Partner / Director - Education

Compass Carter Osborne; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary & commission

Private Medical Insurance

Electric Car Salary Sacrifice

Investors in People Gold

Quarterly events

More annual leave

Flexible working in London

Job summary

Compass Carter Osborne, part of Compass Recruitment Solutions, is seeking a Partner/Director-level operator to build and lead a private-equity–backed Education practice. You will own senior retained C-suite mandates, manage end-to-end delivery, and develop long-term client partnerships with Education organisations.

You’ll join a founder-led, investor-backed firm with platform and brand backing, and a defined path to partnership through the Director track. London-based with flexible working.

Qualifications

• Proven retained C-suite search at Partner/Director level.
• Portable client base across commercial Education sector.
• Sustained personal billings with growth.
• Comfort operating at CEO/Chair and Trustee level.

Responsibilities

• Own personal fee production on senior retained mandates.
• End-to-end mandate delivery from briefing to placement.
• Client relationship ownership with Education clients.
• Practice ownership and team build-out of the Education vertical.
• Strategic client development with PE-backed and private equity clients.
• Contribute to brand, growth and platform investment.

Skills

Retained C-suite search

Client network

Personal billings

Leadership

Job description

Partner/Director, Education Practice, Executive Search

Do you have the experience and the motivation to build an education practice?

Do you want the backing of an award-winning group and the PE-invested client base to match?

Are you Interested in supporting global expansion of an executive search firm where your ambition sets the pace?

About Us

Compass Carter Osborne is the industry’s highest-profile provider of board-level executive search within independent health and care services. Part of Compass Recruitment Solutions (CRS), a market-leading recruitment business focused on the Health, Care, Education, and Life Sciences sectors.

We are a founder-led and investor-backed company with a values-driven culture where ambition, collaboration, and a sense of fun are at the heart of everything we do. Our teams are encouraged to thrive, achieve their full potential, and enjoy the journey along the way.

As an award-winning Executive Search provider (Recruitment Firm of the Year, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024; Search Firm of the Year, HealthInvestor Awards 2022, 2024, 2026), we are the go-to partner for critical C-suite and senior-level hiring. Our clients include leading care providers, private equity investors (and their portfolio companies), and high-net-worth individuals who trust us to find the very best talent for their businesses.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Partner or Director-level operator who has built something, a practice, a book, a reputation, in retained C-suite search across the commercial Education space. Whether you are already running a practice at a boutique or global search firm, or you are a Director or Senior Consultant ready to take the step into Partner, leading and developing your own practice, we would like to hear from you.

For those making the step up, this is a genuine opportunity to build a practice inside a firm that will back you with platform, brand and infrastructure, not one that will slot you into someone else’s model. For Senior / Principal consultants, this will give you a defined pathway to Partner through the Director progression path.

Our Education practice focuses on the private and specialist education sector – K12 independent schools, private school groups, specialist SEND providers, and PE-backed education platforms. We place CEO, CFO, COO, Managing Director, and board-level leadership into businesses where education meets commercial ambition, organisations backed by private equity, family offices, and institutional investors who expect their leadership teams to deliver both outstanding outcomes and commercial performance.

This isn’t a hand-you-a-desk role. It is the mandate, and the platform, to build a practice from a defined starting point into a market-leading position.

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to the founding Partners, Adam Carter and Luke Osborne, the Partner will own:

• Personal fee production on senior retained C-suite mandates, CEO, CFO, COO, Chair and Trustee-level appointments across the commercial Education space
• End-to-end mandate delivery – from client briefing and search strategy through to shortlist, offer and placement
• Client relationship ownership – building deep, long-term partnerships with a portfolio of Education clients, and being the point of contact they trust for their most senior hires
• Practice ownership, building the Education vertical, its client base, its brand and its market position
• Team build-out, hiring, mentoring and leading the consultants and researchers who will scale the practice with you
• Client strategy, long-term partnerships with PE-backed and privately-owned Education institutions, membership bodies, commercial subsidiaries of large charities, and organisations sitting at the interface between mission and margin
• Commercial contribution to CCO; you will be part of the firm’s leadership conversation on brand, growth and platform investment, not sat outside it

About You

• A proven track record of retained C-suite search at Partner, Director or senior fee-earner level within a specialist or global search firm
• A demonstrable portable client base and network across the commercial Education sector, organisations, boards, chairs and CEOs who know you
• Sustained personal billings and evidence of building or materially growing a practice, not simply inheriting one
• Comfort operating at CEO, Chair and Trustee level, briefing, challenging, and being taken seriously in the room
• Genuine sector credibility in the commercial Education space, or an adjacent PE-backed sector with strongly transferable relationships and insight
• A view on the commercial Education market, which parts of it are moving, where PE and institutional capital is finding a home, where the leadership challenge is sharpest
• The entrepreneurial temperament to build inside a young firm; you want the platform of a group, but not the friction of a large plc

What we offer

• Competitive salary & commission structure
• Private Medical Insurance, Life and Critical Illness Insurance
• Electric Car Salary Sacrifice
• Gold Standard Investors in People, with clear career progression, wellness support, and personal development opportunities
• Quarterly company events & a vibrant social calendar
• Increasing annual leave allowance
• Early finish every Friday and flexible working with a central London base

Why Join Compass Carter Osborne?

At Compass Carter Osborne, you’ll be part of a truly market-leading team at an exciting stage of growth. You’ll work alongside experienced consultants who are passionate about their sectors, in a business that has built a reputation for excellence.

As a Partner, you will have the mandate to build a practice, backed by a firm still early enough in its own story that you can shape it as you go. Genuine autonomy over how the vertical grows, who joins it and how it goes to market. Founder-level partnership with three founding Partners who have built CCO from the ground up. And a genuine equity conversation for the right person.

All approaches will be treated in the strictest confidence.

The practice is yours to build. The platform is already here.

Compass Carter Osborne is part of Compass Recruitment Solutions, Great Place to Work certified, Investors in People (Gold), ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials accredited.

London

Compass Carter Osborne (Part of Compass Recruitment Solutions)