Managing Director – Specialist Recruitment in Manchester

Overview

A specialist recruitment business in the North West of England is looking for a Managing Director to take commercial ownership of the business and lead its continued growth. This is a permanent, full-time role, office-based a minimum of four days per week with one day of flexibility. The package comprises a competitive base salary plus meaningful performance-related pay tied to personal billing and overall business performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of commercial performance, revenue, gross profit and operating profitability
• Develop and execute the commercial and growth strategy, balancing near-term delivery with longer-term direction
• Personally manage recruitment assignments from client engagement through to placement
• Maintain an active portfolio of clients, candidates and vacancies and generate consistent personal billings
• Lead new business development: identify, approach and convert prospective clients
• Grow existing accounts through deeper engagement and identification of additional opportunities
• Negotiate commercial terms and maintain an active, measurable business development pipeline
• Lead, coach and develop a small team of recruitment consultants, setting clear individual and team targets
• Monitor team activity, productivity, revenue and gross profit and act where performance falls short
• Manage the P&L, contribute to budgeting and forecasting, and control operating costs
• Report clearly on business performance to the wider Group and shareholders
• Ensure appropriate recruitment processes, compliance standards and governance are maintained
• Work collaboratively with central Group functions including finance, operations and marketing

Requirements

Must-haves

• Significant experience in specialist, professional or technical recruitment
• Strong, demonstrable personal billing track record with numbers to back it
• Proven history of originating clients, not just managing inherited accounts
• Experience winning new business and converting pipeline into revenue
• Track record of leading and developing a recruitment team
• Experience managing a recruitment business, division or P&L
• Solid understanding of recruitment economics: revenue, gross profit, margins, operating costs
• Comfortable being measured against individual and team financial targets
• High degree of autonomy and accountability, without reliance on significant infrastructure
• Entrepreneurial, commercially driven approach
• Experience navigating difficult periods: rebuilding pipelines, replacing clients, managing underperformance

Nice-to-haves

• Background spanning both permanent and contract recruitment
• Experience presenting to or reporting into a group or shareholder structure
• Exposure to a broad range of professional or technical disciplines rather than a single niche

What Success Looks Like

• Revenue, gross profit and profitability are measurably higher at the end of year one than at the start
• Meaningful new clients won and converted into active, billing relationships
• Existing accounts expanded and the overall client base more diversified
• The team performing with greater consistency, accountability and commercial discipline, with consultants developing as stronger billers
• A credible commercial plan in place for years two and three, with the business showing genuine momentum rather than a single strong year

Team and Culture

• A small, commercially focused team where everyone is expected to contribute directly to revenue
• Limited separation between leadership and delivery: the MD leads from the front and sets the tone through their own activity
• Accountable, results-oriented culture with clear targets and a focus on consistent performance
• Operates with considerable autonomy, with strategic direction set at Group level and day-to-day ownership sitting firmly with the MD

Challenges

• No large infrastructure to lean on: the MD must personally generate commercial momentum at the same time as leading the team, with limited management layers between them
• Building consistent, diversified performance rather than relying on peaks, key clients or strong individual months requires real commercial discipline from day one
• The role demands genuine ownership of difficult decisions, including people and performance issues, without waiting for direction from above
• Balancing an active personal desk with leadership, coaching, financial oversight and business development is a real daily tension, and the person who thrives here will see that as the point of the role, not a drawback