GRN Columbus is a DBA of CSD Search Solutions, Inc.

Certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)

Engineering Talent.
Delivered with Speed and Precision.

Engineers recruiting engineers for federal manufacturing, aerospace, and defense missions — 40+ years of plant leadership, a 20-day candidate-delivery standard, and a 12-month placement guarantee.

CAGE 20QN0

Executive Search, Built by Engineers

Global Recruiters Columbus (GRN Columbus), a DBA of CSD Search Solutions, Inc., is an executive search firm specializing in retained and contingent recruitment of senior engineering, plant, and manufacturing leadership. We identify, evaluate, and place technical and executive talent across automotive, aerospace and defense, agricultural and construction equipment, and medical device manufacturing.

GRN Columbus serves federal requirements as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor and teaming partner for talent-acquisition and executive-search scope — supporting the Army Organic Industrial Base, Navy public shipyards, Air Force Air Logistics Complexes, and the engineering commands that keep them running.

Ohio MBE Certified NMSDC Certified SBA Certifications Verified 7 Years in Business Nationwide Service Area

40+ Years of Engineering Leadership

Founder Scott Davis led plant operations at a Ford UAW facility (300,000+ seat kits/year) and a $1.2B Lincoln LS/Jaguar global program spanning 150+ suppliers.

20-Day Candidate Delivery

Structured, NAICS-driven search execution consistently delivers qualified candidates within 20 days of an active search.

12-Month Placement Guarantee

Federal-grade risk reduction — qualified replacement candidates guaranteed for a full year after placement.

Engineers & Analysts, Not Generalists

Recruiting talent that combines decades of manufacturing leadership, enterprise data analytics, and behavioral evaluation.

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Scott Davis

President & Managing Partner

Built his career inside engineering and manufacturing organizations, holding firsthand responsibility across the full product and manufacturing lifecycle — product development, manufacturing engineering, program management, and plant leadership with P&L responsibility across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Recruiting engineering and manufacturing leadership for OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and Fortune-level companies since the early 1990s — more than 30 years.

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Claudia Davis

Managing Partner & Market Intelligence

Deep experience in enterprise data analytics, business planning, and global capacity forecasting for large-scale automotive organizations. Spent several years at Robert Bosch embedded in the Ford business unit, later expanding to Toyota and Nissan (~45% of the North American passenger vehicle market), and served as Bosch's North American Capacity Planning Analyst. Strengthens GRN's market mapping, talent-availability analysis, and capacity-informed search strategy.

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Caitlin Tennis

Recruiter

Brings a background in psychology, counseling, and human resources to engineering and manufacturing search. An Honours degree in Psychology (pursuing an M.S.) and prior work as a wellness counselor inform how she evaluates candidate motivation and fit. Transitioned into HR within civil engineering, gaining hands-on sourcing and evaluation experience for engineering, technical, and skilled-trades roles.

A Manufacturing-Only Recruiting Partner

GRN Columbus specializes exclusively in manufacturing and engineering-driven industries — giving unmatched accuracy in the sectors where technical capability and process knowledge matter most.

Automotive & EV

Aerospace & Defense

Medical Device & Life Sciences

Heavy Equipment & Industrial Machinery

Plastics, Polymers & Injection Molding

Packaging Manufacturing

Consumer Products Manufacturing

Electronics, Sensors & Electrical Systems

The Hardest Roles In Manufacturing

We don't fill every type of job. We focus exclusively on the roles that affect throughput, quality performance, program delivery, automation, production stability, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Engineering & Technical Roles

  • Mechanical Engineers
  • Electrical Engineers
  • Industrial & Manufacturing Engineers
  • Automation & Controls Engineers
  • Quality Engineers
  • Reliability & Maintenance Engineers
  • Process Engineers
  • Tooling & Manufacturing Technicians
  • Program & Project Engineers
  • Supply Chain, Materials & Logistics Roles

Leadership Roles

  • Plant Manager
  • Operations Manager / Director of Operations
  • Engineering Manager / Director of Engineering
  • Quality Manager / Director of Quality
  • Maintenance Manager / Reliability Leadership
  • Supply Chain & Materials Leadership
  • Sales Engineers & Technical Account Roles

Recruiting Services Built for Manufacturing

Retained-quality search without the retained fees — engineering-led qualification, NAICS-driven targeting, and guaranteed outcomes.

