Off-market search for VC-backed, opinionated New Zealand tech companies hiring senior AI, engineering, executive, Product and Marketing talent across New Zealand and Australia, and for Australian and US companies hiring in NZ. Run personally by Perpetuate's two partners. 2-3 candidates in 5-10 days. No job ads.
Perpetuate is an off-market search firm for VC-backed tech, AI-native and deep-tech companies in New Zealand, Australia and Silicon Valley. It runs four practices across two partners: AI/Technical and Executive, led by Stephen Tung; Product and Marketing, led by Sophia Philippou. New Zealand searches run cross-Tasman: a 20-30 minute brief for Stephen's searches, one focused hour for Sophia's, then 2-3 shortlisted candidates in 5-10 days. Its exclusive ANZ hiring mandate with Zapier has already placed a Senior Frontend Engineer in New Zealand, and NZ-founded Timescapes has come back for a second search.
53 senior technical, executive, product and marketing placements across 34 client companies between January 2025 and September 2026, spanning VC-backed tech, AI-native and deep-tech companies in Australia, New Zealand and the US. Fourteen of those 34 clients hired more than once.
senior placements since Jan 2025
client companies across AU, NZ and the US
of clients came back for a second search
The problem an Auckland founder has when hiring a CTO or a Head of Product is the one a Sydney founder has, with a smaller pool underneath it. The person who can run the seat is employed, recently promoted, and has no reason to answer a job ad. In a country of five million, the people who have already scaled the exact thing you are building are few enough to count, and most of them know each other.
The New Zealand Pool Problem
A job posting reaches people who are comparing options. The leader you need is comparing nothing, so the search has to go to them by name, with a reason that could only have been written for them. Volume recruiting scales the noise, not the pool.
The Generalist Recruiter Problem
Reality capture, edge AI, biosensors, satellite data, AI-native SaaS: in these companies the technical depth is the moat. A shortlist built on keyword matching approves people who cannot hold that depth, and a founder usually finds out six months after the hire.
Where Perpetuate Sits
A New Zealand scaleup grows into Australia and the US. The leader you hire in Auckland will be shipping, selling or hiring in Sydney and San Francisco within a year, and a search partner already placing into all three markets can read for that. Stephen Tung and Sophia Philippou run every New Zealand search personally; nothing is handed to a partner office or a junior researcher.
If a peer asked me whether to take an off-market call, I would say: take it if the person on the other end can explain your career back to you in a way you recognise but had never said out loud. That was the tell.
Stanislav Funiak, PhD
Employee #30 at Cerebras Systems, former Facebook Research Scientist, Carnegie Mellon PhD
Three names from our client and relationship list, each of which says something specific about New Zealand: a US company that hires on both sides of the Tasman through us, an NZ-founded company growing into North America, and an Auckland-founded scaleup. Alongside them, what the Auckland leadership seats we are briefed on currently pay.
Exclusive ANZ Hiring Partner
Zapier builds workflow automation used by millions of businesses. Perpetuate is its exclusive ANZ hiring partner for engineering and leadership roles, a standing mandate that covers Australia and New Zealand, with Zapier returning for each hire.
Perpetuate Hired: three engineering roles across Australia and New Zealand, including a Senior Frontend Engineer (L4) based in New Zealand.
NZ-Founded Construction Reality Capture, Growing Into North America
Timescapes builds reality-capture cameras and software for construction sites. Founded in New Zealand in 2017, it now runs on sites across New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US, with North America as its growth market.
Perpetuate Hired: Senior Product Manager, then Director of AI. A repeat Perpetuate client across two practices.
Auckland. AI Consumer Research. Series A, 2026
Ideally is an Auckland-founded AI research platform that lets brands test ideas with real consumers in hours rather than weeks. It raised its Series A in 2026 and is expanding into the US: the exact pattern this page is written for.
Auckland-founded. On Perpetuate's client and relationship list.
Live Auckland Mandates, Comp in NZD
Head of Product (AI), growing into CPO, at a VC-backed AI-native SaaS company: NZD $270-300K plus ESOP. VP Product, Head of Product or CPO at an AI-native B2B SaaS scaleup: NZD $200-300K. Both run through Sophia Philippou's Product practice.
