Drive Talent

Drive Talent is a boutique recruiting firm specialising in high-touch, relationship-driven search and placement of senior-level Finance, Operations and Engineering talent within custom manufacturing organisations. Founded by Kimley Cox, Drive Talent operates beyond traditional resume-based recruitment, employing a consultative approach that uncovers the stories and values that shape exceptional leadership. The company offers retained search with flexible, milestone-based accountability, fractional search solutions for embedded Finance resources, and leverages its proprietary platform treasr.ai to provide deeper insight into candidate alignment and cultural fit.

Drive Talent brings specialised expertise across multiple sectors including aerospace, automotive, medical device, custom manufacturing, precision machining, financial services, healthcare, insurance, management consulting, consumer packaged and durable goods, SaaS (FinTech, InsureTech, HealthTech, Payments, EdTech), prop trading and trading technology, and private equity and venture capital. The company has successfully completed numerous searches for Private Equity clients and placements within their portfolio companies post-investment, working with talent from Director through Executive level across both full-time and fractional arrangements.

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Drive Talent differentiates itself through boutique flexibility, a hands-on approach where the team that sells the work delivers the work with no handoffs to junior associates, and genuine partnerships built on authenticity and trust. The company is trusted by repeat clients and referral-based growth, bringing proven pattern recognition and sharp instincts honed through navigating boom and bust cycles and hundreds of critical hiring moments. Drive Talent serves organisations experiencing aggressive growth or leadership transformation, ensuring every placement is purposeful and creates lasting alignment between people and business goals.