Case study
Global Finance Talent Acquisition for a Hypergrowth Fintech Unicorn
Cedar enabled Deel’s global expansion by delivering 30+ finance hires across 12 countries in six months, supporting their hypergrowth and $425m Series D preparation.
Founded in 2019 in Silicon Valley, Deel is a hypergrowth Fintech unicorn specialising in payroll solutions. Operating in 80 countries, with $250m ARR, the company experienced 20x revenue growth in 2020 and raised $425m in Series D funding by October 2021. To support this rapid expansion, Deel’s Finance Director and COO urgently needed to hire key finance talent across multiple global locations.
To keep pace with their growth, Deel required top-tier finance professionals with expertise in managing complex, international, PE-backed environments. Specific challenges included:
- Global Talent Needs: Securing talent across diverse geographies, including Europe, Asia, and North America.
- Leadership Constraints: With no dedicated Talent Team in place, all recruitment communication was routed through a time-constrained Finance Director and COO.
- Fast-Paced Hiring: Identifying and onboarding candidates capable of thriving in a high-pressure, hypergrowth environment.
Cedar collaborated closely with Deel to meet their needs through a targeted and efficient recruitment approach:
- Strategic Market Mapping: Leveraged Cedar’s expertise in recruiting for PE/VC-backed Tech scale-ups to identify candidates who understood the demands of rapidly growing, globally scaled businesses.
- Streamlined Shortlisting: Delivered precise shortlists tailored to Deel’s requirements, ensuring first-time accuracy and minimal iterations.
- End-to-End Management: Handled all candidate engagement and coordination, minimizing the workload for Deel’s leadership during a critical fundraising period.
Over a six-month hiring campaign, Cedar successfully placed 30 professionals across 13 countries, including the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Italy, Israel, India, Australia, and the Cayman Islands. Key hires included:
- Leadership and Regional Roles: Financial Controllers, Regional Controllers, and Finance Managers.
- Specialist Positions: Head of Payroll, Payroll Managers, Tax Managers, Credit Control, and Accounts Payable.
Deel’s new finance team seamlessly integrated into the business, enabling the company to sustain its hypergrowth trajectory while maintaining robust financial operations. Cedar continues to support Deel with international recruitment for their most challenging roles, reaffirming a trusted partnership.
Testimonial – “I have had the pleasure of working with Cedar Recruitment and I can confidently say that they are one of the most professional and efficient recruitment agencies I have ever worked with. From the very beginning, their team took the time to understand our business needs and the specific requirements for the positions we were looking to fill.” – Managing Partner & Founder