Small & Mid-Market

Contingent Search

You pay only when we deliver a hire — and because our process is engineering-led, we produce higher-quality candidates with fewer submissions.

  • Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineers
  • Quality, Automation, Controls
  • Maintenance & Technical Leadership
  • Production, Process & Reliability
Enterprise & Tier-1

Retained Search

No upfront retainer, a 12-month guarantee, and payment after placement — retained-search discipline without the traditional retained-search risk.

  • Plant Manager, Director/VP of Engineering
  • Director of Operations, Quality Leadership
  • Critical Program Leaders
  • Confidential or discreet-process searches
Executive-Level

Executive Search

Engineering, operations, supply chain, and quality leaders vetted through manufacturing logic, operational KPIs, and program-delivery realities — not just resume credentials.

  • Plant Manager, Director of Engineering
  • Director of Operations
  • Senior Quality & Technical Program Leadership
  • Reliability & Automation Leaders

Traditional Retained Firms

  • 33–35% of total compensation
  • Paid upfront
  • No guarantee
  • Long cycles

GRN Columbus

  • 30% of base salary only
  • Pay-after-placement
  • 12-month replacement guarantee
  • Discount for 30-day fill
20-80 Small Business

Speed, visibility, and access to engineers they cannot reach on their own.

80-20 Mid-Market

Partnership with HR/TA, predictable cycles, technical accuracy.

80-80 Enterprise

Supplier diversity, process alignment, metrics, reporting, and compliance.

Private Equity

Speed, leadership talent, and portfolio scalability across holdings.

The 9-Step Engineered Search System

Manufacturing hiring fails when the process lacks structure, technical depth, and market precision. This is recruiting as a documented system — not a guessing game.

1

Technical Intake & Role Clarification

Run like an engineering project kickoff, defining the true business problem, KPIs, and cultural fit the role must solve.

2

NAICS Targeting & Market Mapping

We map core industries, adjacent industries, and transferable engineering roles before we ever start searching.

3

Candidate Research Engine

Multi-channel sourcing across a database of 210,000+ manufacturing contacts and 8,600+ mapped manufacturing companies.

4

Multi-Channel Outreach & Messaging

Sequenced email, LinkedIn, and (where appropriate) SMS campaigns written by engineers, for engineers.

5

Engineering-Led Candidate Evaluation

Candidates are qualified on APQP/PPAP/FMEA experience, process capability, controls/automation exposure, and program-launch history.

6

Shortlisting & Scorecards

3–5 top candidates delivered with technical competency summaries, fit indicators, and compensation expectations.

7

Interview Coordination

We run scheduling, pre-briefs, debriefs, and candidate-experience management end to end.

8

Offer Strategy & Closing

Compensation guidance, counteroffer mitigation, and pre-start engagement to protect acceptance rates.

9

12-Month Guarantee & Onboarding

Follow-up at 30/60/90 days, performance feedback loops, and a full 12-month replacement guarantee.

Domain Dominance, By the Numbers

Against a 171-million-person U.S. workforce, fewer than a dozen people nationwide combine senior manufacturing/plant leadership with long-term recruiting execution.

≤20 DaysQualified candidates presented on every active search
12 MonthsReplacement guarantee backing every placement
~8% vs 35%Our early-stage (90-day) hiring failure rate vs. industry benchmark
40–45% vs 10–15%Engineer outreach connection rate vs. typical nontechnical recruiter outreach
≤10 NationwidePeople combining senior engineering/plant leadership with 11+ years of recruiting execution
210K+ / 8,600+Manufacturing contacts / mapped manufacturing companies in our sourcing database

Core Competencies

GRN Columbus delivers measurable business outcomes through the successful placement of qualified engineering, manufacturing, operations, supply chain, quality, and executive leadership professionals.

Executive & Senior Leadership Search

Placement of Plant Managers, Directors, Vice Presidents, Engineering Managers, and Operations Leaders into mission-critical roles.

Engineering & Manufacturing Talent Acquisition

Sourcing and evaluation of engineering, quality, automation, maintenance, and supply chain professionals for production environments.

Full-Cycle Retained & Contingent Search

Position definition, search strategy, screening, candidate evaluation, offer negotiation, and onboarding support.

Technical Leadership Assessment

Credential verification and leadership evaluation for roles demanding specialized engineering and plant-operations expertise.

