Principal Consultant - Industrial & Aerospace

Cielo is the world's leading Talent Acquisition Partner, and our Executive Search practice works at the highest levels of the talent market — helping some of the world's most complex industrial and aerospace organisations identify and secure senior and executive leadership talent. We are looking for a Principal Consultant to join our UK-based search team, working across a portfolio of major clients in the Industrial and Aerospace sectors. This is a senior delivery role — you will own and execute retained executive search assignments end-to-end, managing the full search process and the hiring manager relationships that sit within it, with a significant degree of autonomy.

You will work in close partnership with our senior Partners, who own the overall client relationships and account strategy. Your focus is on executing searches with excellence — running rigorous processes, building trust with hiring managers, and delivering outcomes that reflect the quality our clients expect at this level.

What You'll Do

• Lead end-to-end delivery of retained executive search assignments across Industrial and Aerospace clients — from search strategy and candidate identification through to shortlist presentation and offer management.
• Manage hiring manager relationships within active assignments, maintaining clear communication on process, timelines, and candidate pipeline.
• Develop and execute targeted search strategies, including talent mapping and market research to identify passive candidate populations.
• Conduct thorough candidate assessments and produce high-quality written reports and evaluation summaries for client presentation.
• Operate with a high degree of autonomy on live mandates, managing multiple searches concurrently and prioritising effectively.
• Work closely with Partners to ensure search briefs are well-scoped and that client expectations are clearly set and managed throughout.
• Contribute sector and market intelligence that adds depth to client engagements and informs search strategy.

What We're Looking For

• Substantial executive search experience — from a retained search firm or an embedded/RPO search function — with a track record of owning and delivering searches independently.
• Sector knowledge across Industrial and/or Aerospace is strongly preferred; candidates from adjacent sectors with transferable expertise will be considered.
• Experience managing searches at Director, VP, or C-suite level, and the credibility to engage at that level with hiring managers and senior HR stakeholders.
• Strong process discipline: able to manage complex, multi-stakeholder searches without close supervision.
• Excellent written communication — your candidate assessments and client-facing materials will represent Cielo's standards directly.
• Collaborative by nature: you will work within a global team where knowledge-sharing, transparency, and mutual support are core to how we operate.
• Resilience and sound judgement — executive search is rarely straightforward, and you will be expected to navigate complexity calmly and professionally.

Why Cielo

Cielo Executive Search combines the scale and infrastructure of the world's leading talent acquisition business with the rigour and quality of a top-tier retained search practice. You will work on meaningful, complex mandates for major clients — with the backing of a global research and delivery network, proprietary tooling, and a team that takes the craft of search seriously. Competitive base salary and benefits. UK-based, with hybrid working and some client travel required.