Retained Executive Search: Principal/Principal Partner

My client: A top (Fully Retained) Global Search Firm is looking to add the their growing team.

Headcount: 350+

Turnover: $100m+

My client is a truly global search firm (13 offices worldwide) looking to aggressively grow with the goal of being one of the biggest names in search.

They work 50% with PE backed clients and 50% Corporate and place exclusively at the C-suite and Board level.

This leads to a Global average fee of $100k and a US average fee of $150k.

Their average partner is billing $2.5m!

They operate exclusively in the Executive Search space (no Consulting, RPO, Interim, etc.)

This is an intentional decision.

It means when selling to a client, up against bigger competition, they can pitch themselves as EXPERTS in retained executive search.

They cover a wide range of industries, notably:

Tech, Industrial, FS, Consumer, Professional Services and PE.

The option for equity is very much available, with equity in the firm being distributed between between partners worldwide.

They offer a clear path along with this to make it from Partner to Managing Partner- they detail how you can reach this goal.

Managing Partners can be for an Office (geographic) or a Practice (industry)

The firm operates on a 1 Global P&L

This leads to a culture first feel- without one office competing against another.

Allows for selfless, global cross-selling.

A true, consistent culture of "everyone wanting everyone else to win."

Market leading comp structure:

Up to $150k base

Between 37% - 65% payout