How Smarsh Built a High-Performing Enterprise Sales Team with Executive Search

Smarsh Case Study

After becoming dissatisfied with the quality of candidates delivered by previous recruitment partners, Smarsh engaged Oakstone International to transform its sales hiring strategy. Rather than relying on active job seekers, Oakstone implemented a targeted executive search approach focused on high-performing passive Financial Services sales professionals. The partnership delivered 16 strategic hires across EMEA and the US, helping Smarsh build a stronger enterprise sales organisation and establishing a long-term global hiring partnership.

Background

Relationship Background

Requirements & Pain Points

Oakstone’s Solution & Value Proposition

Results

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Background

Smarsh provides cloud-based archiving and compliance solutions for companies in regulated and litigious industries. The company’s centralised platform provides a unified compliance and e-discovery workflow across a range of digital communications systems, including emails, public and enterprise social media, websites, and instant and mobile messaging. It serves the regulatory compliance, e-discovery, and record retention requirements of financial services, healthcare and life sciences, public sector, and other industries.

Relationship Background

• Oakstone had previously built teams for Icertis, an enterprise contract management platform in the cloud that solves hard contract management problems on an easy-to-use platform. Oakstone worked closely with their internal Head of Talent as a candidate and a client.

• This individual then joined Smarsh as Head of Talent and chose to work with Oakstone due to his positive experience. The goal was to upscale the sales profiles they were hiring.

Requirements & Pain Points

• Smarsh was specifically looking to hire strategic account-type sellers who were financial services experts.

• Smarsh had previously worked with other external recruitment partners; however, they were left disappointed due to the quality of profiles they were receiving.

• Smarsh was only receiving profiles for relatively experienced salespeople, not the high performers they were looking for.

• The internal recruitment team were based in the US and had limited bandwidth to focus on building the EMEA team.

Oakstone's Solution & Value Proposition

• Oakstone conducted an outbound candidate identification and engagement strategy, targeting qualified candidates who we’re not actively looking for new opportunities.

• Oakstone were able to engage with people, drawing them out of their current roles to ensure that Smarsh was getting the best people, not just the available people.

Results

• 16 Hires in EMEA and the US.

• Oakstone is continuing to support Smarsh on its EMEA and US growth.

More about Oakstone and Smarsh

• Why do traditional recruitment approaches fail to surface top sales talent?

  Top sales performers are rarely active job seekers. Traditional recruitment approaches often rely on inbound applications, which means companies see available candidates rather than the best candidates.

• How does outbound executive search improve sales hiring quality?

  Outbound search targets passive, high-performing individuals directly, engaging them in informed, confidential conversations. This approach significantly improves candidate calibre, particularly in specialist or regulated markets.

• How do global SaaS companies scale sales teams across EMEA and the US?

  Successful global scaling requires consistent hiring standards, regional market knowledge, and central coordination. A single recruitment partner can ensure alignment across geographies while adapting to local market dynamics.

I’m Hiring

Oakstone International are a specialised SaaS executive search and recruitment firm assisting companies globally. If you are looking for executive search assistance or would like to speak to a Divisional Director about future hiring assistance in EMEA, the US or APAC, contact Oakstone.

I’m Job Seeking

As a SaaS client-driven firm, we work exclusively for clients to find people with a specific set of skills and experience.

However, if you would like to submit your CV, it will be passed on to our divisional directors, and we will consider you for future roles that are appropriate to your background and goals.