How Aionia Was Built
Aionia wasn’t born in a boardroom. It was shaped in the trenches—after years recruiting for companies like Meta, Google, ByteDance, Dropbox, Block, Netflix, United, and more. We kept seeing the same problem: too much noise, too little clarity. Recruiters promising speed, but delivering chaos. Too many resumes. Not enough fit. So we built something better.
Aionia is a boutique, founder-led recruiting firm designed for teams that move fast and hire smart. No resume spray. No handoffs. Just thoughtful calibration, sharp sourcing, and 3 aligned candidates in your inbox—often within the week.
Our model is shaped by real-world hiring challenges across LATAM, Europe, and North America. We’ve worked directly with engineering leaders, founders, and product teams—helping early-stage startups scale with precision and velocity.
When we say “signal over spray,” we mean it.
Human-Curated Talent
Every candidate is handpicked—no resume blasts, no filler.
AI-Accelerated Search
We blend automation with human instinct to find sharp, aligned talent fast.
Global Network
We’ve built trusted talent pipelines in the US, Canada, UK + Europe, Philippines, and LATAM.
First Candidates In 5–7 Days
Most clients receive 3 curated candidates within a week of kickoff.
Founder-Led. No Junior Hand-Offs.
You’re working directly with the expert—no outsourcing, no BS.
How Aionia Was Built
Aionia wasn’t born in a boardroom. It was shaped in the trenches—after years recruiting for companies like Meta, Google, ByteDance, Dropbox, Block, Netflix, United, and more. We kept seeing the same problem: too much noise, too little clarity. Recruiters promising speed, but delivering chaos. Too many resumes. Not enough fit. So we built something better.
Aionia is a boutique, founder-led recruiting firm designed for teams that move fast and hire smart. No resume spray. No handoffs. Just thoughtful calibration, sharp sourcing, and 3 aligned candidates in your inbox—often within the week.
Our model is shaped by real-world hiring challenges across LATAM, Europe, and North America. We’ve worked directly with engineering leaders, founders, and product teams—helping early-stage startups scale with precision and velocity.
When we say “signal over spray,” we mean it.
Human-Curated Talent
Every candidate is handpicked—no resume blasts, no filler.
AI-Accelerated Search
We blend automation with human instinct to find sharp, aligned talent fast.
Global Network
We’ve built trusted talent pipelines in the US, Canada, UK + Europe, Philippines, and LATAM.
First Candidates In 5–7 Days
Most clients receive 3 curated candidates within a week of kickoff.
Founder-Led. No Junior Hand-Offs.
You’re working directly with the expert—no outsourcing, no BS.
Meet the Team
Lead Technical Recruiter & Client Partner – Aionia
Celeste Diaz brings a rare blend of financial rigor, systems thinking, and global recruiting expertise to her work with founders and leadership teams at Aionia.
A graduate of Columbia University with a degree in Economics, Celeste began her career in finance, spending three years at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. While the path was conventional, it sharpened her analytical discipline, commercial judgment, and ability to operate in high-pressure environments—skills that continue to inform her approach to hiring and organizational design.
Seeking a more integrated creative and technical lens, Celeste relocated to London to study Visual Communication and Design at the University of the Arts London, where she explored systems, structure, and the intersection of analytical and creative thinking. Back in New York, she deepened her technical foundation through studies in Networks and Systems Security at the Grove School of Engineering, bridging design sensibility with applied technology.
This interdisciplinary background led her into global technical recruiting, where she has placed top-tier talent for companies including Google, Meta, ByteDance, Dropbox, and Block, and supported projects with organizations such as United, Netflix, and The Gates Foundation. Her work spans the U.S., Canada, LATAM, APAC, and Europe, helping teams scale across borders with speed and precision.
Celeste has recruited for some of the most critical, hard-to-fill roles in technology—Backend and Frontend Engineers, DevOps and Infrastructure Engineers, Cybersecurity Analysts, Network and Optical Engineers—while also building full-spectrum product teams including Technical PMs, Designers, Data Analysts, QA Engineers, and Technical Writers.
