Executive Search London
Executive headhunters
in the capital.
Specialist executive recruitment for SMEs and corporate brands across London, from our base on Wigmore Street.
Executive search for London businesses
Coreus is a specialist executive search firm working with enterprises in the capital on business-critical senior appointments. We operate as executive headhunters in London rather than as an advertising channel.
Our candidates aren’t browsing job boards. They’re already employed, performing well and selective about their next move. Every search is built against your brief, and you receive a curated shortlist of serious options rather than a stack of CVs.
Where we search
Who we place
We've helped businesses like these with their hiring challenges.
How can we help you?
The London executive recruitment challenges we help you overcome
Hiring against businesses on your street
A company with forty staff in EC2 competes for the same finance leader as a listed business two doors down. Name recognition is unlikely to be enough to win that candidate, so the quality of the recruitment approach has to be.
Notice periods run long
Senior appointments in London financial services and legal firms frequently carry three to six month notice periods. A search opened in January may not produce a start date until the summer. Building that into your planning matters more than shortening the search.
Aggressive counter-offers
London employers protect senior people harder than regional businesses do. We test motivation early and revisit it before offer stage. A candidate who cannot explain clearly why they are leaving is a candidate vulnerable to a counter-offer.
Salary benchmarks set by bigger competitors
Your candidate is paid at a level shaped by the firms around them rather than by your sector average. We benchmark against the London market before you fix a package, so the offer stage does not collapse over salary.
We work with businesses across central London, the City and the outer boroughs, and reach senior candidates travelling in from across the South East and beyond.
The sectors we specialise in
Qualified finance leadership for practices and financial services businesses, across ICAEW, ACCA and CIMA.
Partner and senior appointments for firms ranging from independent practices to multi-office partnerships.
Senior leadership for SaaS businesses, managed service providers and software vendors.
Marketing leadership judged on commercial performance rather than activity.
Operations and general management for hotel groups and restaurant businesses.
A specialist market where generic recruitment consistently falls short.
Heads of Talent and internal recruitment leadership.
For role-specific detail, see our C-suite executive search and FD and CFO recruitment pages.
Three ways we hire senior talent for London businesses
Permanent
For roles that need long-term ownership. A permanent appointment builds the operational understanding that only comes from being there every day. Where the vacancy is business-critical and cannot wait, we apply our full sourcing capability to a single brief.
Interim and Fractional
A senior departure leaves work that does not pause, and not every gap justifies a permanent salary. An interim professional delivers against a defined objective. A fractional appointment gives you the same seniority on a retained, part-time basis, typically two or three days a week.
Build a Team
Hiring several senior roles through separate searches produces inconsistency. We run multiple appointments as one coordinated programme, so the people you appoint work well together.
Track record of senior appointments across London sectors
We identify senior candidates for executive positions and see each appointment through to a signed offer and a start date.
Investment & portfolio management
Senior finance leadership for a European investment group
A European investment group acquiring UK SMEs needed senior Financial Controllers and Business Controllers to support reporting and integration across its portfolio. We headhunted across senior finance markets at the £100,000-plus level, with appointments made in London and other UK regions. Every appointment landed within deadline and the client returned with referrals for further senior leadership roles.
“David’s attention to detail ensures alignment of technical capability and values. His honest feedback enables smooth and effective hiring.”
Finance Director, European Investment Group
Professional services, West London
Recruitment transformation for Landau Morley LLP
Landau Morley is a chartered accountancy practice in West London that needed to attract Partner-track senior leaders. We audited their recruitment, selection and onboarding, then rebuilt their employer branding and interview structure around it. Two senior leaders were appointed and the firm still uses the tools and branding years later.
“The advertising campaign was effective, and the interview process structure enabled us to adopt a much more consistent approach to better evaluate candidates.”
David Passe, Audit Partner, Landau Morley LLP
What you get from our London recruitment search
One firm, one brief
Most executive recruiters in London operate on contingency, competing with several other agencies to fill the same role. That becomes a race against time rather than a focus on quality. We work on a retained fee for executive-level roles. Your target companies and no-go zones are agreed with you before any outreach, and the typical timeline from brief to shortlist is four to six weeks.
