Our specialist go-to-market headhunters began working with Dust, an operating system for AI agents, when they needed support identifying a critical founding marketer. The role had been vacant for some time, and Dust had exhausted their internal network. Having worked with 3Search previously, the Global Head of Talent knew we would be well placed to support such a pivotal hire.
Dust is an ambitious, high‑growth AI organization, building Dust to serve as the operating system for AI-driven companies. Their infrastructure connects models to company data, turning raw AI capabilities into agents that do real work.
At a pivotal moment in their growth journey, the business was transitioning from early traction into a more structured growth phase. To support this evolution, Dust needed to build out its go‑to‑market capability, starting with senior marketing leadership that could define strategy, build function, and support long‑term scale.
Dust needed to appoint a founding marketing leader to professionalize and scale their marketing capability. This was a newly created leadership role with a broad remit.
The challenge was compounded by several factors:
At stake was Dust’s ability to build a credible growth engine and maintain momentum in a highly competitive market.
Dust needed to partner with a specialist recruitment firm that could access senior, passive marketing talent not reachable through traditional channels. Dust’s Global Head of Talent chose to partner with 3Search due to our deep GTM expertise, proven track record in senior marketing appointments, and an existing relationship built on trust.
Specialist marketing headhunter, Oliver Amos, partnered with Dust on a retained search, allowing him to run a thorough and highly targeted process. The search was focused on the Bay Area, one of the most competitive markets globally for senior marketing talent.
Our approach included:
Oliver acted as a strategic partner throughout the process, not simply a delivery function. He coordinated with the business weekly via steering calls to maintain alignment, gather live feedback, and recalibrate the search where needed.
3Search delivered three exceptional candidates through to final stage, all of whom the business felt capable of hiring. One candidate stood out, and Dust successfully appointed a Founding Marketing Leader.
From brief to signed offer, the process took eight weeks for a role that had been vacant for several months prior. The appointment enabled Dust to formally build its marketing function and laid the foundations for future GTM scale.
We recently partnered with 3Search on a critical founding marketing hire. Having worked with them previously, I was confident in their ability to deliver - and Olly and the team quickly understood both the brief and what made the role genuinely difficult to fill. Their approach balanced pace with quality. They produced a strong longlist in a short timeframe and refined it into a shortlist of standout candidates, all closely aligned to what we needed. We selected one of three final options - any of which would have been a solid hire. From brief to signed offer took eight weeks. Communication was consistent throughout, and their market insight shaped key decisions along the way. Following this success, we've continued to partner with 3Search on additional GTM roles and would recommend them to any business looking to hire high-calibre GTM talent.
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