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Air Transport Technology Recruitment at Scale: RPO Case Study

  • Writer: Serendi
    Serendi
  • 8 hours ago
  • 4 min read

Quick Summary


  • Objective: Rapidly scale SITA's cybersecurity team following a board-level strategic priority, then expand recruitment to cover the entire CTO technology organization across Europe and India.


  • Strategy: End-to-End RPO with embedded Talent Acquisition Partners operating under the SITA brand. Started as a fast-response cybersecurity sprint, expanded into a full-scope technology recruitment partnership spanning 3+ years.


  • Results: 400 hires delivered across 13 countries. Time-to-hire improved from 59 to 47 workdays year over year. 96% offer acceptance rate. Engagement expanded from an initial 30 cybersecurity roles to full CTO technology hiring across Europe and India.



About the Client


SITA is the technology backbone of the air transport industry. Founded in 1949 by 11 leading airlines, it now serves over 2,500 airlines, airports, and partners across more than 200 countries, with a presence in over 1,000 airports.


SITA logo


The Context


In early 2022, SITA's board prioritized a significant expansion of cybersecurity capabilities. The mandate: build out the security team with approximately 30 specialized roles across multiple locations in Europe and North America.


Scaling a cybersecurity team by 30 specialized hires across multiple countries is not a standard TA workload. Recruiting technical talent at this level of specialization, at this pace, requires dedicated sourcing capacity that sits outside the normal hiring rhythm.



Recruitment Solution



Phase 1 — Cybersecurity Sprint


Serendi assembled a recruitment team and began sourcing within days. The initial engagement ran as a Project RPO sprint: approximately 30 cybersecurity positions across London, Montreal, Dublin, and other locations.


Every role required deep technical screening. These were not generic IT hires but specialists in:


  • Threat intelligence

  • Security architecture

  • SDN/SASE network security

  • Incident response

  • Infrastructure security engineering


The team operated fully embedded within SITA's systems and tools, attending internal meetings and working under the SITA brand. Candidates interacted with Serendi recruiters as if they were part of SITA's internal team.



Phase 2 — Full CTO End-to-End RPO


Within three months, SITA expanded the scope based on the cybersecurity delivery results. The engagement grew to cover the full CTO business unit.



Software Development — the largest segment:


  • Java Developers, C#/.NET Developers, Full Stack Engineers

  • Angular, Drupal, Salesforce, and ServiceNow Developers

  • Microservices and DevOps/Azure Specialists



Cloud Infrastructure & DevOps:


  • Cloud Infrastructure Engineers, Network Engineers

  • Site Reliability Engineers, DevOps Engineers

  • Azure/Kubernetes Specialists, VMware Engineers



Testing & Quality Assurance:


  • Test Analysts, Senior and Lead Test Engineers

  • Automation Test Engineers, Performance Test Engineers

  • Quality Engineering Analysts



Project & Program Management:


  • Project Managers, Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches

  • Release Train Engineers, PMO Analysts



Specialist & Niche Roles:


  • UX Designers, Data Engineers, Technical Writers

  • FinOps Analysts, Cybersecurity Product Owners

  • Certification Engineers



Graduate & Entry-Level:


  • Graduate Software Engineers, Associate Developers

  • Junior DevOps Engineers, Interns, Working Students


A second contract followed, bringing the total to hundreds of managed positions. SITA made a deliberate decision to consolidate all CTO technology hiring with Serendi, recognizing that the team had built specialized depth across this full spectrum of profiles.



Geographic Coverage


The engagement started with a European focus and expanded as SITA's hiring needs shifted. Today, Serendi has delivered hires for SITA across 13 countries:



  • India — 200+ hires, primarily Delhi (largest share)

  • Ireland — 83 hires, concentrated in Letterkenny

  • United Kingdom — London, Aldershot, Reading

  • Romania — 25 hires, Cluj-Napoca technology center

  • Netherlands — Rotterdam

  • Czech Republic — Prague

  • Spain — Barcelona

  • United States — Atlanta

  • Canada — Montreal

  • Germany, UAE (Dubai), Singapore, Portugal


This geographic spread followed SITA's business. When India became the primary location for CTO technology roles, Serendi's talent sourcing coverage followed.


That flexibility in scaling into new geographies within an existing engagement is one of the practical reasons the transactional model works.



Recruitment Results



● 400 hires delivered across 13 countries

Over the full engagement, Serendi managed 600+ technology positions for SITA, delivering 400 hires with an annual run rate of approximately 270 roles. Coverage spans India, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Romania, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, the United States, Canada, Germany, the UAE, Singapore, and Portugal.



● 47-day average time to hire


Average time to hire across the engagement is 47 workdays. Time to Present (the window between intake and the first shortlist reaching the hiring manager) is 13 workdays. In technology recruitment, where the best candidates are off the market within two weeks, that speed is the difference between presenting a shortlist and presenting a replacement for a candidate who has already accepted elsewhere.



● 96% offer acceptance rate


A 96% offer acceptance rate across 400 technology hires, in roles ranging from Graduate Software Engineers to Lead Security Architects, reflects candidate quality at the sourcing stage, not just at the offer stage. Candidates were screened against role requirements and team context before reaching the hiring manager.


Metric

Result

Hires Delivered

400

Countries Covered

13

Average Time to Hire

47 Days

Offer Acceptance Rate

96%


What started as 30 cybersecurity hires became a recruitment partnership that covers the full depth of SITA's technology organization — from graduate software engineers in Delhi to Lead Security Architects in London.


"Serendi's team feels like our own, going beyond transactions with high standards, asking the right questions, and using market data and candidate insights to build our company together."

Malgorzata Mikolajczyk, Head of Talent Acquisition, SITA


The engagement also led SITA to extend Serendi's scope beyond the CTO unit, adding a Source & Screen model for commercial, product, and customer success roles across Europe and the Americas.


Ready to build a technology recruitment function that scales with your business?




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