How KAYAK Hired a Head of Finance in Under 30 Days

KAYAK is one of Greece’s most recognized premium ice cream and frozen yogurt companies. Since its founding in 1993 in a small workshop in Argyroupoli, the company has grown into a dynamic business group operating through the KAYAK, Chillbox, and Goatit brands. With more than 80 company-owned and franchise stores across Greece and abroad, a presence in over 2,000 HoReCa locations, and exports to markets including the United States, Germany, Cyprus, and the United Arab Emirates, KAYAK has established a strong international footprint.

Within such a fast-growing organization, hiring a Head of Finance & Business Control is a strategically important decision. The role is responsible for strengthening the company’s financial management processes, enhancing its business control framework, and supporting strategic decision-making during a period of significant business growth.

KAYAK needed to fill the Head of Finance & Business Control position quickly, recognizing it as a key leadership role for the company’s next stage of growth. As the organization strengthened its financial operations and prepared for the next phase of its business development, this position became a critical link between finance and executive management.

The successful candidate would be responsible for improving financial reporting processes, developing business control mechanisms, monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), and supporting senior leadership in strategic decision-making. This role required a rare combination of financial expertise, commercial awareness, and experience working within rapidly growing organizations.

Professionals with this profile represent a limited segment of the talent market and, in most cases, already occupy senior leadership positions. As a result, successfully filling the role could not rely solely on inbound applications but required a targeted sourcing strategy and proactive engagement with qualified professionals. For KAYAK, filling this position promptly was not only an operational priority but also an important investment in supporting the company’s continued growth.

The collaboration began with a comprehensive walkthrough of the linq Sourcing platform, enabling the KAYAK team to fully leverage all of its capabilities from day one. Throughout the recruitment process, the linq team provided continuous support, responding promptly to every request and ensuring the search progressed efficiently.

As part of the recruitment strategy, we advised KAYAK to contact interested candidates as quickly as possible in order to maintain candidate availability within the highly competitive finance and business control talent market. Prompt communication, combined with the effective use of the platform, enabled the team to manage the evaluation process efficiently.

Overall, the platform generated 31 applications, creating a strong pool of qualified candidates for evaluation. Through this process, KAYAK identified the right professional for the Head of Finance & Business Control position and completed the hire in less than 30 days.

Hiring the Head of Finance & Business Control in less than 30 days enabled KAYAK to strengthen a strategically important leadership role during a critical phase of its business development. For an organization investing in its internal capabilities to support future growth, quickly filling such a key position helps maintain operational momentum and supports the successful execution of strategic initiatives.

By appointing a new Head of Finance & Business Control, KAYAK strengthened its finance function with a leader responsible for financial planning, business controlling, and strategic decision support. Filling the role in a timely manner reinforced the company’s leadership team and created the right conditions to support the next stage of its business objectives.

The KAYAK case demonstrates the importance of having the right recruitment strategy during periods of business growth and organizational transformation. The company needed to fill a critical Finance & Business Control leadership role and, through linq Sourcing, received 31 qualified applications and successfully completed the hire in less than 30 days.

When recruiting senior leadership positions, where the right appointment can significantly influence a company’s operations and strategic direction, speed is important—but it is not enough on its own. Combining targeted sourcing, a structured evaluation process, and continuous recruitment support enables organizations to make timely, well-informed hiring decisions without compromising on quality. This is the approach linq delivers, regardless of an organization’s size or industry.

Looking to fill critical leadership positions? Discover how linq can help you identify, engage, and hire the right professionals – even for highly strategic executive roles.