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Jose J. Ruiz

Executive Search · Mobility · Global

Mobility Executive Search — Jose Ruiz

Executive search for the convergence of automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, and software — delivered through Alder Koten and coordinated globally through IMD International Search Group.

Mobility executive search covers leadership for a sector that no longer fits inside a single industry label. What used to be automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, and software are now converging into one connected field — scooters and shared e-bikes, ride-hail and shared mobility platforms, autonomous taxis, drones of all natures, urban air mobility, software-defined vehicles, and the delivery robots and marine and rail systems that move alongside them. Delivered through Alder Koten and coordinated globally through IMD International Search Group, the practice places leadership across this entire convergence rather than treating each piece as a separate, unrelated search.

Two very different hiring populations sit inside mobility, and both matter. Established OEMs — automotive, aerospace, and industrial — are extending existing platforms into electrified, connected, and increasingly autonomous products, and need leaders who can operate inside supplier-quality systems and multi-year program cycles. Alongside them, a dense venture-backed startup ecosystem is building the categories that did not exist a decade ago — robotaxis, eVTOL, delivery robotics, micromobility networks — and needs founders, first COOs, and functional leaders who can build from zero. A search practice that understands both populations, and can tell early which one a given mandate actually is, is what this page is about.

What this covers

The practice covers ground mobility (micromobility, ride-hail and shared mobility, autonomous vehicles and robotaxi, software-defined vehicles, EV charging infrastructure, delivery robotics), aerial mobility (drones and UAS, urban air mobility and eVTOL, space mobility and launch logistics), marine and rail (autonomous shipping and electrification, rail and next-generation transit), the enabling layers that feed all of it (the cross-industry mobility supply chain — sensors, batteries, semiconductors, contract manufacturing), and the venture-backed startup ecosystem operating across every category above. Each subsector has its own page with its own typical assignments and market context.

Where the practice operates

Mobility talent and capital move globally, and the practice is built to match — engineering and certification leadership in the United States and Europe, manufacturing and supply-chain leadership increasingly anchored in Mexico as OEMs and suppliers nearshore mobility-adjacent production, and founder and operating talent for venture-backed companies wherever they are headquartered. Mexico's specific role is strongest in ride-hail and shared mobility, micromobility, EV charging infrastructure, and the cross-industry supply chain that feeds automotive, aerospace, and drone manufacturing from inside the country's existing industrial base.

Ground mobility

Aerial mobility

Marine & rail

Enabling layers & ecosystem

How OEMs and VC-backed startups differ

The single most useful filter in mobility search is naming, up front, whether a mandate sits inside an OEM's platform organization or inside a venture-backed operating company. OEM mandates — whether automotive, aerospace, or industrial in origin — run on supplier-quality systems, multi-year program cycles, and governance that a candidate has to have actually operated inside, not merely observed. VC-backed mandates run on runway, speed, and the specific gaps in a founder's own capability, and often call for a first-of-kind hire — a first COO, a first VP of engineering, a founder-to-CEO transition — who can build operating discipline from a blank page. Real market examples span both: Waymo and Cruise sit closer to the OEM/scaled-technology pattern; Joby, Archer, and most eVTOL and delivery-robotics companies sit closer to the venture-backed pattern, at least until they reach certification and production scale.

Adjacent industry sectors we serve

Mobility search connects directly into four adjacent industry practices: Aerospace, Defense & Aviation for drone, eVTOL, and space-mobility certification leadership; Automotive for OEM platform, plant, and program leadership feeding electrified and autonomous vehicle programs; EV & Battery for the electrification layer underneath nearly every mobility subsector; Electronics Manufacturing for the sensor, connectivity, and component base; and Technology for the software, data, and platform leadership that increasingly defines competitive advantage across the sector.

The practice also connects into three specialty lenses that recur across mobility mandates: Venture Capital & Scale-ups for the startup ecosystem described above, Nearshoring for the manufacturing and supply-chain leadership relocating into Mexico, and US–Mexico Cross-Border for executives who have to operate fluently across both markets at once.

