Who We Are
Accounting and Finance staffing, led by Accounting and Finance professionals
Who We Are
SDL Search Partners is a woman-owned professional search firm headquartered at 24 School Street in Boston, Massachusetts, founded by former Accounting & Finance professionals who bring technical expertise to the recruiting process from their time working in the field.
The founding partners, Sarah Dardeno & David Lewis, spent a collective 10+ years working in the accounting & finance field before starting their respective recruiting careers. Throughout their 20+ years in staffing, Dardeno & Lewis have used their hands-on industry knowledge to provide accounting & finance staffing solutions to top employers.
In 2022, they came together with a vision of bringing to the marketplace a search firm that puts values and relationship first. What manifested is SDL Search Partners – a professional search firm dedicated to finding and delivering top-quality talent to clients throughout Greater Boston & New England.
At SDL, we are Partners for the long-term, so what you can expect is a relationship that prioritizes transparency, integrity, and ultimately finding you the right person to join your team.
Sarah Dardeno
Co-Founder, Manager Partner
SDL Founding Partner and accomplished leader with more than 16 years of Accounting & Finance recruiting experience.
Sarah was first introduced to accounting through working in her father’s CPA firm during her high school & college years. After graduating, she worked as an accountant for a small business during the day, while working nights in sports television broadcasting at NESN. She also spent several years in real estate accounting before starting her recruiting career. Recruiting proved to be the ideal opportunity – a chance to combine her accounting expertise with her team-orientated, competitive, and hard-working disposition, and use those skills to deliver results for her clients and candidates.
In her career, she has led multi-million dollar recruiting teams of 12+ recruiters and had the privilege to help find jobs for hundreds of people.
Sarah’s network runs deep – spanning industries from biotech & life sciences, private equity, SaaS, healthcare, and most everything in between. C-Level Executives trust Sarah and lean on her for her market insight, and ability to deliver. Sarah’s approach is simple – Quality, Integrity, and Dependability. Her passion for the business is rivaled only by her genuine care for those she works with.
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn or email her at: sdardeno@sdlsearch.com
David Lewis
Co-Founder, Managing Partner
SDL Founding Partner, Recruiting expert, and Relationship Manager with 12 years of targeted Accounting, Finance & Analytics recruiting experience. Strategic business leader, with a proven track record of building trusted relationships with Boston’s most prestigious organizations.
With a Master’s in Accounting & Taxation, and having started his career working for a CPA firm, (performing SOX Audits for SEC-registered global companies, as well as Accounting Advisory & Audits for Real Estate, Manufacturing, and start-up Life Sciences companies) David brings to the table a unique, technical understanding of Accounting and Finance that allows him to fully understand client needs and deliver a higher quality level of service.
David has an entrepreneurial spirit, a principled attitude, and a true passion for the craft of delivering high-quality talent to clients.
Connect with David on LinkedIn or email him at: dlewis@sdlsearch.com
Jim Dailey
Director of Search and Recruiting
Jim Dailey is an accomplished finance & accounting recruiter with 8 years of dedicated experience in the field. Jim has built strong partnerships throughout Greater Boston and New England. He works with companies of all sizes, including private equity-backed start-up organizations, Fortune 500s, and family-owned small businesses. His industry experience is broad, including product-based / retail companies, healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical, technology & manufacturing companies. He supports his clients by keeping the bar high, understanding the nuances of their organization, and seeking out candidates who have both the technical expertise needed and the right intangibles to be a strong culture fit.
Candidates appreciate his easy-going nature and the supportive approach he takes to navigating the interview process. Jim’s goal is to help everyone he works with in some way – so whether it’s resume edits, salary analysis and advice, or interview prep tips – any candidate will benefit from connecting with Jim and discussing the Boston-area job market.
When he’s not recruiting – Jim enjoys spending time with his wife and three daughters, seeing live music whenever he can, and following any and all Boston sports teams.
Connect with Jim on LinkedIn or email him at: jdailey@sdlsearch.com
Lori Pelosi
Director of Search
Lori is a veteran recruiting expert who lives the “relationship first” mentality embraced here at SDL. Lori has the ability to truly connect & authentically understand unique goals both in terms of hiring, and career advisory. Her acute knowledge of Accounting & Finance allows her to tailor her approach based on your individual goals, while sharing years of industry knowledge for your benefit. Lori brings integrity, honesty, and dedication to all aspects of her business, proven by a substantial network of candidates that love to work with her and companies that choose to return to her again and again.
