implementing targeted digital strategies aligned with company vision and values.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50% of M&A failures are attributable to human and cultural factors, highlighting the importance of NAOS Insight's Human Capital Due Diligence services

Named customers6 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles8 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• LPHI PartenairesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with LPHI Partenaires providing complementary consulting services to clients. Details of the partnership scope are limited to co-referral or collaborative client service arrangements.
• AssessfirstcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partnership using Assessfirst platform for managerial profile assessment. The platform provides Brain (intellectual agility), Drive (motivations), and Shape (personality) analyses for evaluating executive candidates and identifying suitable manager/leader compatibility for client organizations.
• AssessfirstcoreTechnology or IntegrationAssessfirst integration for Human Capital Due Diligence assessments in M&A contexts, evaluating executive teams and management committees for investment decisions and post-acquisition optimization.
• Diversity Charter (Charte de la Diversité)minorOthersSignatory of the Diversity Charter, demonstrating commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and externally in recruitment practices.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Egon Zehnder: Global leadership advisory and executive search firm with deep sector practices including industrial, consumer, and technology. Directly comparable as one of the dominant retained-search competitors NAOS competes with for senior-executive mandates in Europe and Asia.
• Korn Ferry: Largest executive search and organizational consulting firm globally, with practices spanning executive search, RPO, and leadership development. Competes with NAOS for senior and board-level mandates while also offering assessment and leadership consulting adjacencies that overlap with NAOS Insight and assessment services.
• Spencer Stuart: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm with strong industrial, consumer, and financial services practices. A leading retainer-search competitor for the same multinational enterprise clients NAOS serves, particularly across Europe and APAC.
• Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm with industry-focused practices and culture shaping/onboarding services that compete directly with NAOS's executive search and pre-onboarding offerings.
• Russell Reynolds Associates: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm focused on board, CEO, and senior executive placements. Competes with NAOS for the same multinational enterprise mandates and offers assessment, succession, and leadership advisory adjacencies.
• Robert Half International: Global staffing and talent solutions firm with retained-search capabilities through Robert Half Executive Search. A scaled competitor in mid-to-senior management recruitment and a benchmark for how search businesses can be bundled with broader talent solutions.

Direct peers

• Odgers Berndtson: International mid-market executive search and leadership advisory firm with presence in Europe, North America, and APAC. Closely comparable in scale, sector-focused practice model, and international growth posture to NAOS International.
• Signium International: Global executive search and leadership consulting firm organized as a partnership of country-based member firms across EMEA, APAC, and Americas. Highly comparable mid-sized international search competitor with sector-focused verticals similar to NAOS.
• Amrop: International executive search partnership operating across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Comparable mid-market boutique competitor with cross-region capability and sector-specialist partners, similar in shape to NAOS's international footprint.
• Stanton Chase: Global retained executive search firm with offices across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and APAC. Closely comparable mid-sized boutique search firm competing for similar senior management and C-level mandates across NAOS's geographies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/naos_intl
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/naos-international

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NAOS International