Technical Director: how Metalmont found with us the profile it was looking for to redefine its structure

The client: B2B metalworking company, international market and culture built around people

Metalmont was founded in 1986 in Revine Lago, in the province of Treviso, as a metalworking subcontracting company. For its first twenty years, it produced components for third parties (automotive, furniture, boilers) and built a solid DNA around know-how. The turning point came at the end of the nineties, when the company developed its first machine for emptying silos. From that moment, Metalmont became a product company, with its own brand, and the guiding principle shifted from production efficiency to design effectiveness.

Today, Metalmont designs, produces, and markets machines for handling cereals within storage facilities. A niche, highly technical market where competing requires engineering precision and the ability to operate on an international scale.

The challenge: finding a specialized technical profile with a non-negotiable cultural fit

1.1 A key figure: a selection error would have had ripple effects throughout the structure

The Technical Director at Metalmont is not just another operational figure. He is the person around whom the entire technical structure revolves: he sets priorities, defines standards, and provides direction. In a company of thirty people competing in international markets with proprietary technology, a wrong choice for that role would have had an immediate and widespread impact on everything produced and sold.

Iacopo Meghini describes the role this way: "He is the figure around whom the entire technical structure revolves. He must be strongly authoritative, with a clear vision and the ability to lead without being influenced by immediate pressures."

The stakes were to find the person who would shape the company's technical structure for the following years.

1.2 Technically strong, culturally compatible: finding both in the same profile

Metalmont's Technical Director had to meet two distinct requirements. The first was technical: solid and verifiable skills in a specialized domain, in a sector where approximation is not tolerated. The second was cultural: the ability to work in an international company, with a team accustomed to taking initiatives, to making mistakes without the error becoming a problem, to operating with autonomy within a defined perimeter.

The two dimensions are not mutually exclusive, but it is not obvious to find them together. And in a reality like Metalmont, where corporate culture is an integral part of the way of working, a technically excellent but culturally distant profile would have struggled to bring the expected contribution.

The approach: shortlist calibrated on cultural fit, external technical verification of declared skills

2.1 Reading the client before opening the search

Even before the search officially began, Reverse dedicated time to understanding who they were talking to. Iacopo Meghini reasoned about the person before the figure, with clear priorities on what was non-negotiable. An interlocutor who was able to communicate those priorities clearly, and who was willing to think outside standard parameters when the profile justified it.

That combination, a solid method on one hand and an open client on the other, translated into concrete choices: in some cases, the profiles presented went beyond the agreed RAL budget, because Reverse understood that for Iacopo Meghini, cost was a parameter to be considered, not an impassable limit. "If you have someone very capable who costs more, you reason about the person and not the amount."

2.2 Technical verification of declared skills: what distinguishes Reverse from other Head Hunters for specialized profiles

Among the elements that Iacopo Meghini found distinctive compared to other selection experiences, including those with consolidated recruitment companies, one weighed more than the others. He described it this way: "One thing I found decidedly distinctive is that you, when you propose a technical person, have them evaluated by an industry expert who can say: yes, the knowledge they boast on their CV is actually demonstrable."

This is one of the central elements of Reverse's Collaborative Recruiting® model: each technical profile is evaluated by a Scout, a professional with direct experience in the client's sector, able to verify the declared skills in detail. For those who select highly specialized profiles without having the internal skills to do so, the difference is substantial: you don't rely on a CV, you really know who you are hiring.

2.3 Seven profiles, three on the shortlist, one hire: fast times on a complex search

Iacopo Meghini summarized Reverse's approach with these words: "engineering with a strong humanistic component". A process with clear logic (funnel, shortlist, verifiable results at every step) that never lost sight of the fact that people, not specifications, are at the center.

The selection started with about seven profiles. From the first shortlist of three, one immediately stood out as the closest to the desired characteristics: certified technical skills and compatibility with Metalmont's culture. The process closed in times that, given the complexity of the search, Iacopo Meghini did not take for granted.

The results: placement completed, collaboration continues

The result was not just the candidate placed. It was the confirmation that a well-constructed selection process can be fast without becoming superficial, and specific without becoming rigid. Reverse held together the precision of a structured process and the flexibility needed to evaluate something that cannot be measured on a CV: the compatibility between a person and a specific corporate culture.

It must be said that certain results also arise from the trust that is created between client and supplier. Iacopo Meghini brought clarity on priorities, willingness to reason beyond formal parameters, and a precise vision of what he was looking for, not only in technical terms, to the selection process. That active collaboration made Reverse's work more effective and laid the foundations for a lasting collaboration.

Key takeaways: what to keep in mind when looking for a role that redefines the structure

Before opening the mandate, it is necessary to truly understand what role is being sought. Not all selections have the same organizational weight. When the figure sought is the one who establishes the technical priorities for everyone, the brief with which the search is opened must reflect that responsibility: the type of authority required, the internal dynamics on which that person will have to act, the risk profile if the choice is wrong. A partner who treats that search like the others will probably deliver a shortlist like the others.

Cultural fit is not verified downstream: it is sought from the beginning. For companies with a strong culture, finding someone technically adequate is often the least complex problem. The real filter is understanding if that person knows how to work in that specific environment. This requires a partner who has understood how the company works even before building the shortlist.

For specialized technical profiles, a good assessment of skills requires a sector professional. It's not enough to read a CV: you need someone who has worked in that world and can distinguish real mastery from superficial familiarity. Reverse does this through Collaborative Recruiting®, involving technical Scouts from the sector in candidate evaluation. This is a methodological choice that raises the quality of the final decision, regardless of the internal skills of those selecting.

Staying within formal parameters is not always the right choice. Reverse presented profiles beyond the agreed RAL budget because it understood the client's real priorities. A partner who merely respects formal parameters delivers a technically correct but strategically poor selection.

A well-built process is naturally fast. With a precise brief, a focused shortlist, and reliable technical verification, times are shortened because each step leads to a decision and avoids further evaluation.