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What if the problem is the business model, not the vacancy?

Advisory for language businesses working out what they will sell in 2028. Delivery model change, AI adoption, new market entry and product transformation, delivered by people who hire into these functions every week and can see which structures are actually staffed and which are still slideware.

Two people mapping a plan out on a whiteboard

Scope

What does this practice cover?

Machine translation and large language models are compressing traditional translation revenue. Every LSP owner and language technology board is running the same question: what is the business in three years, who runs it, and what does the delivery model look like when the human-in-the-loop moves from producing the output to supervising it.

Most search firms in this category cannot help with that question, because they were built on the model that is being displaced. Global Search RC advises on it and then hires against the answer, which means the org design and the people who fill it are decided in the same room.

A business moving from a dispersed delivery model to a settled one. Org design and hiring decided in the same room, because they are the same decision.

Roles covered

  • Delivery model change: from volume-based production to supervised AI output
  • AI adoption: what to build, what to buy, and who is needed to run either
  • New market entry: the shape of the local team and the order to hire it in
  • Product transformation for LSPs moving into technology and data services
  • Org design for functions that did not exist three years ago
  • Post-acquisition integration of language technology teams
A monitor displaying a line graph, close up
A delivery model being rebuilt while it is still trading

Process

How does the process run?

4 stages. Each one has something that has to be true before the next begins, which is why they are numbered rather than listed.

  1. 01

    Where the business actually is

    An honest read of the current delivery model, the revenue mix, and which parts of it are exposed to machine translation and large language models. This is usually more uncomfortable and more useful than the version in the board deck.

  2. 02

    What the business is becoming

    The target model. Which services survive as they are, which get repriced, which get replaced by supervised AI output, and which new lines are worth building.

  3. 03

    The org that runs it

    Functions, reporting lines and the order to hire in. Including the functions that did not exist three years ago and have no established job architecture to copy.

  4. 04

    Hiring against the answer

    Search executed against the org design that was just agreed, rather than against a headcount plan written for a business the company is leaving.

A building wrapped in scaffolding and protective netting

Terms

What does it cost and how long does it take?

Basis
Advisory engagement

Coverage

Which verticals does this apply to?

All four practices run across the same nine verticals. Each has its own hiring market, salary shape and supply constraint.

Gaming localization

Questions

Growth advisory: common questions

Why would a search firm advise on delivery model?
Because deciding what a language business sells in 2028 and deciding who to hire are the same decision. Separating them is how organizations end up with a headcount plan for a business they are no longer in.
How is this different from a management consultancy?
The advice comes from people who hire into these functions every week and can see which structures are actually staffed and which are still slideware. It is operator-level rather than framework-level, and it ends in named people rather than a deck.
Do I have to use the search practice as well?
No. Advisory runs on its own.
What does this actually cover?
Delivery model change, AI adoption, new market entry, product transformation for LSPs moving into technology and data services, org design for functions that did not exist three years ago, and post-acquisition integration of language technology teams.

Also

The other three practices

Ready to start a search?

A consultation is a call with Melanie about the role, the market and whether the brief is winnable as written. It is not a pitch meeting.

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