A shortlist ready to act on
You receive a written analysis for each candidate we recommend, covering suitability for the role, professional experience, reasons for considering a move and salary expectations relative to the London market. That last point is critical, because it is where London recruitment processes most often break down.
Confidentiality as standard
The executive community in London is highly interconnected. Every candidate is contacted discreetly and your company is only identified once interest has been established. Where you are replacing someone currently in the role, no details of the search are shared publicly.
A partner beyond the offer
Our involvement does not stop at offer acceptance. We stay close through the transition period, picking up anything that needs attention before it becomes a problem. 94% of the candidates we place accept their offer and start.
Attract great talent and avoid bad hiring with Coreus
Results
Rigorous briefing processes to ensure a match and long term success.
Quality
Hire with confidence and avoid delays, repeat interviews, and re-advertising
Experience
We handle the heavy lifting of hiring and ensure experience is of the highest standard.
Our London base
Meet us in London
David takes senior briefs himself and meets London clients in person, wherever suits you. Our London base is in Marylebone, a short walk from Oxford Street and Bond Street.
Coreus London
124 Wigmore Street
London W1U 3RY
Your executive search team is led by David Dand
David Dand
Founder & Director, Coreus
David Dand has spent more than twenty years helping organisations make better hiring decisions. He built his career within the recruitment and HR functions of global businesses including EY, AXA, Roche and Hult International Business School, then founded Coreus to bring that standard to ambitious SMEs in the UK and beyond.
David is CIPD Advanced HR Level 7 qualified and accredited in Hogan psychometric assessment. As a licensed career coach, he reads what drives a candidate beyond what a CV shows.
He takes senior briefs himself and meets London clients in person, wherever suits you.
“I thought all recruiters were a pain until I met David Dand of Coreus… the recruit was starting within three weeks. Highly recommended.”
Founder, Manufacturing and Engineering Business
For candidates
For senior professionals in London
Most of the people we place were not looking when we approached them. Even so, we are always open to hearing from ambitious candidates seeking the next step in their careers.
We work with senior professionals across accountancy and finance, legal, technology, marketing and hospitality. We are not a volume agency and we do not circulate CVs.
Get on our radar
If you are performing well in a senior role and open to hearing about something better in London, get in touch and introduce yourself. Conversations are confidential and carry no obligation at any stage.
Common questions about executive search in London
How much does executive search cost in London?
It is charged as a percentage of the successful candidate’s first year package and payment is split across stages rather than taken in one go. That structure exists for a reason. It means the search can be run properly instead of being rushed to invoice. You will have a figure from us at the briefing stage before any work begins.
Who pays the fee?
You do, as the hiring business. Candidates are never charged anything at any point.
How to choose an executive search firm in London?
Ask who will actually run the search, because the person at the pitch may be very different. Ask whether the firm knows your industry or just dabbles in it. And ask what their shortlist assessment really looks like. A firm working on contingency will often dodge that question, because writing a proper assessment takes time the fee does not cover.
What is the difference between executive search and executive recruitment?
Executive recruitment tends to get used loosely for any senior hiring. Executive search is a specific method. One firm is retained, researches the market from scratch and works as headhunters, approaching people who are not looking. Nobody is processing applications.
How long will it take?
For most senior roles, the process from enquiry to shortlist takes around four to six weeks, with the handover phase adding time and London typically taking longest. For executive positions three months is common, and in finance and law firms six-month notice periods are not unusual. We set these expectations at the outset, which is far better than discovering them in week ten.
How should we set the salary?
Benchmark against the businesses your candidate could realistically move between, not against your own sector average. In London, those are often larger firms with deeper pockets. We give you live market data at the briefing stage because it is far easier to get the package right before going to market than to rescue an offer that has already been declined.
Will the search reach candidates outside London?
Yes. Plenty of senior-level candidates travel in from across the South East, and hybrid arrangements have widened that catchment considerably. We agree with you about the geography when we take the brief.
Do you consider diversity when building a shortlist?
Yes. Researching a market from the ground up produces a wider field than pulling names from a database. If you have specific requirements, raise them at the briefing stage and we will shape the search around them.