Leadership & Executive Search
Confidential search for senior and specialist roles where the pool is small and mostly not looking.
What this covers
Senior search is a different exercise from filling a vacancy. The people you want are employed, performing, not browsing job boards, and will only engage in a conversation that is discreet and worth their time.
We map the landscape first: who is doing this job well, where, and what would move them. Approach is human led and confidential throughout. Reference checking goes deeper than the two names a candidate offers, because at this level the difference between a good hire and an expensive one is rarely visible in interview.
When companies come to us for this
The pool is small and passive
A handful of people in the country can do this job and none of them applied to anything this year.
The search must stay confidential
The incumbent is still in seat, or the mandate itself is market sensitive.
A previous search failed
The role has been open a long time, or a first hire did not work out and the second attempt cannot.
What you get
Market map
- Who is doing this well and where
- Realistic pool size
- Compensation reality
- Comparator companies
Approach
- Discreet, human led outreach
- Confidential positioning
- Candidate motivation assessment
- No mass mailing
Assessment
- Structured leadership interview
- Culture fit against your actual norms
- Deep reference checks
- Written view with reservations
Close
- Offer structuring support
- Counter-offer management
- Notice period engagement
- Onboarding through month three
How we actually run it
For a leadership role the applications are not the pool. The thirty or forty people who could genuinely do the job are employed, being looked after, and will not respond to a posting. So the work is not filtering. It is knowing who those people are, forming a view on which are approachable and worth approaching, and having a conversation good enough that they engage.
Mapping used to take a researcher weeks and was always partial. Our AI builds the landscape systematically: who holds equivalent scope, at what size of business, with what trajectory, including the people two organisations away who are the obvious next step and would never surface in a keyword search. The approach itself stays entirely human, because at this level it has to be.
A meaningful share of senior searches are confidential in both directions. You may be replacing someone who does not yet know. The candidate may be a sitting leader whose board would react badly to hearing they took a call. We run these without naming you until someone is genuinely engaged and you have agreed, and we do not circulate profiles beyond the people you specify.
Assessment at this level is about scope and judgement rather than skills tests. The size of team or P&L actually owned rather than nominally reported into, decisions made under real constraint, and what happened afterwards. We ask about what went wrong, because the answer to that is far more diagnostic than any success story.
Questions we get asked
Is executive search retained?
Yes. The work is mapping a market and running a discreet approach, which happens whether or not a hire results, so it is not contingency work. Fees are staged against milestones and agreed in writing before we start.
Can you run a search without naming our company?
Yes. We approach candidates on an unnamed basis and disclose you only once someone is genuinely engaged and you have agreed to it. If the search is confidential because of a sensitive exit, tell us at intake, because it changes the sequencing of everything including references.
How long does a senior search take?
Longer than a standard role, typically six to ten weeks to offer, because both the approach and the decision cycle are slower at this level. Notice periods then add further time. We estimate at intake based on how large the credible pool actually is.
How deep do references go?
Beyond the two names offered, with the candidate's knowledge and consent, and sequenced so nobody's current position is put at risk. At this level the difference between a good hire and an expensive one is rarely visible in interview.
Let's talk about the role
Tell us what you are hiring for and we will come back within one working day with a view on the market, a realistic timeline, and whether we are the right firm for it.