Workforce Continuity Support

Rapid placement of qualified talent to keep production and sustainment operations fully staffed and on schedule.

Leadership Team Build-Out

Recruiting complete engineering and manufacturing leadership teams for new plants, expansions, and turnaround operations.

What Sets Us Apart

Operator-Recruiter Leadership

Founder Scott Davis brings ~40 years of engineering and manufacturing experience, including senior plant leadership at a Ford UAW facility (300,000+ seat kits/year) and a $1.2B Lincoln LS/Jaguar global program across 150+ suppliers.

Recruiting Trained at the Source

Trained in recruiting by Ford Motor Company beginning in 1990 — one of fewer than ten recruiters nationwide who pair senior engineering/plant leadership with hands-on recruiting execution.

Enterprise-Grade Market Intelligence

Managing Partner Claudia Davis brings over a decade of strategic forecasting and data-science experience from the world's largest automotive supplier, supporting OEM programs representing 33%+ of the U.S. automotive market.

Supplier-Diversity Certified

Holds Ohio Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) certifications, supporting diversity-spend and Tier 1/Tier 2 supplier programs.

Forbes-Recognized Recruiting Firm

Named to the Forbes Best Executive & Professional Recruiting Firms list for 10 consecutive years (2017–2026).

Federal Procurement Readiness

Active SAM.gov registration (UEI: NJ6TCCHZ8YG4, CAGE: 20QN0) enables direct government-contract eligibility as prime contractor or subcontractor/teaming partner.

What Clients Say

Recent search engagements and client feedback demonstrating GRN Columbus's speed, accuracy, and guaranteed outcomes.

"I have worked with the so-called SHREKS executive search firms. The majority of my discussion time was spent explaining what I did. It was a bit frustrating. GRN Columbus knew my credentials on the fly and the exact desired positions that fit my skill sets and desire."

Andy F.VP Operations, $5B Global Firm

"It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Scott Davis, whose performance as a recruiter specializing in engineering placements has truly set a new standard within the industry — precision, technical expertise, and an acute understanding of complex job specifications."

Josh S.Senior Manufacturing Engineer, $21.4B Manufacturing Company

Restarted Search

Director of Manufacturing

Candidates delivered within 20 days in both search cycles; offer accepted after a client-requested restart.

Multi-Phase Search

Director, Strategic Supplier Development

Candidates delivered inside the 20-day guarantee across all three phases of a global organization's search.

Rapid Placement

Production Supervisor

Candidate delivered within 20 days; start date achieved just over one month from initial presentation.

Executive Search

VP of Operations

Qualified executive candidates presented within 20 days; offer accepted in under one month from outreach.

Past Performance

Representative engagements relevant to federal engineering and manufacturing leadership requirements.

$250K

Executive Leadership Search — Defense Industry Manufacturer

Delivered 8 successful placements across engineering, manufacturing, and leadership functions within a 7-month engagement, addressing critical talent needs and reducing vacancy-related disruption for a defense-sector manufacturer.

$500K

Supply Engineering & Leadership Talent — Aerospace Company

Served as hiring lead over a 3-year engagement, recruiting the client's complete engineering and manufacturing leadership team for an aerospace-sector organization.

NAICS Codes

Registered and ready to support engineering, manufacturing, and plant-leadership talent-acquisition requirements.

561312 Executive Search Services (Primary)
561311 Employment Placement Agencies (Secondary)

Recruiting Engineering & Plant-Operations Leadership In Support Of

GRN Columbus supports federal requirements as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor/teaming partner for talent-acquisition and executive-search scope.

Defense Manufacturing & Sustainment

  • Army Organic Industrial Base arsenals, depots & ammunition plants
  • Navy public shipyards
  • Air Force Air Logistics Complexes

Engineering & Acquisition Commands

  • Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Wright-Patterson, Ohio
  • Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
  • Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)
  • Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM)

Advanced Manufacturing

  • National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) production sites
  • NASA Glenn Research Center, Ohio

Ready to Work Together?

Let's start with a technical conversation about the engineering, manufacturing, or plant-leadership roles you need to fill.

Scott Davis President and Managing Partner
Columbus, OH · Serving Nationwide

Government Credentials

UEI Number NJ6TCCHZ8YG4
CAGE Code 20QN0
Bonding Capacity $1,000,000
Project Range $50K–$1M
Download Capabilities Statement