Executive Search Partner

Distinct | B Corp; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Distinct Recruitment is partnering with a leading organisation to appoint an Executive Search Partner into its senior Talent Acquisition function. You will own complex, high-value searches from brief to appointment, working closely with C-suite and senior leaders to define roles and search strategies.

This role is not volume recruitment; you will manage a portfolio of c10-15 senior searches, delivering tailored market mapping, direct sourcing and robust candidate engagement whilst upholding

Qualifications

• Strong executive search and headhunting experience.
• Excellent market mapping and talent intelligence capability.
• Credibility and confidence when working with C-suite and senior stakeholders.
• The ability to influence and challenge rather than simply execute.
• Experience managing complex, confidential and hard-to-fill searches.
• Strong assessment and candidate management skills.
• A genuinely consultative approach to executive recruitment.
• Curiosity about markets, businesses, leadership and talent.
• The resilience and tenacity to keep momentum through challenging searches.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Executive and senior leaders to define and deliver leadership hiring strategies.
• Own searches end-to-end, from briefing and role design through to market mapping, sourcing, assessment and appointment.
• Build detailed talent maps and competitor intelligence to identify hard-to-reach candidates.
• Develop creative, direct sourcing strategies to engage exceptional and diverse talent.
• Build trusted relationships with passive candidates and senior stakeholders.
• Provide market insight and challenge hiring decisions where appropriate.
• Manage multiple complex searches simultaneously, maintaining pace, quality and confidentiality.
• Ensure a high-touch, exceptional candidate and stakeholder experience.
• Use recruitment data and market intelligence to continually improve search strategies.
• Champion inclusive hiring and build diverse leadership pipelines.
• Contribute to the evolution of the organisation's executive recruitment proposition, processes and approach.

Skills

Executive search

Headhunting

Market mapping

Stakeholder management

Assessment

Talent acquisition

Confidentiality

Leadership pipelines

Consultative approach

Job description

Distinct Recruitment is delighted to be supporting a leading, complex organisation with the appointment of an Executive Search Partner into its senior Talent Acquisition function.

This is a high-impact opportunity for an experienced executive search professional who enjoys working closely with senior leaders and taking ownership of complex, high-value searches from start to finish.

The opportunity

This is not a volume recruitment role. You will manage a portfolio of senior and executive searches, typically involving difficult-to-find talent, requiring thoughtful market mapping, direct sourcing, headhunting and proactive engagement with passive candidates, managing a portfolio of c10-15 roles.

You will work closely with senior stakeholders to understand the business challenge behind each appointment, shape the role where required and develop a bespoke search strategy. You'll have the autonomy to challenge, advise and influence rather than simply take a brief and deliver against it.

What you'll be doing

• Partner with Executive and senior leaders to define and deliver leadership hiring strategies.
• Own searches end-to-end, from briefing and role design through to market mapping, sourcing, assessment and appointment.
• Build detailed talent maps and competitor intelligence to identify hard-to-reach candidates.
• Develop creative, direct sourcing strategies to engage exceptional and diverse talent.
• Build trusted relationships with passive candidates and senior stakeholders.
• Provide market insight and challenge hiring decisions where appropriate.
• Manage multiple complex searches simultaneously, maintaining pace, quality and confidentiality.
• Ensure a high-touch, exceptional candidate and stakeholder experience.
• Use recruitment data and market intelligence to continually improve search strategies.
• Champion inclusive hiring and build diverse leadership pipelines.
• Contribute to the evolution of the organisation's executive recruitment proposition, processes and approach.

What we're looking for

You'll be an experienced Executive Search Consultant, Executive Recruiter or senior Talent Acquisition professional with a strong track record of delivering senior-level appointments.

You'll need to be comfortable operating with ambiguity and working on roles where the answer isn't always obvious. You should enjoy building a search from scratch, understanding a complex business problem, identifying where the talent sits and developing a strategy to reach it.

We are looking for candidate who have experience in…

• Strong executive search and headhunting experience.
• Excellent market mapping and talent intelligence capability.
• Credibility and confidence when working with C-suite and senior stakeholders.
• The ability to influence and challenge rather than simply execute.
• Experience managing complex, confidential and hard-to-fill searches.
• Strong assessment and candidate management skills.
• A genuinely consultative approach to executive recruitment.
• Curiosity about markets, businesses, leadership and talent.
• The resilience and tenacity to keep momentum through challenging searches.

Why this role?

This is a rare opportunity to move beyond traditional recruitment delivery and become a trusted executive search partner to the business in a fast paced, ever-changing environment.

You’ll have genuine influence over how senior talent is identified and appointed, with the opportunity to shape roles, challenge thinking, build sophisticated talent pipelines and provide market intelligence directly to senior leadership.

If you're an executive search professional who enjoys the intellectual challenge of difficult searches, senior stakeholder exposure and having real ownership of the outcome, we’d be very interested in hearing from you.