Chris Radoszewski has built and scaled teams in markets that move at a pace most leaders find uncomfortable. From launching Uber across Central and Eastern Europe to leading growth at Cloud Kitchens, and most recently as VP at HungerStation, his career has been shaped by high-pressure hiring decisions, rapid expansion, and the constant question of whether you have the right people in the right seats. In this episode of Above C Level, host Mohammad Osama sits down with Chris to find out this looks like from the inside.

But first, let’s set the scene. Saudi Arabia’s on-demand delivery sector is one of the fastest-moving markets in the region. According to Mordor Intelligence, delivery services in KSA are growing at an 11.14% compound annual growth rate, driven by near-universal internet adoption and a young, digitally native population. Chris puts it plainly: grocery delivery penetration is still in single digits. The market is only getting started, which means the companies that figure out how to hire and scale well now will be the ones that define what this industry looks like in five years.

What makes Chris’s perspective invaluable is that he speaks from direct, sometimes difficult experience. He has spent 20 to 26 hours a week interviewing when hiring 60 people across four countries simultaneously. He has also made the mistake of bringing someone on simply because the pressure was intense, and he is honest about what that cost him. His view on hiring speed versus hiring quality is nuanced and grounded: the cost of getting it wrong in a fast-scaling environment nearly always outweighs the cost of a slightly longer search. Defining exactly what you need, and holding to that even when you are stretched, is what separates the teams that grow well from the ones that fracture.

He also points to something that comes up regularly in GRG’s conversations with hiring managers across the Gulf, and that is the challenge of decision paralysis. Companies commit to 60 hires and end up with six. Chris explains why this happens and, more usefully, what good looks like on the client side of a recruitment partnership. It’s a perspective that will resonate with anyone who has been on either side of a slow-moving search. For more on how hiring decisions play out in practice, our piece on what hiring managers overlook in the interview process is worth a read.

Beyond the mechanics of recruitment, the conversation gets into the capabilities that are genuinely hard to find at senior level in the region right now, including the willingness to challenge upward and take real ownership of outcomes rather than just managing the flow of information. Research published by Harvard Business Review reinforces why leadership accountability structures like this have a direct bearing on whether teams can sustain high performance under pressure.

His own career story adds another layer. A failed startup, a stint bartending, a move to the UK, and then Uber reaching out with a six-day hiring process that changed everything. Timing played a part, he’s open about that. But so did an attitude that is hard to fake: a genuine desire to get things done rather than to be seen getting things done.

This is one of those conversations that is difficult to summarise without losing what makes it valuable. It’s a must watch!

Watch The Conversation Here

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