UK Executive Search
Full, end-to-end executive search for senior UK appointments — board, C-suite, director and specialist roles. An objective view of the UK market, a managed candidate journey and impartial advice from first contact to onboarding, on a fixed project fee rather than 25–33% of salary.
Full end-to-end search for a top-calibre placement
We offer full end-to-end executive search when you want the guarantee of a top-calibre placement for your senior vacancy.
Our service is built on an objective view of the market combined with a deep understanding of your requirements. We manage the entire candidate journey — from initial contact, through offer management, to placement and onboarding — and act as advocates and impartial advisors so candidates have the best possible experience of your business.
Because we charge a project fee rather than a percentage of salary, you get a rigorous, discreet search without the placement fees of a traditional agency — and you keep the full search report.
Executive search is designed to help you answer questions like:
- Who is the best individual for my active senior vacancy?
- How does my internal talent bench compare against the external market?
- How can I increase diverse representation in my leadership population?
- How does the talent market view my company’s employer proposition and the role?
- Are my salary benchmarks competitive enough to secure them?
Sample Pages
A look at what we hand over — dummy data shown. Use the arrows on either side, swipe, or the arrow keys to browse.
The benefits of an executive search approach
More cost-effective than agencies
We’re costed by the work we do, not a percentage of the salary package. There are no hidden placement fees, so your costs fall significantly — and because you keep the full search report, you can fill more than one role from a single search at no extra cost.
Confidentially explore the market
Many of our case studies are unnamed for a reason. We’re often trusted with sensitive briefs, so if you need to keep activity confidential we can run the search without revealing a company name, never share information without consent, and take every step to protect you.
Insight to guide your strategy
A search uncovers a wealth of information you might not otherwise see — from honest feedback about your brand to competitor data on salary, benefits and structure — giving you the insight to make better-informed decisions.
See what you could save with executive search
Enter your hiring costs to estimate the difference against a traditional contingency agency fee. Because we charge a project fee — not a percentage of salary — the saving grows with the seniority of the role.
Crunching the numbers…
Indicative only — final project fees depend on the scope and complexity of the search. And because you keep the full search report, you can fill more than one role from a single project at no extra cost.
How an executive search can help your business
Executive search is a bespoke service designed around your specific needs. Here are a few of the ways it can be used:
Filling senior roles
When an executive leaves, the gap must be filled quickly to minimise business impact — but it takes time to find people with the right experience, and to do so confidentially.
Our service helps you understand the market and who the likely replacements are when the time comes. And because we don’t charge placement fees or a percentage of salary, you save money too.
Speak to us about a senior role →
Finding specialists or hard-to-recruit individuals
No matter your industry, certain roles and skillsets are always hard to recruit — often because it’s a reactive strategy and niche talent isn’t approaching a business.
Our search service turns that model on its head. We map the market for individuals who match your criteria and approach them directly to gauge their interest, willingness and likely timeline — giving you a warm, qualified shortlist.
Understanding the competitive landscape
Companies often come to us when they’re struggling to fill roles and want to understand how they hire against the competitive landscape, so they can shape a more attractive offer.
You may have a sense of the reasons, but without the right research it’s hard to pinpoint the driving factors. Our insight uncovers the key influences on your recruitment, showing you exactly where to make the right strategic changes.
Our process
We manage the whole search from start to finish, working closely with your internal teams and aligning to each project’s needs. In general, our process is:
Research the market
Find the right individuals
Approach and engage candidates
Schedule interviews
Manage offers to placement
Why search for talent with Audentia?
Our clients know that making informed decisions relies on access to data, knowledge of the market and meaningful insight. We listen and take the time to understand your business, so we can concentrate on what you want to know. Insight is at the heart of everything we do — so you can rely on us to give you the right information.
Strategic, insight-driven
Everything we do is driven by knowledge — external, verifiable research to help you understand the market and get ahead of competitors.
Global experience
We recruit for roles across Europe, North & South America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Australia.
An extension of your team
Our search turns the right people into a warm shortlist, freeing you up to manage the rest of the hire.
Ongoing relationship
Almost all our clients stay with us — we keep supporting you as future roles and needs appear.
“Audentia ran a confidential search for a business-critical leadership hire and managed the whole journey for us — from a discreet market approach through to offer and onboarding. The shortlist was strong, diverse and genuinely engaged, and their impartial advice made the final decision far easier. It felt like working with an extension of our own team.”
Chief People Officer — Global financial services client
Insights
Executive search case studies
A confidential search for a business-critical leader
Our client needed to replace a senior leader without alerting the market. We ran the search under a confidential brief and delivered a strong, engaged shortlist — discreetly.
Learn more →
Finding a specialist the market said didn’t exist
A niche technical role had defeated two agencies. We mapped the small pool that existed, approached them directly, and placed a candidate who wasn’t actively looking.
Learn more →
Reshaping an offer to win in a competitive market
Struggling to attract senior talent, our client needed to understand why. Our research surfaced the real drivers and reshaped their offer — and the next search landed first time.
Learn more →Board, C-suite and director search on a fixed fee
Retained executive search in Britain has been priced at a third of first-year package for decades. On a £180,000 total package that is roughly £60,000, most of which pays for a research process you never see and a shortlist you do not get to keep. We run the same process — scoping, market research, confidential approach, assessment, referencing, offer management and onboarding support — on a fixed project fee agreed in advance.
We search across the British market for CEO, CFO, COO, CPO, CTO, managing director, non-executive and specialist appointments, with particular depth in UK financial services and FCA-regulated firms, life sciences, technology, industrial and engineering businesses, energy and renewables, healthcare and the NHS, and private equity portfolio companies. Where a role carries a Senior Managers and Certification Regime responsibility, we factor the regulatory reference and fit-and-proper requirements into the timetable from the start.
Fixed fee, not 33% of package
The fee is agreed before the search begins and does not move because the successful candidate negotiated a better package. No uplift, no escalator, no percentage.
Full UK market coverage, evidenced
You see the long list, not just the four people we want you to meet. The research behind the shortlist is part of the deliverable and stays with you.
SMCR and governance aware
For FCA-regulated appointments we build regulatory references, fit-and-proper checks and approval timelines into the plan rather than discovering them at offer stage.
Where we work across the UK
- London
- Manchester
- Birmingham
- Leeds
- Bristol
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow
- Cardiff
- Belfast
- Reading & Thames Valley
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- Newcastle
- Sheffield
- Nottingham
- Milton Keynes
- Aberdeen
- Liverpool
- Southampton
- Coventry
UK questions we are asked most
What does executive search cost in the UK with Audentia?
A fixed project fee in pounds, agreed before the search starts and typically well below the 25–33% of first-year package that retained British search firms charge. The fee reflects the complexity and reach of the search, not the salary of the person appointed.
Do you handle confidential UK searches?
Yes. A large share of our search work is confidential — succession planning, replacing an incumbent who is still in post, or entering a market quietly. Approaches are made without naming the client until a candidate is credible and an NDA is in place.
Which UK sectors do you search in?
Financial services and FinTech, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, technology and software, industrial and engineering, energy and renewables, healthcare and the NHS, consumer and retail, professional services, and private equity portfolio businesses.
Do you offer a replacement guarantee?
Yes. Terms are agreed in writing at the point of engagement and set out what happens if an appointment does not work out within the agreed period.
A London desk on UK hours, and research running across six time zones so your search never sleeps
Let's find your next senior hire.
A thirty-minute conversation is usually enough to know whether we can help — and what the right shape of search would be.