No noise. No guesswork. Just the right leader.

Ilya Grigorev is a Partner and Head of the SaaS Practice at The Big Search, specializing in high-growth SaaS companies with a special focus on Go-to-Market, CEO, and Board roles. He has over 10 years of professional experience in executive search and consulting. Before joining TBS, he was a Senior Consultant at i-potentials, an Account Manager at functionalaesthetics, and a Consultant at Kornherr Associates. Ilya holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Based in Berlin, Germany, he is proficient in German, English, and Russian.

Sahar Powell is a Director and Head of the Consumer Practice at The Big Search, specializing in leadership hiring for technology companies across Europe. She has over 10 years of experience in executive search. Previously, she worked at Korn Ferry as a Senior Associate and Research Associate, executing C-level searches across the technology, life sciences, finance, and automotive industries. Sahar holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and a Master of Arts (MA) in Intercultural Communication from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Based in Berlin, Germany, she is proficient in German and English.

Elena Obukhova is a Partner at The Big Search, leading the Deeptech Practice and specializing in executive search for technology scale-ups. She has over 10 years of professional experience in executive search and consulting. Previously, she was an Executive Search and Assessment Professional at Russell Reynolds Associates and an Associate at Riverhouse Partners. Elena holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Business Studies from Cass Business School. Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, she is proficient in English and Russian.

Basma brings nearly 20 years of experience across People & Culture, leadership and organisational development. She spent more than a decade at global advertising network DDB, followed by five years at Zalando, where she held senior leadership roles across Talent Management and the People function, most recently as Head of People & Organisation. Since 2022, she has built her own executive coaching and advisory practice, partnering with executives and leadership teams at companies including Zalando, CHANEL, Salesforce, Vattenfall, TomTom and Babbel.