Hanson Search’s Customer Strategy Executive Search practice, part of Hanson Corporate, helps organisations hire the leaders who put the customer at the centre of how a business grows. We advise FTSE 100 corporates, consumer businesses, high-growth technology companies, financial services institutions and private equity portfolio companies on Chief Customer Officer, Customer Experience Director and senior customer strategy appointments where loyalty, retention and lifetime value decide who wins.

The customer agenda has moved to the top table. Chief Customer Officers and customer strategy leaders now own how a business understands, serves and keeps its customers across every channel and touchpoint, and they answer to the board on the commercial results. The leaders who can do this well are in high demand and rarely on the open market.

Senior Customer Strategy Roles We Recruit

Our Customer Strategy Executive Search practice covers the senior end of the customer function. We place Chief Customer Officers, Customer Experience Directors, Heads of Customer Strategy, Heads of Customer Insight, Heads of CRM and Lifecycle, Heads of Loyalty and Heads of Customer Success.

We also lead Customer Strategy recruitment for the roles shaping the modern customer agenda, including customer data and analytics, digital customer experience, service transformation and commercial leaders whose remit centres on retention and growth.

Whatever the title, the brief is the same. Our clients want a leader who understands the customer deeply, connects that understanding to commercial outcomes, and can carry the board with them.

Why Customer Strategy Hiring Has Risen Up the Agenda

The customer leadership brief has grown in importance faster than almost any commercial role. Three shifts explain why.

Acquisition has become expensive. As the cost of winning new customers climbs, retention and lifetime value have become the battleground, and that puts customer strategy leaders at the heart of growth.

Data has changed what is possible. Customer leaders are now expected to turn data and AI into genuine personalisation and prediction, not just dashboards and reports.

Experience is the differentiator. In crowded markets, how a business treats its customers often matters more than the product itself, and boards increasingly hold someone senior to account for it.

The strongest candidates combine commercial rigour with real customer empathy, fluency in data and technology, and the presence to influence across marketing, product, sales and service.

How We Approach Customer Strategy Executive Search

Every Customer Strategy Executive Search is led personally by a senior consultant, from first briefing to final offer. We do not hand mandates down a chain or pad shortlists to look busy.

The best customer leader for your business is rarely the obvious one. They might lead customer experience in a different sector, run a function at a fast-scaling business, or advise from inside a consultancy. So we map widely across consumer, technology, financial services and high-growth businesses, and assess every candidate on commercial judgement, customer and data fluency, cross-functional influence and board-level presence.

Diverse and inclusive shortlists are prioritised on every mandate. As a B Corp, responsible search is built into how we work.

Speak to Our Customer Strategy Executive Search Team

If you are hiring a Chief Customer Officer, Customer Experience Director or senior customer strategy leader, we would welcome a confidential conversation. We advise organisations across the London, Europe, the USA and the Middle East from FTSE 100 corporates and consumer businesses to high-growth technology companies, financial institutions and private equity portfolio companies.

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