Consumer Goods Talent Mapping & Market Intelligence
A named view of who holds the roles you need, where they sit, what the market pays and what it would take to move them.
Senior hiring in consumer goods and retail rarely fails at the interview stage. It fails earlier, when the search begins without a clear picture of the market. If you do not know who currently holds the role you need to fill, where those people sit, what their roles pay, or whether your brief is realistic, every week that follows becomes expensive guesswork. Our talent mapping services exist to replace that guesswork with evidence before a single candidate is approached.
SundryHall is a specialist recruitment agency focused on consumer goods and retail, and consumer goods talent mapping is one of the ways we put that sector knowledge to work before a search even opens. We research the market on your behalf, identify the people and structures that matter to your hiring plans, and turn the findings into intelligence you can act on, whether you hire now, later, or not at all.
What talent mapping and market intelligence actually means
Talent mapping is a structured research exercise, not a database export. We identify the people currently doing the job you need done across the competitors, adjacent businesses, and talent pools most relevant to you, then document where they work, how their organizations are structured, their seniority, and the motivations likely to move them. The output is a working picture of the talent landscape that a list of names alone cannot give you.
Talent market intelligence is the wider analysis built around that map. It tells you what the market will bear: salary and benefits benchmarks for the role, the availability of specific skill sets, how competitor teams are built, and where realistic candidates are likely to come from. Read together, the two disciplines answer the questions that decide whether a hire succeeds. Is the brief achievable? Is the package competitive? Which companies should the search approach first?
The practical difference shows up in how decisions get made. Without mapping, a hiring brief is written from assumption: a title, a wish list of skills, and a salary band based on what the last person was paid. With mapping and market intelligence in place, the same brief is written from evidence: a documented view of who exists, what their roles command, what would move them, and how long a search at that level realistically takes.
Who this service is for
We work with hiring managers, HR and talent acquisition leaders, founders, and executives across consumer-facing businesses. That includes FMCG and consumer goods manufacturers, food and beverage brands, beauty and personal care companies, and grocery, specialty, and ecommerce retailers. The common thread is a need for reliable intelligence on where senior talent sits, what it costs, and how likely it is to move.
Clients usually arrive in one of a few situations. A confidential replacement is planned and the search cannot begin openly. A new function or market is being built and no one inside the business knows where that talent sits. A succession gap is opening at a senior level and leadership wants a view of external options before committing to a plan. Sometimes a compensation benchmark is needed to defend a counter-offer, or a board wants evidence before approving headcount in an unfamiliar region.
In each case the business needs accurate, current knowledge of the people market before it commits time and budget to a live search. That is the gap this service fills: a clear, evidence-based picture of the talent landscape, delivered discreetly and early enough to shape the decision rather than justify one already made.
What we deliver
Every engagement is scoped to the question you need answered, so deliverables vary from project to project. The components below appear in most, and they can be combined or taken individually depending on whether you are planning a hire, testing a structure, or pricing a role.
Competitor talent mapping
We chart the teams inside your named competitors or a defined peer set, showing reporting lines, current role holders, and how responsibility is divided across the functions that matter to you. The result is a clear picture of where capability sits in your market, which firms are investing in a function, and where the gaps and overlaps appear against your own team.
Identifying relevant individuals
We build a researched pool of relevant people, with profiles covering current role, background, seniority, and location, ready to inform a future approach or a succession plan. Each profile is verified against public and primary sources, so you can move from a long list to a shortlist without starting the research again.
Salary and package benchmarking
We report what comparable roles actually pay across your segment, including base, bonus, and benefits, so your offer strategy rests on evidence, not assumption. Where the data supports it, we show ranges by seniority and location rather than a single figure, which makes it easier to defend an offer internally and to judge when a candidate's expectations are out of step with the market.
Market feasibility assessment
We tell you plainly whether the person you have specified exists in meaningful numbers, where those people are concentrated, and which trade-offs in the brief would widen the pool. If the brief is unrealistic as written, you hear that at the start of the process rather than after months of unsuccessful search.
Organization and structure analysis
We document how competitor businesses organize their commercial, operational, and corporate teams, giving you a tested reference point when designing your own structure. That includes spans of control, how senior roles are split or combined, and where competitors place functions that you may currently run differently.
How an engagement runs
Every engagement follows the same four stages, from agreeing the brief through to a working debrief. The sequence keeps the research focused on the decisions you actually need to make, and gives you a clear view of what happens at each point.
Scoping the brief
We start by agreeing the roles, functions, and competitor set in scope, along with the specific questions the research must answer. Confidentiality constraints are fixed up front, so everyone is clear from the outset on what can be approached, what can be disclosed, and how findings will be handled.
Market research
Our consultants combine established sector networks, structured desk research, and direct market contact to build the picture. Working across these three channels means findings are grounded in live market conversations rather than published sources alone, and gaps in one channel can be closed by another.
Analysis and verification
Raw findings are tested against current sector knowledge before they reach you. Where information is outdated, unsupported, or inconsistent with what we are seeing elsewhere in the market, it is either verified through a second source or discarded. You receive conclusions we are confident in, with the basis for them made clear.