Comp as briefed to Perpetuate, not as transacted.
Product and design hires run through Perpetuate's Product practice, led by Sophia Philippou, and marketing and growth hires through her Marketing practice. Engineering and AI hires run through Stephen Tung's AI/Technical practice, with CTO, Chief AI Officer and other executive seats in his Executive practice. All four run into New Zealand.
Explore the Product practiceExplore the Marketing practicePerpetuate, Our Thesis
The process is the one every Perpetuate search runs on, and none of it needs a room. Auckland sits two hours ahead of Brisbane for most of the year; a nine o'clock brief in Auckland is seven in Queensland, and the outreach that follows is researched and written the same way it is for a Sydney client.
Step 1
One Founder Call, On Video
20-30 minutes with Stephen, or one focused hour with Sophia, directly. We ask about the hard problem, what the last person in the seat got wrong, and what senior means in your team rather than on a CV. That call is your whole time commitment.
Step 2
Off-Market Outreach, By Name
Signal recognition identifies the specific people the role is for: Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch Operators, New Zealanders in Australia or the US who would come home for the right seat, and Australians who would relocate. Each gets a researched, individual pitch. No posting, no InMail campaign.
Step 3
2-3 Candidates in 5-10 Days
Two or three candidates who have already had a real conversation with us, assessed for technical depth, leadership record and Fit. Relocation, remote or Auckland-based is settled in the brief, and we carry both sides through to a signed offer across the time difference.
No. Perpetuate is based in Brisbane, Australia, and delivers New Zealand searches cross-border: the founder brief runs on video, candidate outreach is direct and research-led wherever the candidate sits, and the process is carried to offer across the time difference. Its exclusive ANZ mandate with Zapier has already placed an engineer in New Zealand, NZ-founded Timescapes is a repeat client, and Auckland-founded Ideally is on its client and relationship list.
No. New Zealand is part of the practice as designed. Perpetuate's thesis has always named New Zealand and Australian technical talent together, its Zapier mandate is a standing exclusive covering both countries, and NZ-founded companies such as Timescapes are repeat clients. Its 34 client companies since January 2025 span Australia, New Zealand and the US.
AI/Technical, led by Stephen Tung: AI product, forward-deployed and Staff or Principal engineers, ML and data leads, and Heads of Engineering. Executive, also led by Stephen: CTO, Director of AI, Chief AI Officer, Chief Science Officer, COO, CRO and ANZ regional leads. Product, led by Sophia Philippou: Senior PM through CPO, including Senior and Principal Product Design. Marketing, also led by Sophia: CMO, VP Marketing, Product Marketing and Growth. All four practices run into New Zealand, typically for VC-backed tech, AI-native and deep-tech companies growing into Australia and the US.
The same 5-10 day timeline as its Australian searches. After a founder brief on video, 20-30 minutes for Stephen's searches and one focused hour for Sophia's, Perpetuate writes an individual pitch for each target candidate and runs off-market outreach across New Zealand, Australia and the New Zealand diaspora abroad, typically returning 2-3 pre-vetted candidates within 5-10 days.
Yes. Perpetuate runs four practices across two partners: AI/Technical and Executive with Stephen Tung, Product and Marketing with Sophia Philippou. They are regularly briefed together when a scaleup builds out its team after a raise, and several clients have returned across the practice split: an engineering hire first, then a product one, or the reverse.
Through the Talent System, Perpetuate's concentric-circle Signal recognition: it starts from people already known to be exceptional in a domain and maps outward through who they would vouch for by name. For a New Zealand mandate that circle includes Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch Operators, New Zealanders working in Australia or the US, and Australians who would relocate. Every approach is a researched, individual pitch, never a posting.
A senior engineer or Head of Engineering runs through Stephen Tung's AI/Technical practice; a CTO, Chief AI Officer or COO goes to his Executive practice. Product hires up to CPO sit with Sophia Philippou's Product practice, and CMO or growth hires with her Marketing practice. Stephen's brief takes 20-30 minutes and Sophia's takes one hour, from wherever in New Zealand you are, with a shortlist inside ten days.
Brief Stephen or Sophia on Your SearchExplore the Executive practice