Steve Smith

Amery Chase // Strategic Lever for Seed through to Series B Founders. Deploying Technical Pedigree & Leadership Infrastructure.

Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

About

AMERY CHASE // The Strategic Lever Most startups fail not through a lack of vision, but through a fragile leadership and technical infrastructure. I partner with Seed through to Series B founders to deploy senior talent—the architects and the operators—that sustains £10M–£100M+ growth trajectories, with a focus on Engineering and Forward Deployed Engineering. My approach is clinical. I do not ‘fill roles’; I build the foundational layers that define a company’s technical and leadership pedigree. By utilising deep market mapping and a systems-first methodology, I source the top 1% of talent from elite engineering cultures. SPECIALISATIONS: ▫️ Technical Deployment: Staff & Principal Engineers, FDE's, AI Engineers, Architects, and Systems-First ICs. ▫️ Strategic Infrastructure: VPs, Directors, and C-Suite Leadership. ▫️ Ecosystem Growth: Scaling technical teams during Series A/B transition. If you are a founder viewing your next hire as a critical deployment of capital, let’s begin a briefing. 🔗 amerychase.com 📩 [email protected]

Experience

  • Founder & Managing Partner at Amery Chase
    Aug 2022 - Present · 4 yrs

    Deploying technical and leadership infrastructure for high-growth Seed through to Series B startups. Sourcing elite Forward Deployed Engineers (FDE's), Individual Contributors (ICs) and C-Suite leaders with a focus on technical pedigree and systems-thinking. Methodology: Clinical vetting, market mapping, and rapid scaling sprints.

  • Head of Talent - Technology & Data at Utility Warehouse
    Dec 2017 - Aug 2022 · 4 yrs 9 mos

    Transformation Lead: Modernising a 20-Year-Old Legacy Organisation Strategic Appointment: Headhunted from an agency partner to lead internal transformation after the CTO experienced a decline in hiring quality following my departure from his account. Scale & Efficiency: Built a 300+ person technology team, reducing agency dependency from 100% → 10% and neutralising millions in external fees. Operational Surgery: Digitised onboarding (replacing physical witnessed deeds), cutting time-to-sign by 80%. Governance & Insights: Implemented lean TA stack (Greenhouse/Workable/Lever) and Qlik dashboards for Board-level reporting on hiring velocity and retention.

  • Talent Acquisition Manager at Contino - Enterprise DevOps and Cloud Transformation Consultancy
    May 2017 - Dec 2017 · 8 mos

    Executive Search: Successfully headhunted the USA Managing Director and UK Client Principals to lead the firm's international expansion. Global Scaling: Scaled global delivery teams and placed key technical consultants into high-priority client projects. The Transition: This role proved my ability to move from agency search to internal talent operations, maintaining such high standards that my primary client (UW) requested a full-time move to their leadership team.

  • Arrows Group Global ()
    • Delivery Manager | Building exceptional digital teams across Europe.
      Jan 2017 - Apr 2017 · 4 mos

    • Team Leader
      Sep 2015 - Dec 2016 · 1 yr 4 mos

    • Lead Technical Consultant - Java/ Front End Permanent
      Aug 2014 - Sep 2015 · 1 yr 2 mos

  • Senior Recruitment Consultant at Madison Maclean
    Aug 2013 - Aug 2014 · 1 yr 1 mo

    Extensive experience recruiting for top tier Investment Banks, Consultancies, hedge funds, as well as Gaming, Startups and Big Data focused organisations, across permanent and contract sectors. Key clients included range from Goldman Sachs to Ernst & Young to MindCandy...