Posted on: 30.09.2026
Why We Built Hanson Executive
For 24 years, Hanson Search Group has built senior leadership teams and advised clients on succession, growth and reputation. Hanson Executive brings that experience into a dedicated Board, C-suite and senior leadership search practice – not because this work is new to us, but because the businesses who need it most were increasingly underserved by the firms built to deliver it.
That gap isn’t a failure of quality. The large global firms do genuinely excellent work. It’s a structural gap, and it comes down to simple maths: a firm built to serve FTSE350-scale mandates naturally points its most senior attention toward the briefs that justify that scale. Everything else gets the same process, but rarely the same partner, and certainly not the same attention.
Where the model strains
Two structural issues show up consistently once you look past the pitch:
The first is who actually runs the search. At the largest firms, the partner who wins the engagement often hands execution to a broader team once the mandate is signed – a pattern boutique firms position themselves against directly, arguing that the partner who pitches the search should be the one who runs it.
The second is reach: global firms carry off-limits restrictions across their much larger client rosters, meaning they’re structurally barred from approaching candidates at any company they’ve already worked with – which, for a firm with hundreds of clients, quietly closes off a meaningful share of the market before a search even begins.
Neither of these is a criticism of the firms themselves. It’s simply what scale does to a service business. But it means a mid-sized, founder-led or PE-backed company hiring at Board or C-suite level often ends up with a more junior team, a narrower candidate pool and a lot less senior attention than the pitch implied.
What the market is already telling search firms
This isn’t a new observation, it’s one the search industry has been increasingly candid about itself.
As Hunt Scanlon Media’s Christopher Hunt has put it, specialisation is a significant part of the appeal of the boutique search provider: a firm running a small number of searches a year in one area tends to know that market more deeply than a generalist running hundreds across ten.
Why Hanson Executive, specifically
We built Hanson Executive to close that gap for the clients we already understood best – not as a new department finding its feet, but as the natural extension of 25 years spent building senior teams across communications, corporate affairs, people, technology, revenue and investor relations.
Every mandate is led personally by a senior partner, from the first conversation through to signed contract – not handed off once it’s won. We work across sectors, with the same rigour and market-mapping discipline clients expect from a global name, built specifically for mid-sized, founder-led, PE-backed and fast-scaling businesses who want global reach, with a boutique, personal service.
The work hasn’t changed. Who it’s built for, and how closely we stay involved in it, has.
If you’re thinking through a Board appointment, a senior leadership hire, or succession planning, we’d love to talk – even informally.
Hanson Executive is the Board, C-suite and N-1 search practice of Hanson Search Group. It brings together the senior leadership work Hanson Search has delivered for 24 years under one dedicated practice. Led by CEO Katie Simpson, Hanson Executive partners with ambitious, high-growth businesses across the UK, Europe, the USA and the Middle East.
Get in touch
Introducing Our Recruitment Experts
Our team possesses a unique blend of industry expertise, advanced recruitment acumen, and professional assessment skills on a global scale. With an in-depth understanding of the market, we are perfectly positioned to help you hire the best talent that you need
Meet the team
What people say about us
Hanson Search’s knowledge of the market is up to date and accurate, they understand day to day needs for their clients, but their real USP is the ability to introduce talent that enables ambition & growth.
Talent Partner, Blakeney
Hanson Search is a trusted and valued recruitment partner to MHP Group. They know the business and the teams they work across well and always strive to provide us with the most high-quality candidates.
Talent Partner, MHP Group
The Hanson Search team truly places quality over quantity and it’s refreshing. Their robust screening process means that you may only view a handful of candidates but each one of them has something to offer the role.
Head of Campaigns, Third Bridge
Hanson Search has been instrumental in identifying and recruiting senior executives for RAK Tourism. They deeply understood the nature of the roles and people we need and provided excellent candidates.
CEO, RAK Tourism
Hanson Search quickly ‘got’ us. They were proactive in their search and responsive in their service right from the outset. Very happy client.
MD, firstlightPR, Paul Davies
Hanson Search understands our business and is able to identify very strong candidates at all levels.
Managing Partner, Brunswick Group - Gulf, Rupert Young
I’ve worked with headhunters for the past 20 years, but I’ve found Hanson Search has a better understanding of how to attract and secure the right talent for our market.
CEO, Hanover, Charles Lewington
Career Enquiry
