Retained executive search for senior leadership

From brief to signed offer

Every search begins with a detailed conversation about the role, the team, and the leadership gap. The brief is shaped through stakeholder interviews, market mapping, and competency analysis before any candidate is approached.

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Assessment at every stage

Competency, leadership, and cultural fit are assessed in-house and validated through deep referencing. The search is run alongside the client through to offer acceptance and onboarding.

Consultation

About

the service

About

Retained executive search for senior leadership

Key metric

94% offer accept

Searches completed

180+ searches completed

Typical duration

8 to 16 weeks

Retained executive search for senior leadership, executive, and board appointments, with full assessment and referencing for the hiring team.

Our retained search practice is built for boards and leadership teams who want a rigorous, documented process for a critical hire. We work from a deep network of senior leaders, mapped through long-standing relationships across the technology, financial, and consumer sectors.

Search for executive, functional, and divisional leadership roles
Market mapping, candidate approach, and compensation benchmarking
Full assessment including competency interviews and deep referencing
Stakeholder management, offer negotiation, and onboarding support

Candidates are assessed for how they lead, scale, and endure under pressure. The search is documented at a level that survives the move from brief to boardroom decision.

Considered executive search and leadership begins here

Leaders found through research, judgement, and rigour.

Start a search

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Diane Castellano

Managing partner

The rigour throughout the search was exceptional. The shortlist felt considered, benchmarked, and well matched, and they understood the mandate completely.

Eleanor Ashworth

Board chair

From brief to onboarding, the process felt thoughtful and seamless. Search and assessment ran as one process, and the shortlist exceeded our expectations.

Lucas Walker

Founder & CEO

Working with Kessler felt like a true partnership from day one. The depth of assessment, referencing, and market insight changed how we approached the hire.

Begin your search

office@example.com

Phone

+1 212 360 8000

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Services

Senior leadership across technology, financial services, and life sciences.

94% offer accept

Retained executive search for senior leadership

Secure the senior leader your next stage depends on, assessed, referenced, and guided from the first brief through to a signed offer and onboarding.

180+ searches completed

94% offer accept

Retained Executive Search

01.

62+ assessments

Leadership assessment for critical hiring decisions

Know exactly who you are hiring before you commit, with structured evidence, psychometrics, and market benchmarking chosen over first impressions.

62+ leaders assessed

62+ assessments

Leadership Assessment

02.

38+ pipelines

Succession planning for leadership continuity

Prepare the bench and the plan so no critical leadership role is ever left exposed, with internal readiness and external market mapping combined.

38+ pipelines designed

38+ pipelines

Succession Planning

03.

Avg. 11 weeks

Board and non-executive director search

Strengthen the board with the independent expertise and challenge it is missing, through chair, non-executive, and committee appointments run with rigour.

26+ board appointments

Avg. 11 weeks

Board & NED Search