ABOUT THE FOUNDERS & THE BELIEF
BUILT DIFFERENT · FOUNDED 2026 · 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Two founders. One operating standard.

Novara Search is built by Ross Ellingham and Zhaocan Huang. Singapore HQ. United Kingdom entity. Global deployment.

THE FOOTPRINT

Singapore HQ · UK entity · Twenty countries, four continents

01 The Belief

“Everyone deserves a fair deal.”

Contractors paid on time. Clients charged honestly. Projects staffed properly. None of it is radical. The industry’s bar is so low that doing the basics now looks like a stunt. It isn’t — it’s the job.

02 The Founders

Built by two people. Across two cities.

Ross Ellingham, Founder & CEO, Novara Search
/ FOUNDER 01

Ross Ellingham

Founder & CEO · Singapore

Fifteen years in specialist technical recruitment, with offshore the recurring thread. Most recently led an APAC offshore contractor portfolio — Survey, ROV, Inspection and Engineering contractors into offshore energy and subsea projects across the region.

Originally from Scotland, with the North Sea on the doorstep, Ross has built his career where the work happens. Lived and operated across Perth, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore — over a decade running recruitment businesses at Managing Director level. Built marine recruitment from scratch, launched the Subsea division, and ran offshore recruitment offices across Dubai, Aberdeen, Singapore, Houston and Malta. Contractors mobilised across twenty countries spanning Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. MA (Hons) Business Management, University of Glasgow.

CONTRACTORS MOBILISED INTO
Australia · New Zealand · Indonesia · Vietnam · Malaysia · Taiwan · China · Singapore · Angola · Kenya · Saudi Arabia · Qatar · UAE · UK · France · Turkey · Portugal · Germany · Denmark · Norway
TWENTY COUNTRIES · FOUR CONTINENTS
“This is the business I wish I’d had. So I built it.” — Ross Ellingham
Connect on LinkedIn →
Zhaocan Huang, Co-Founder & Strategic Director, Novara Search
/ FOUNDER 02

Zhaocan Huang

Co-Founder & Strategic Director · Hong Kong

Fifteen years of executive search across alternative investments, asset management, and financial services in Asia — the last decade in Hong Kong.

Most recently Director-level executive search across hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and private credit. Previously Head of Investment Management and Head of Alternative Investments at a global executive search firm in Hong Kong. Earlier senior search roles spanning Asia-Pacific including Japan. Bilingual native English & Mandarin. University of Nottingham.

GROUP ROLE
Governance · Expansion strategy · Capital · Cross-border partnerships
BASED HONG KONG · 15 YEARS EXECUTIVE SEARCH
“In executive search, the quality of the conversation is the work — depth of research, depth of listening, depth of understanding what someone actually needs. Anything less than that is just CV trading.” — Zhaocan Huang
Connect on LinkedIn →
03 Track Record

What 450 mobilisations look like.

Anonymised, factual. Eight years of offshore contract recruitment. Fifteen years in specialist technical search. The numbers and the work behind them.

450
Contractors mobilised
20
Countries deployed into
4
Continents covered
8
Years offshore contract recruitment
15
Years total specialist search

Where the work happens.

Contractors mobilised across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Angola, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, UK, France, Turkey, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, and Norway.

What gets placed.

Roles deployed across: survey vessels, ROV support, construction support, dive support, rock bag and rock dump installation, inter-array cable connection, cable lay, pipe lay, vessel mobilisations, and power infrastructure builds.

Including: Party Chiefs, Surveyors, Data Processors, ROV Pilot/Techs and Supervisors, Project Surveyors, Riggers, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Construction Managers, Project Managers and Directors, QA/QC Engineers, NDT Technicians, and HSEQ.

How the work gets solved.

Two patterns. Both anonymised. Both showing the difference between filling a seat and solving a commercial problem.

Case 01 Australia

Visa-led cost solution on a project priced beyond local margin.

An Australian operator had a project priced beyond their margin using domestic talent. Sourced Asia-Pacific specialists on 400-class visas — qualified for the work, available faster, materially cheaper than the local market. Project ran. Margin held. The visa pathway has since become standard practice for the client.