Connect with Lori on LinkedIn or email her at: lpelosi@sdlsearch.com
SDL Tech Search
SDL Tech Search is the technology recruitment arm of SDL Search Partners. Our team brings over 20 years of dedicated technology recruitment experience, a deep network, and a “quality-over-quantity” approach. Led by specialized technology recruiters with experience on both sides of the house (internal recruiting & agency recruiting) SDL delivers a high-quality candidate experience, and a well-paced, thorough, interview & offer process.
Steve Rock
Director of Technical Recruiting
Steve brings more than 25 years of recruiting and talent acquisition experience to SDL Search Partners and leads the firm’s Technology Recruitment division, SDL Tech Search. Throughout his career, he has partnered with organizations ranging from high-growth startups to Fortune 100 companies, helping them identify and hire the talent needed to scale, innovate, and compete in rapidly evolving markets.
His technical recruiting expertise includes Software Engineering, Cloud Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Data & Analytics, Product Management, Enterprise Applications, and Technology Leadership. Whether partnering with a growing startup making its first key technical hire or an established enterprise undergoing transformation, Steve takes a consultative approach. His focus is on understanding business goals first and then identifying the right people to achieve them.
Steve believes that long-term relationships are the foundation of good recruiting. His philosophy is simple: successful recruiting is built on trust, communication, and a deep understanding of what drives success. Clients rely on him for honest market insight, responsiveness, and his ability to navigate complex searches. Candidates appreciate his transparency, preparation, and genuine interest in helping them make informed career decisions.
Steve is a proud father of three adult children, Alli, Zach, and Jake. Outside of work, he has a passion for music and travel and can often be found planning his next cruise. He is an avid sports fan, especially when it comes to Boston teams, and has a particular affinity for soccer, a game he has played, coached, and followed for most of his life.
Connect with Steve on LinkedIn or email him at: srock@sdlsearch.com
Office Dogs
Angie
Head of Security
Angie is a shepherd-mix who was found with her littermates under a porch during Hurricane Harvey in Texas in 2017. She was thankfully rescued & sent to Boston to be adopted. She now lives a charmed life and spends her time in the SDL offices standing on desks when no one’s looking, anxiously staring out windows, and enthusiastically greeting our guests.
Magnus
Chief Morale Officer
Magnus was rescued in Tennessee at just a few weeks old in early 2022. He’s a pitbull/lab mix who now resides in East Boston with his mom and dad. Likes: making new friends around the building, giving kisses, invading personal space, and taking naps. Loves: tennis balls, rotisserie chicken. Hates: rain, feeling discomfort of any kind.
Rufus
Chief Relationship Officer
Rufus is a black lab and philosopher who spends his time sitting on the porch watching cars go by, and pondering existence. His other passion is testing items to be edible or inedible – as it turns out everything is edible. His favorite toy is a deflated basketball. If Rufus is in the office, you’ll find him conveniently blocking the door from exit & entry.
Why Choose Us
Expert search experience. Streamlined hiring solutions. Genuine Partnership.
At SDL, we put partnership first. Our priority is to first understand your hiring needs and then to help solve your problem by identifying the right individual for your team.
If you’re looking to hire on your team, you can rely on us to provide not only fantastic candidates who we have established relationships with – but also market insight and strategy related to salaries, titles, job structuring, leveling, organizational chart design, and more. We provide a high-touch, high-quality approach that sets us apart from agencies that are driven purely by metrics, volume, and transaction.
If you’re looking to find a new position, we’re here to help. We partner with you not to find you your next ‘job’, but to help you build your career.
We provide market insight related to specific opportunities, industries, and company cultures, with a goal of helping to set you up for where you want to be 3 moves from now. We provide many unique, exclusive opportunities you may not see listed on job boards, or provided by other agencies. We’ll support you through every stage of the job search process – all the way to your next accepted offer!
500 Unicorn Park Drive #300, Woburn, MA 01801 | 
