Today, it operates in 14+ markets across Asia, Latin America and EMEA with service in hundreds of cities worldwide, empowering small and medium enterprises with tech-driven logistics solutions. The company has grown into a high-growth private logistics tech leader with estimated annual revenues in the hundreds of millions and significant global transaction volume.
Context
As Lalamove prepared to launch operations in New York City, success depended on quickly assembling a credible local leadership team aligned with the global HQ. Pender & Howe was initially retained by Lalamove's Director, People in Hong Kong, a seasoned global talent leader, to support the NYC launch through four foundational hires:
- Finance Manager, US
- Marketing Manager
- People Manager, US
- Sales Manager
All four roles were delivered successfully. The quality of talent, speed of execution, and clarity of communication established early trust.
Shortly after, Lalamove faced challenges hiring its most critical NYC role: a City Manager, Managing Director style leader. While Lalamove had a long-standing approach to City Manager hiring when entering new markets, the compressed timeline and U.S.-specific market dynamics required a more accelerated, hands-on search strategy.
With a global leadership retreat for City Managers across 20+ cities scheduled in Hong Kong on in early January, Lalamove wished to have this leader hired, closed, and onboarded within roughly six weeks, spanning U.S. Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.
Based on the success of the initial placements, Lalamove re-engaged Pender & Howe to accelerate the search.