Case 02 Vietnam

Local sourcing on an over-budget mobilisation.

A client in Vietnam was running over budget bringing in international rotation crew. Sourced qualified local Vietnamese contractors the client didn’t know existed. Lower cost, fewer rotation cycles, longer continuous engagement on the project. Better outcome on both cost and stability.

10 minutes
Fastest replacement on record

Engineer down with illness on the eve of mobilisation. Replacement sourced, qualified, and confirmed.

04 Compliance & Operations

A real operating business. Not a brochure.

Singapore HQ
United Kingdom entity
Founder-led delivery
/ 01 · ENTITY

Two entities. One business.

ACRA-registered in Singapore. Companies House-registered in the United Kingdom. Both legally accountable, both audited annually.

Singapore NOVARA SEARCH PTE. LTD.
UEN 202603684M
United Kingdom NOVARA SEARCH LTD
UK Co. No. 17154548
/ 02 · INSURANCE

Professionally indemnified.

Professional indemnity and public liability cover in place from day one. Certificates available on request for procurement review.

Cover PI & PL in force
/ 03 · PAYMENTS

On-time, every cycle.

Contractors paid on standard 30-day cycle against approved timesheets. Multi-currency capability across major offshore-hub jurisdictions.

Payment terms NET-30 standard
/ 04 · MOBILISATION

Visa & tax support.

Cross-border deployment handled end-to-end. Work permits, offshore visas, tax registration, vessel pre-mob compliance.

Jurisdictions 20 countries · 4 continents
/ 05 · DELIVERY

Founder-led. No layers.

Every mobilisation involves a founder. No junior account managers between the client and the person making decisions.

Response Same-day · APAC + UK hours

Procurement teams: full compliance pack including insurance certificates, banking confirmation, ACRA bizfile, and standard service agreement available on request. Email operations@novarasearch.com with subject "Compliance pack".

VERIFY ENTITY ·
Singapore Companies House
05 The Non-Negotiables

Five things that don’t bend.

01

Fairness is not flexible.

Every contractor in the network is paid on time, every time, against verified timesheets. No exceptions. No quiet renegotiations. No making the contractor wait so we can manage our own cash flow.

02

Honesty, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Clients hear the truth about availability, rates, and viability — even when telling them what they want to hear would close the deal faster. Contractors hear the truth about the role, the company, and what they’re walking into.

03

The people who do the work share in the reward.

Recruitment has spent decades extracting value from the people closest to the work and concentrating it at the top. Novara is structured against that. Margins, share schemes, and incentives are built around the people delivering the work — not the layers above them.

04

Only take on what fits the vision.

Novara doesn’t bolt on adjacencies to look bigger than it is. Six disciplines. Specialist focus. The brief either fits the network or it doesn’t, and saying no protects the standard.

05

Build people up. Never trap them.

Contractors stay because they want to. Clients stay because the work delivers. The team stays because there’s a real pathway and a real share of what they build. Nothing about Novara is designed to trap anyone in anything.

06 The Longer Vision

Novara isn’t built to be one company.
It’s built to seed more.

Novara Search is the first vehicle. It establishes the brand, the network, and the operating model — built to be replicated, not flipped. Every decision made at Novara Search is made with the longer vision in mind.

/ 01

The Firm

Novara Search proves the operating model: specialist recruitment, founder-led, fair to contractors and honest with clients. Lean by design. Built to last, not to flip.

/ 02

The Reinvestment

Profits don’t get drained out. They get reinvested — into people, into operational quality, and into the next vehicles that share the same principles and standards.

/ 03

The Pathway

For the right people, Novara is a pathway to running their own patch — with proper ownership, proper structure, and proper backing. Not a trap. The vision is public because it’s built to hold the founder accountable.

07 Get in touch

One inbox. Founder-direct.

Briefs, applications, partnerships, press — all go through one inbox. Founder-direct. Real reply, not an automated holding email.

operations@novarasearch.com →