Reporting and debrief
The intelligence is delivered in a clear, usable format, structured around the questions agreed at the scoping stage. This is followed by a working session in which we talk through the implications, test your reading of the findings against ours, and agree practical next steps.
What you can do with the output
The immediate value is a faster, better-targeted search when you decide to hire. Because the market has already been mapped, a live assignment starts from a warm, researched pool instead of a cold start. You already know who the credible candidates are, which companies they sit in, how they are structured, and roughly what it will take to move them. That shortens time to shortlist, reduces the number of speculative approaches, and lowers the risk of a failed search.
The output also gives you a defensible view of the competitive landscape. You can see how rival organizations structure the same function, where the depth of talent sits, and which markets or sectors are worth targeting when the obvious pool is thin. That turns a hiring decision into an evidence-based one rather than a reaction to whoever happens to be available.
The longer-term value is better planning. Boards use the intelligence for succession decisions and organizational design, mapping internal capability against the external benchmark to see where the genuine gaps are. HR leaders use current salary and package data to defend budget proposals and to sense-check existing pay structures against the live market. Founders use it to define what a first senior commercial or supply chain hire should look like, what that person should have done before, and what the role will realistically cost.
Some clients commission a map and decide not to hire at all because the research shows the brief needs restructuring first: the title is wrong, the remit is too broad, the salary is below market, or the capability would be better built internally. That is a useful outcome, because it prevents a costly search built on the wrong specification and keeps the budget available for the role you actually need.
Why work with SundryHall
We are sector specialists. Our consultants work inside consumer goods and retail every day, across functions such as sales, marketing, supply chain, and operations. That focus changes the research itself. We understand seasonality, channel pressure, and the difference between a brand-side and a distributor-side role, so we read job titles, reporting lines, and compensation in context instead of taking them at face value.
We also work consultatively and discreetly. Mapping projects often touch confidential restructures or sensitive succession questions, and we handle them accordingly. You get direct communication throughout, honest findings even when they complicate your plans, and a relationship that carries into the search work that follows if you choose to proceed with us.
Engagement terms and scope
Talent mapping at SundryHall sits within a senior-level practice. We focus on managerial, executive, and leadership hiring across consumer goods and retail, and our research follows the same boundary. We map the senior and specialist layers of the market where the cost of a wrong decision is highest: the roles where a mis-hire is measured in lost quarters, not lost weeks. If your requirement sits outside that scope, we will say so early instead of taking on work we are not built for.
Engagements run in one of two shapes:
- Standalone research projects: a defined mapping exercise delivered as a piece of market intelligence in its own right, with no obligation to proceed to search.
- The first phase of a retained or exclusive search: the mapping work establishes the landscape, and the search builds directly on it.
In both cases, fees are agreed up front against a defined scope, so you know what you are commissioning and what it will cost before any work begins. Scope covers the functions, seniority levels, geographies, and competitor set to be mapped, along with the format and timing of the deliverable. If the scope changes mid-project, we discuss it with you before any additional work is carried out.
We operate across the United States from offices in Atlanta, Marlborough, Parsippany, and Cheyenne, and our research coverage extends nationally to wherever the relevant talent sits. The office you deal with is a matter of convenience, not a limit on where we will map.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a typical talent mapping project take?
Timelines depend on the breadth of the brief; a focused project moves faster than broad multi-market or multi-function mapping. We agree a realistic delivery window during scoping, and we keep you updated as the picture builds rather than leaving you waiting until the final report lands.
Will the people you identify know they have been mapped?
No. Mapping is research, not outreach. Individuals are not contacted about your role, so your interest stays confidential and your intentions are not signaled to the wider market. They are approached only if you later instruct us to run a search, and any approach at that stage is handled discreetly.
Can we use the intelligence with our internal talent team?
Yes. Many clients commission a map purely to support their own in-house hiring, succession planning, or location decisions. We are comfortable delivering intelligence as a standalone product, with no obligation to proceed to a search, and we are happy to walk your internal talent team through the findings so they can act on them directly.
What sectors and functions do you cover?
Our core ground is consumer goods and retail, including FMCG, food and beverage, beauty and personal care, and ecommerce and D2C, across commercial, supply chain, and corporate functions. This is a selection, not a complete list, so if your area is not mentioned, contact us to check coverage.
Start the conversation
Most of the best searches we run begin with a question rather than a brief. Should this role exist in its current shape? What does the market actually pay for it? Is the right person likely to be found in a competitor, an adjacent sector, or somewhere less obvious? We are happy to work through that thinking with you before anything is formally commissioned.
If you are planning a senior hire, reviewing a team structure, or simply want a reliable read on the talent market before you commit budget, talk to us. Call +1 888-202-9809 or email [email protected], and we will scope a piece of work around the question you actually need answered.
A first conversation typically takes around thirty minutes and carries no obligation. It helps if you can share the role or team in question, the timeline you are working to, and any constraints (budget, location, confidentiality) that will shape the search. If the honest answer is that you do not need an external partner for this one, we will tell you.
Brief us on the role you need to fill
Tell us about the position, the location and the timeline. A consultant who works your sector will follow up to talk through how we would run the search.