Chief Talent Officer · Executive Search

Talent, Strategy, and Business Growth.

I'm Brian Itumo. For 14+ years I've led executive search and global talent acquisition, helping companies from pre-seed to Series D, and multinationals, hire the leaders who drive growth across Africa, Europe and North America.

Kenya · Remote-first

Contact Brian View Resume
Portrait of Brian Itumo in a navy suit and glasses

01

Professional overview

I lead global talent acquisition and executive search, delivering C-suite and senior leadership hires for startups and multinationals. As Chief Talent Officer at Recruitment Room, I own talent acquisition strategy and delivery for 200+ clients and a distributed community of 380+ recruiters.

My executive searches typically close in 3–5 weeks. I combine rigorous role definition with targeted passive sourcing and structured assessment tied to business outcomes, and I partner directly with founders, CEOs and boards to align talent strategy with growth, succession and market entry.

02

Professional experience

  1. Recruitment Room

    Global Talent Advisor

    Jun 2026 – Present · Africa, North America & Europe

    • Principal advisor to founders, CEOs, boards and investors on aligning talent strategy with business strategy.
    • Delivers executive talent intelligence, market mapping and competitor analysis to support hiring and expansion decisions.
    • Guides recruitment transformation, including AI adoption, automation and talent technology selection.

    Chief Talent Officer

    Jan 2024 – Present · Global

    • Leads global talent delivery across Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East, with a network of 380+ recruiters and talent partners.
    • Reduced time-to-hire by 30% through AI-enabled sourcing and workflow optimisation.
    • Improved candidate quality by 20% through standardised sourcing and assessment methods.

    Founder & Principal Recruiter

    Mar 2023 – Jan 2024 · Global

    • Delivered VP, Director and C-suite searches for startups, scale-ups and multinationals in tech, fintech, healthcare, renewable energy and professional services.
    • Maintained a 95%+ executive offer acceptance rate.
    • Grew qualified executive pipelines by 25% through targeted sourcing and market engagement.

  2. IT Pros

    Technical Sourcing Lead

    Jan 2022 – Feb 2023 · United States

    • Owned niche technical recruitment across SaaS, fintech, GTM and cybersecurity.
    • Automated pipeline workflows that cut time-to-fill by 20%; mentored recruiters, raising team productivity by 30%.

    Talent Acquisition Specialist

    Mar 2021 – Dec 2021 · United States

    • Full-cycle recruitment for high-growth US tech clients with a 95%+ interview-to-offer acceptance rate.

  3. Sanlam

    Corporate Recruiter

    Oct 2020 – Dec 2021 · Kenya

    • Built sales teams exceeding hiring targets by 25% quarter-on-quarter.
    • Competency-based interview frameworks raised quality-of-hire by 20%; employer branding grew inbound applications by 25%.

    Agency Lead

    Oct 2019 – Sep 2020 · Kenya

    • Recruited and led 35+ sales agents, driving 40% productivity growth in the first year.

  4. B&T

    Human Resources Manager

    Jul 2017 – Aug 2019 · Kenya

    • Rebuilt HR and recruitment, cutting time-to-hire by 30% and achieving a 95%+ role-fill rate within SLA.
    • Reduced recruitment advertising costs by 15% and improved retention by 20%.

    Technical Lead

    Jul 2016 – Jun 2017 · Kenya

    • Managed technical hiring and an HRIS implementation that cut administrative workload by 25%.

  5. Earlier career

    HR Administrator, EzeeMoney · Technical roles, ITwenty Seven Solutions

    2012 – 2016 · Kenya

    • Began in IT operations and moved into people work, achieving 90% first-year retention in technical and customer service hiring.

Education: BA, Public Administration and Governance, Mount Kenya University (2016–2019) · Associate's degree, Business Information Technology, JKUAT (2011–2012)

03

Achievements and impact

years in talent acquisition and executive search
14+
years in talent acquisition and executive search
executive placements
50+
executive placements
faster time-to-hire with AI-enabled sourcing
30%
faster time-to-hire with AI-enabled sourcing
executive offer acceptance rate
95%+
executive offer acceptance rate
uplift in quality-of-hire
20%
uplift in quality-of-hire
recruiters in the distributed network he leads
380+
recruiters in the distributed network he leads

Also: +15% diverse hires through DEI-focused pipelines across three continents, and talent partnerships that contributed to 25% revenue growth for clients and his firm.

04

Expertise

Executive Search

C-suite, VP and Director searches typically closed in 3–5 weeks.

Talent Intelligence

Market insight and competitor intelligence to inform hiring and expansion.

Executive Talent Mapping

Mapping leadership talent pools across markets and competitors.

AI Recruitment Strategy

AI-powered sourcing, ATS optimisation and recruitment automation.

Global Talent Acquisition

Cross-border hiring across Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Workforce & Succession Planning

Leadership succession, executive assessment and organisational design.

Recruitment Analytics

Dashboards and KPIs, including quality tracking through 90-day retention.

DEI-focused Hiring

Diverse pipelines across three continents, with +15% diverse hires.

05

Resume

The full resume covers roles, responsibilities and results in detail.

View resume Download PDF

06

Opportunity interests

Brian is open to conversations about roles in:

  • Executive talent acquisition and recruitment leadership
  • AI in recruitment and talent technology
  • Talent intelligence and market insight
  • Executive talent mapping
  • Roles within executive search firms or in-house

Let's talk about your next leadership hire, or your next leader.

The best way to reach Brian is a message on LinkedIn.

Message Brian on LinkedIn