At Aionia, Celeste applies this depth of experience to building a firm grounded not in convention, but in clarity—helping companies correct where hiring breaks down and make fast, durable decisions that align skill, execution, and human fit.
Connect with me via LinkedIn →
Senior Technical Recruiter & Client Partner – Aionia
Yvonne Benitez brings a rare combination of diplomatic training, global workforce strategy, and FinTech recruiting expertise to her work with executive teams and founders across international markets.
Born in Florida and raised across Asia, Yvonne developed an early fluency in cross-cultural dynamics and global systems. She is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, where she earned a degree in International Relations and distinguished herself through early exposure to diplomacy and multilateral institutions. While still a student, she interned with the U.S. Embassy in Manila and the United Nations, gaining firsthand experience in international policy, governance, and global coordination.
Following graduation in 2006, Yvonne joined the United Nations in a professional capacity, where she spent several years working across development, labor policy, and international staffing initiatives. Her roles focused on workforce deployment, talent mobility, and the recruitment of highly specialized professionals across regions—providing her with deep insight into how global institutions identify, assess, and place critical talent under complex regulatory and political constraints.
As her career progressed, Yvonne moved into senior talent and workforce strategy roles spanning public-private partnerships and development-finance–adjacent organizations, where she worked closely with emerging technology, digital finance, and financial inclusion initiatives. This work positioned her at the intersection of regulation, technology, and human capital—an increasingly critical nexus as FinTech scaled globally.
Transitioning into the U.S. private sector, Yvonne became a trusted advisor to FinTech and financial services leaders, building and leading global recruiting strategies across the U.S., LATAM, EMEA, and APAC. She has specialized in scaling teams within payments, digital banking, compliance, RegTech, and financial infrastructure—supporting companies navigating both rapid growth and regulatory complexity.
Today, as Principal of Global FinTech Recruitment, Yvonne is known for her precision, discretion, and systems-level understanding of hiring. Her approach is grounded in clarity rather than volume—helping leadership teams make durable hiring decisions that align technical excellence, regulatory awareness, and long-term organizational fit.
Connect with me via LinkedIn →
Jeffrey Potter
Partner | Aionia
Jeff is a private investor and strategic partner to the firm, with experience in capital structuring, portfolio support, and long-term investment across technology-enabled businesses.
His background includes early work in quantitative trading, where he was among a small group of practitioners applying principles from physics and mathematical modeling to market behavior—an approach that would later underpin more modern algorithmic strategies. This foundation informs his perspective on systems, risk, and probabilistic decision-making across both financial markets and operating businesses.
Over time, his work has expanded beyond trading into broader investment and portfolio contexts, where he has supported companies through phases of growth, restructuring, and long-term value creation. His approach is characterized by a focus on structural clarity, disciplined execution, and identifying underlying patterns within complex systems.
At Aionia, Jeff remains selectively involved, contributing to key initiatives and providing strategic guidance aligned with the firm’s long-term vision. His role reflects a measured, behind-the-scenes presence, grounded in analytical rigor and a long-horizon view of value creation.
JP Underwood
Partner | Aionia
JP works alongside the firm as a long-term investment and strategic partner, bringing experience across both regulated and emerging industries, including biotechnology and agricultural operations.
His background spans capital planning, operational coordination, and sustained investment in complex growth environments where long-term positioning and disciplined execution are critical. He has supported initiatives requiring careful navigation of evolving regulatory landscapes, multi-stakeholder alignment, and capital-efficient scaling—often in regions where infrastructure, policy, and market conditions are still actively taking shape.
His work has extended across select international markets, including parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, where he has been involved in projects tied to resource development, agricultural systems, and early-stage operational buildouts. Much of this work has been undertaken in environments that demand discretion, adaptability, and a long-view approach to investment—informing his perspective on growth in non-linear, high-variance markets.
At Aionia, JP remains intentionally behind the scenes, contributing to select initiatives and offering strategic perspective aligned with the firm’s long-term direction. His involvement reflects a focus on durability, thoughtful expansion, and maintaining a steady foundation as the firm grows.