Executive Search Associate (Graduate role)

Executive Search Associate, GTM Practice

London (with travel to Austin) | Open to recent graduates

I'm recruiting on behalf of an executive search firm that advises high-growth startups on their most important hires: the go-to-market leaders who determine whether a company scales or stalls.

They work with Series A to C businesses across North America, spanning AI, fintech, medtech and more, including some of Silicon Valley's most attractive unicorns, placing VPs of Sales, CROs, and Heads of Growth. One client has grown from zero to $100m in revenue, and hires at that level are where this firm does its most important work.

For a recent graduate, this is a rare way into executive search, and into one of its fastest-growing and most lucrative verticals, with a firm that sits at the top end of the market on quality.

You learn search as a craft, working directly with Principals and Partners, and from early on you're in direct contact with senior leaders and founders. The expertise you build in GTM leadership is specialised and commercially valuable.

What you'll be doing:

• Mapping the GTM leadership market across high-growth tech in North America
• Identifying and engaging senior leaders, and building lasting relationships with them
• Running search processes end to end alongside Principals and Partners
• Developing real depth in a specialism

Progression and earnings:

The role starts on a £30,000 base with an OTE of £45,000. Advancement is based on performance rather than tenure, and Associates who deliver move up to Senior Associate within their first year, on a £45,000 base with an OTE of £80,000.

What they're looking for:

• A 2:1 degree or above
• Commercially aware, with a real interest in how high-growth companies are built and scaled
• Comfortable engaging senior people, since you'll be speaking with CROs, VPs and founders early on
• Sharp written and verbal communication
• Strong research instincts, the ability to map a market and find the people who matter in it
• Persistence, because the best candidates rarely respond first time and good searches take time
• Self-directed, able to own a process and drive it forward without being managed
• A high bar for detail, in a market where your credibility rests on getting things right
• Genuine curiosity about how startups grow and the leaders who drive it

The role is based in London, with travel to the firm's Austin office.

If you'd like to know more, send me your CV or get in touch, and I'll talk you through it.