Sea Change

What Sea Change does

Sea Change Talent Partners is a boutique executive search and talent advisory firm founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, with remote-first operations across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and EMEA. The firm was previously known as Enertech Search Partners and Sea Change Advisors before rebranding in 2023 to its current identity. It is a woman-owned, founder-led organization led by CEO Paige Carratturo, with a team of approximately 23 employees offering more than 20 years of combined specialized search experience. The firm provides executive, professional, and technical search services alongside talent advisory, market mapping, fractional talent and HR leadership, and career transition services, targeting venture-backed startups, venture capital and private equity firms and their portfolio companies, mid-to-large-cap enterprises, and non-profit organizations from Seed through Fortune 10.

The company's core technology is described as a Modern Recruiting Stack that combines data-driven sourcing, advanced assessment, and pipeline analytics to maximize hiring speed and quality. Its revenue model is professional services-based, with three fee structures: contingency search at 15-20% of base salary, retained search at up to 35% of base salary, and a proprietary hybrid "retingency" model at 20-30% of base salary. Advisory engagements include organizational design, compensation benchmarking, interview process architecture, and market mapping on a project basis. The firm also publishes the annual Sea Change Candidate Sentiment Report as a proprietary research asset covering climate tech candidate behavior.

Sea Change's customer base spans high-profile enterprise logos including Walmart, Ford, and Siemens alongside venture-backed startups such as Copper Labs, Demex Group, Opus One, ChargerHelp!, Liminal, TeraWatt, Utilidata, and ThinkLabs. Sector concentration is heaviest in climate tech, energy transition, AI, EV infrastructure, battery intelligence, grid edge software, and mobility, with an active operating-partner relationship with climate investor Blue Bear Capital. Marketing and lead generation rely primarily on industry publications, thought leadership, climate and energy conferences, podcasts, and direct enterprise sales through the firm website.

Name

Sea Change

Legal name

Sea Change Talent Partners

Website

https://seachangetalent.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sea Change Talent Partners is a boutique, woman-owned executive search and talent advisory firm serving venture-backed startups, VC and PE firms, and Fortune 10 enterprises across climate tech, energy, AI, infrastructure, and industrial innovation sectors globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Not specified

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Executive and Professional Search: Retained and contingency-based recruiting services for executive, professional, and technical placements. Fee structures include contingency (15-20% of base salary), retained (up to 35% of base salary), and a hybrid 'retingency' model (20-30% of base salary) that shares risk between firm and client.
2. Talent Advisory Services: Strategic counsel including organizational design, compensation benchmarking, interview process architecture, market mapping, and hiring roadmap development for growth-stage companies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Sea Change is an executive search and talent advisory firm that places senior leadership and specialized technical talent into companies operating in climate tech, energy, AI, infrastructure, and industrial innovation. It delivers retained, contingency, and hybrid ("retingency") executive search engagements, complemented by advisory offerings including market mapping, fractional talent and HR leadership, and career transition services.

Product overview

Sea Change Talent Partners operates as a talent venture firm and advisory providing full-stack recruiting services. The company offers a portfolio of service offerings including Executive Search, Technical Search, Professional Search, Advisory, Market Mapping, Fractional Talent Leader, Fractional HR Leader, and Career Transition Services. These are human-delivered recruitment and talent advisory services, not software products. The company also produces proprietary research under the Sea Change Candidate Sentiment Report brand. Services span executive placement, technical recruiting, and strategic talent advisory across energy, infrastructure, AI, and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Executive Search

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Guzman LabsminorOthersWebsite operations and hosting partner. Contact information on accessibility page indicates partnership for website functionality.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Egon Zehnder: Global leadership advisory and executive search firm with deep industrial, technology, and energy practices. Comparable on C-suite and board mandates; competes for similar PE/VC portfolio leadership work.
• Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search incumbent serving Fortune 500 across all functions and sectors. Comparable in delivering C-suite and board placements to large enterprises, though Sea Change specializes in narrower frontier-tech verticals.
• Korn Ferry: Largest global organizational consulting and executive search firm. Overlaps with Sea Change on executive search and talent advisory (compensation benchmarking, organizational design), but operates at vastly larger scale with a software-enabled RPO business.
• Spencer Stuart: Premier executive search firm with strong energy, industrial, and technology practices. Directly comparable on senior leadership placements for energy transition and infrastructure clients such as Siemens and Ford-adjacent mandates.

Direct peers

• Talentfoot Executive Search: Tech-enabled executive search firm serving venture-backed startups, PE/VC portfolios, and growth-stage companies. Comparable GTM motion and client segments (Seed through Series C), with overlapping executive search and talent advisory offerings.
• StevenDouglas: Boutique executive search and professional staffing firm with strong energy and industrial practices. Comparable on sector specialization (energy, infrastructure) and engagement model for mid-market and growth-stage clients.
• Riviera Partners: Boutique executive search firm focused exclusively on technology, engineering, and product leadership for venture-backed companies. Closely comparable business model serving VC-backed startups from Seed through pre-IPO with technical and executive search.

Emerging players

• Pangea Talent Solutions: Executive search firm focused on climate, sustainability, and impact-oriented companies. Direct overlap with Sea Change's cleantech/Climate 3.0 vertical and similar investor-network-driven GTM.
• TorreyPi Wealth & Executive Search: Specialized executive search boutique serving clean energy, climate tech, and sustainability sectors. Most direct niche competitor to Sea Change's climate-tech/energy vertical focus with similar PE/VC portfolio clientele.

Others

• Hunt Scanlon Media: Industry media and research firm covering the executive search and talent acquisition market. Adjacent ecosystem participant — Sea Change's research output (Candidate Sentiment Report) is cited by Hunt Scanlon, positioning them in overlapping industry communities.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sea-change-advisors

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Sea Change