Impala Search

Impala Search was founded in 2018 by Rob Blackburn and Ivan Lechev, who had spotted an opportunity to commercialise a relatively untapped tech market – software engineering across Europe. They are committed to a first-class client and candidate service, believe in investing in young talent and creating a diverse and inclusive culture where people feel empowered and excited to come to work.

  • The company believes that attitude is as important as skill sets, therefore they match their candidates to their clients’ core values. The recipe for success is knowledge and integration in tech and software engineering, an obsession with client and candidate service, a diverse, energetic and dynamic company culture and an eye for innovation.
  • As with so many organisations, they had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic extremely quickly. They explored how they could pivot new challenges and find ways to diversify the business, as well as adapt everyday operations. Having made this adaptation to remote working, staff are now having more interaction with clients and candidates than ever before and this has strengthened all of their professional relationships.
  • At the start of 2020 Impala Search was focused on Berlin, with the plan for 2021 to expand into a new country. This was brought forward when Covid-19 hit. Stockholm was chosen as the appropriate market as it mirrors the landscape in Berlin, both in terms of technology companies and how attractive it is to candidates as a place to live and work.
  • Impala has now made multiple placements in Stockholm and hired their first experienced recruiter to lead in this area.

Judges’ comments: “The business impressed judges with their focused approach, diversity initiatives and ability to adjust their business strategy to maintain sustainability.”

Also: The overall standard of entries in this category was high. Businesses demonstrated growth and innovation. In a highly competitive category several entries met the judges’ highest expectations and generated appropriate debate.

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Harper Fox Partners