Humans of Tech: Negin Safdari

Welcome Back, Negin

We’re excited to have Negin Safdari rejoin Artemis as a Senior Executive Recruitment Consultant & Growth Lead, to support our growth and help ambitious tech companies find the leaders who shape what comes next.

Ask her what she does and she’ll keep it simple: she helps tech companies find executives. The roles she works on are highly specialized, often confidential, and hard to fill, “the kind where you need someone to go out and find the hidden gems.”

What most people don’t expect is how human the job really is. “It’s a hybrid between sales and therapy,” she says. Yes, there’s a closing element, aligning both candidate and client. But more often, it’s about navigating emotions - hopes, fears, aspirations. 

At this level, work isn’t just work. It’s identity, family, and big life decisions. “These conversations get intimate,” she explains. “You’re not just talking about a job, but a huge life decision.”

On the founder side, it’s just as personal. Sometimes even more. Hiring your first executive means letting go of something you built and managed until this point. “There are a lot of feelings tied up in that, and there should be.”

Finding Velocity

Negin’s path into tech started during her co-op at the University of Waterloo, where she joined Velocity as a program assistant. It wasn’t a single moment. It was the feeling of being surrounded by people who genuinely believed they could build something from nothing. “There’s this level of suspended disbelief you have to have to be a founder,” she says. “You’re going against what’s possible, against the odds, and still choosing to believe it will work.” That energy, the pace, the ambition, the willingness to try anyway, was magnetic.

More recently, her perspective on work shifted in a way she didn’t expect. After a last-minute surgery, she found herself confronting something far bigger than career decisions. “I didn’t have time to prepare emotionally,” she says. “The operating room was cold and unfamiliar, and I looked at the surgeon and realized, damn, one mistake and she could damage an organ and ruin a life.” [She didn’t, she was incredible.] In that moment, a thought grounded her. If something goes wrong in her work, no one’s life is on the line. “I’m not in the business of saving lives,” she reflects. “And there’s something really freeing about that.” It’s changed how she approaches pressure. Most things aren’t as serious as they feel. (Unless you are a healthcare professional. Then immense kudos to you. Thank you for actually being in the business of saving lives.)

The Intentional Anti-Path

Negin has never approached her career with a rigid long-term plan. That’s been intentional. Even when asked about five-year goals, her answer stays the same. She doesn’t tie her identity to a title or a path. Instead, she focuses on the traits she’s building along the way: problem solving, communication, persuasion. “If something doesn’t go well, I’m not derailing a plan,” she says. “It just means there’s a new problem to solve.”

That mindset gives her the freedom to move toward what’s interesting, not just what looks linear. As a recruiter, she knows it doesn’t always translate neatly on paper. She’s okay with that. What matters more is telling a clear, cohesive story.

Her approach to leadership follows the same thread. She pushes back on the idea that success is linear. “If something is hard, I tell myself, well, someone else has done it before,” she says. “So why not me?” Simple, but grounding.

When it comes to hiring, one thing stands out every time: communication. “Always, always, always.” It’s a belief shaped by her family’s story. Her father once led hundreds of engineers in Iran, architecting and building an entire city. After immigrating to Canada, he started over making pizzas. His lessons stuck. “You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you can’t communicate it, it’s useless.”

Respect as a Non-Negotiable

Negin is clear on what matters most at work. Respect is non-negotiable. Everything else follows. For her, that means trust, challenge, and autonomy. The space to solve meaningful problems. “If I don’t have respect, nothing else matters,” she says. That mindset shapes how she shows up. When she’s been the only one at the table, she hasn’t focused on fitting in. She focuses on contributing. “It’s about making space, not waiting for it.” Sometimes that means asking the harder question. Sometimes it means pushing back. Either way, she sees it as part of the responsibility.

The leaders she works best with reflect that same philosophy. High trust. Low ego. Quick to unblock. “I like to move fast,” she says. “My favourite leaders have given me space to sprint. And, if something doesn’t work out, they don’t treat it like a failure. We just take our learnings and pivot.” 

As a leader, she’s learned that approach isn’t one-size-fits-all. What worked with small teams didn’t always scale. So she adapted. She meets people where they are. Mirrors how they think and communicate. “If it resonates with them, they’ll actually want to try it.”

If she had to describe her leadership style in three words? Trusting, impatient, and celebratory. Trusting in the sense that she gives people real autonomy, she’s not one to micromanage or hover. Impatient, if she’s being honest, in her bias for speed and momentum. “I like to move fast,” she says. “Which has also taught me… maybe traditional people leadership isn’t for me.” She laughs about it, but there’s self-awareness behind it. The same drive that pushes things forward can also mean she expects others to move at that pace too. And celebratory in a way that’s intentionally loud. Wins, big or small, don’t go unnoticed. “I really like to celebrate things in big, almost obnoxious ways,” she says. Because progress should feel like something, not just pass quietly.

Future of Tech & Legacy

When Negin thinks about the future of tech, she goes straight to a gap that still feels too big to ignore: women’s health. “I want a wearable that does everything, hormones, glucose, all of it,” she says. “Right now, most of these tools are designed around men.” She’s looking for a true source of truth. Something that reflects the complexity of women’s bodies, not a simplified version.

At the same time, she’s watching the tension between human and AI. Not as a trend, but as a question. “It’s this constant push and pull,” she says. “What do we lean into with AI, and what do we intentionally keep human?” For her, the most interesting part isn’t the technology. It’s what our choices reveal about who we are becoming. “I wonder what we’ll regret,” she adds. “What we automated that maybe we shouldn’t have.”

When it comes to impact, her answer comes back to people. She recalls placing a leader at Planitar, Skylar, and watching the ripple effects. One person shifting a company’s trajectory, internally and externally. “When a great leader does great work, it forces your competitors, and the entire market, to react.” That’s the level she’s aiming for. Finding and placing leaders, especially in green/cleantech and healthtech, who don’t just fill roles, but change the trajectory of industries. “That’s what makes me feel good about the work I wake up to do.”

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