Delivered through Alder Koten and IMD International Search Group

Search is delivered through Alder Koten and coordinated globally through IMD International Search Group, a global alliance of retained executive search firms operating in more than 40 markets. Assessment across the practice is grounded in the Anker Bioss Framework, applied through The Dynamic Fit Method™, calibrated to the actual complexity of each mobility subsector rather than a generic operating or technology-leadership profile.

Mobility executive search — frequently asked questions

What is mobility executive search?
Mobility executive search is retained recruiting for leadership across the convergence of automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, and software that now defines how people, goods, and data move. It spans scooters and shared ride services, autonomous taxis, drones of all natures, urban air mobility, software-defined vehicles, charging infrastructure, and the venture-backed startups building all of it. Delivered through Alder Koten and coordinated globally through IMD International Search Group.
What geographies does the practice cover?
The mobility practice is global by design, because the sector itself is global — capital, engineering talent, and regulatory pilots move across borders faster than in traditional manufacturing. Mexico plays a specific and growing role as a manufacturing and nearshoring base for the mobility supply chain, and several subsectors — ride-hail, micromobility, EV charging — have direct Mexican market activity. Others, such as space mobility or urban air mobility, are covered globally with Mexico-relevant angles noted where they exist.
What kinds of executives do you place in mobility?
The range is wide because the sector is wide: plant and program leadership for OEMs entering electrified or autonomous platforms, VP of operations for multi-city ride-hail or micromobility networks, heads of software and ADAS engineering, certification and safety-case leaders for drones and eVTOL, VP supply chain for the sensor and battery layer, and founder-to-CEO transitions or first COO hires for venture-backed mobility startups.
What is unique about mobility leadership versus a single legacy industry?
Mobility leaders increasingly have to be fluent across disciplines that used to sit in separate industries — vehicle engineering, aerospace-grade certification, consumer software product cycles, and venture-backed growth economics. A plant director who has only run steady-state automotive assembly is not automatically equipped to run a battery-electric micromobility fleet or a drone certification program, and the search has to calibrate for the actual convergence, not a generic label.
How do OEMs and VC-backed startups differ in mobility hiring?
OEMs hire against established governance, supplier-quality systems, and multi-year platform cycles; the leadership bar includes program discipline and the ability to work inside a large organization's cost and quality controls. VC-backed startups hire against runway, speed, and the founder's own gaps — often a first VP of engineering, first COO, or a founder-to-CEO transition — where the candidate has to build systems that do not yet exist rather than operate systems that already do. Both patterns show up across nearly every mobility subsector, and the search has to name which one it is before the market map opens.
How long does a mobility executive search take?
Most senior operating and engineering searches complete in 90 to 120 days from mandate calibration to signed offer. Certification-heavy roles — drone safety cases, eVTOL airworthiness, AV safety leadership — and founder-adjacent startup roles requiring unusually specific chemistry can run longer, given how narrow the qualified pool is in emerging subsectors.
Retained or contingent?
Retained. Mobility leadership talent — especially at the intersection of two or more of automotive, aerospace, software, and venture-backed operating experience — is thin and in high demand, and reaching it requires confidential, senior-led outreach rather than a posted search.
How is the mobility practice organized?
Around fourteen subsectors grouped into ground mobility, aerial mobility, marine and rail, enabling layers, and the startup ecosystem that cuts across all of them. Each subsector page names its own typical assignments, market examples, and the specific way OEM and startup hiring differ inside that subsector.

Start a conversation

If you are hiring leadership anywhere across the mobility convergence — OEM platform, venture-backed startup, or the supply chain that feeds both — start a conversation with the practice.

Jose J. Ruiz is CEO and Managing Partner of Alder Koten, President of IMD International Search Group, and Chairman of Anker Bioss.