Senior. Search.
Delivered.
Critical appointments for regulated organisations where governance, scrutiny and the calibre of leadership all matter equally.
Structured. Defensible. Diverse by default.
Discreet. Diverse. Defensible.
Where we make Critical Hires.
Our search practice is built around four core sectors where understanding the market, the stakeholders and the talent landscape is critical to success.
Financial Services
Supporting financial institutions, investment bodies and publicly funded organisations to appoint leaders and specialists in regulated and high-scrutiny environments.
Grade 6, SCS1 & SCS2
Senior Civil Service appointments at Grade 6, SCS1 and SCS2 — director-level leadership across central government departments and arms-length bodies, run to public sector recruitment principles.
SCS3, SCS4
Director General and Permanent Secretary-level search — the most accountable, scrutinised appointments in the Civil Service, run as structured, defensible processes.
Business Critical Hires
Hard-to-fill senior appointments where the role is mission-critical, time-sensitive, or sits at the intersection of policy, delivery and commercial leadership.
Trusted to deliver Critical Hires.
A focused client base of organisations operating where governance, scrutiny and the calibre of leadership all matter equally.
Central Government
Appointing senior leaders into government departments and major public programmes.
Arms-Length Bodies
Supporting regulators, agencies and public bodies with critical leadership hires.
Publicly Funded Finance
Leaders for organisations driving investment, growth and economic development.
Market-Facing
Executives who can operate across public and commercial environments.
Senior placements
Across regulated and high-scrutiny environments
Years in executive search
Specialist sector knowledge, built case by case
Of placements are diverse hires
Candidates appointed, versus a 22% market benchmark at senior level
Average to shortlist
Without compromising on rigour or representation
Senior search is a signal-detection problem — not a database problem.
Anyone can produce a shortlist. Very few can tell you, with evidence, why the third name on it will still be in role in three years. What follows is how we do it — the beliefs, the framework, and the signals we track at every stage.
Four beliefs that shape every search.
Before methodology, philosophy. These are the non-negotiables that make our process look different from the inside — and stand up to scrutiny from the outside.
Behaviour is the interview.
The CV is a claim. How a candidate joins a call, replies to a difficult message, or handles a "no" — that's the evidence.
Consistency is the signal.
One brilliant answer is a data point. The same trait, reappearing across seven interactions, is a decision.
Potential over pedigree.
Past performance describes yesterday's role. We assess for the four traits that predict tomorrow's.
Every shortlist is defensible.
Every inclusion — and every exclusion — is documented, evidenced, and stands up to public scrutiny.
Four dimensions. Observed, not asked.
Adapted from decades of leadership potential research and pressure-tested against 400+ senior placements. Each dimension is scored against behaviour — never self-report.
Curiosity
- ReadQuestions asked before answers given.
- ReadVoluntary references to reading, learning, being wrong.
- ReadReaction to a topic they don't know.
Insight
- ReadSpeed to the second-order question.
- ReadJargon load vs. plain-language explanations.
- ReadAbility to hold two contradicting ideas at once.
Engagement
- ReadHow they describe former teams, unprompted.
- ReadWarmth of tone with our researcher, not just the partner.
- ReadUnprompted credit given to others' contribution.
Determination
- ReadHow they narrate a failure — agency or blame.
- ReadWillingness to change position when evidence shifts.
- ReadResponse to delay, scope change, or firm challenge.
Six stages. Every stage, evidence-earning.
Below is what most firms show. Beneath each stage sits the signal layer — the specific behaviours we log, benchmark, and track for consistency across the whole journey.
Brief & Calibrate
Deep-dive with the hiring committee. The output is not a job spec — it's a success definition at 90 days, 12 months, 3 years. Diversity ambition agreed up-front, not retro-fitted at shortlist stage.
Market Map & Longlist
Proactive, mapped search across public, private and third sector — including talent rarely active on the open market and unlikely to return calls from anyone they don't already trust.
First Conversation
A confidential, unhurried discussion. Not a screening call. The candidate leaves knowing more about the role than they arrived with — even if they walk away from it.
Deep Assessment
A structured, multi-hour appraisal against the four-dimension framework. Behavioural evidence, not competency claims. Every score referenced to a specific observation.
Shortlist & Interview
A deliberately built shortlist — every name accompanied by an evidenced, defensible case and, equally, a named risk. Supported through interview, offer and onboarding with candidate care from first call to day one.
Offer, Onboard & 12-Month Assurance
A placement is not a close. It's a hand-over. We stay engaged through offer, notice, first 90 days, and a formal 12-month appraisal against the original success definition.
One trait, tracked seven times.
A single observation is coincidence. The same trait appearing across every touchpoint — that's a hire. Here's how we log Engagement, one of the four dimensions, across the full journey.
Outreach | Tone of first reply, unprompted questions asked | Curiosity about people, not just role. |
First call | Who they credit when describing past wins | Team-orientation is instinctive, not rehearsed. |
Assessment | Warmth to researcher vs. partner | Treats-everyone-the-same benchmark. |
Referencing | Range of referees offered — up, down, sideways | Comfort being appraised by juniors and peers. |
Panel | Language: "I" vs. "we" ratio | Ownership without ego. |
Offer stage | How they close their current employer relationship | Bridges kept, not burned. |
30-day in role | Depth of questions to their new team | Confirms — or contradicts — everything before. |
How candidates describe us.
How a candidate is treated through a search says more about an organisation than any job description. We treat every conversation as a relationship, every shortlist as a privilege, and every "no" as a reason to do better next time.
What our searches tell us.
A snapshot from our most recent search projects, based on roles closed in the last twenty-four months. Read together, the numbers describe one funnel: most shortlists carry strong representation, and just over a third of final appointments are diverse hires.
Of shortlists carry 2+ diverse candidates
Seven in ten of our shortlists over the period included two or more candidates from under-represented backgrounds at director level and above.
Hiring manager satisfaction
Of hiring managers rated the quality of our shortlist as above expectation or exceptional at first review.
Offer-to-acceptance
Of offers extended through our process were accepted by the preferred candidate first time.
Our commitment to diversity.
This is the work we get up for. Representation at senior level is a public-interest issue, not a tickbox — and the way we run a search reflects that. Diverse longlists by default. Candidate care that doesn't switch off when the offer goes out.
Average diverse representation within each senior search shortlist we present.
Of placements still in role beyond 12 months.
Of clients return for a follow-on appointment.
Average candidate experience rating across closed searches.
What we will and will not do.
The methodology only holds if the operating discipline does.
We will not run parallel briefs on the same role.
Contingent competition corrupts the signal. One partner, one search.
We will not present a shortlist without a documented "no".
Every included candidate has a named risk. Every excluded one, a reason.
We will not charge on placement alone.
Retained model. Our incentive is the right hire, not any hire.
We will not disappear at offer stage.
The 12-month assurance is a covenant, not a marketing line.
We will not accept a brief we cannot defend.
If the diversity ambition is late, the timeline is theatrical, or the spec is fantasy — we say so.
We will not treat candidates as inventory.
Every "no" gets a call, not an email. Every silence gets followed up.
A critical hire on the horizon?
Whether it's a board seat, a director appointment or a hard-to-fill C-suite role — start the conversation. We'll come back within 48 hours with a market view, a search approach, and an honest read on what's possible.
