Co-founder UK

You’ve built the network. Now build the business.

About Sweav

Sweav is a fast-growing tech platform and community, connecting A-player freelance strategy, transformation and M&A professionals with clients and projects.

Our purpose is to empower these A-players to get out of the rat race, and take ownership of their time and career. So they can work where they make the biggest impact — and be a more productive member of society.

At the same time, we make it accessible for clients to work with these A-players. With a more flexible, human, pragmatic and cost-effective model than the traditional professional services firms.Since launching in 2022, we’ve grown to a highly curated community of 450+ freelancers and over 400 clients across private equity, corporates and scale-ups. Sweav is currently with a team of ~20.

About the role

Sweav has been growing like crazy in the Benelux, with 100% YoY since its inception four years ago. In 2026, we expect to grow with another 50%. However, this growth won't last forever as the addressable market of our niche will reach its limit at some point.

To keep Sweav's momentum going, we want to expand our addressable market. That's where you come in.

We're looking for someone who wants to help build Sweav UK — as a real co-founder.Someone who gets energy from building. From meeting people. From growing a network. From opening up a market.

We already have a first foothold in the UK — early traction that proves the proposition can travel. What we don't have yet is a local co-founder to grow it. That's the role.

The first phase will be a pilot of roughly 6 months. During that period, you'll work closely with the Sweav founders and core team to validate whether we can successfully launch and scale in the UK. You won't be doing this alone: you'll be backed by a team of around 20 people in the Netherlands, covering sales, lead generation, marketing, tech, finance and matching, who’ll support the UK build from day one.

If the pilot goes well, we'll set up a new UK entity together in which you'll receive a significant equity stake.

It's an exciting role — but not an easy one. There's no UK playbook yet. It involves building a disruptive brand in high-end professional services from a standing start, reaching out to clients and freelancers, running experiments, and creating real traction in a market where we're still unknown to most.

If you enjoy that kind of challenge, you'll love it here.

What you'll be doing

• Building a strong local network within private equity, corporates and scale-ups that use strategy consultants
• Bringing in the first UK projects and commercial opportunities, building on early traction already in place
• Onboarding the first UK members into the Sweav network and growing a local community of clients and consultants
• Localising our marketing, sales and operational processes for the UK market
• Helping shape the local positioning, go-to-market and growth strategy
• Representing Sweav in the UK market and building long-term relationships through lots of coffees, calls and conversations

What we’re looking for

The ideal Co-Founder has a strong background in executive search, knows how to open doors and turn relationships into business opportunities, embraces the start-up grind - and genuinely can't shut up about what they're building.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is a UK native - currently based in the UK or Netherlands, with the intention to relocate to the UK if not already there
• Has experience at a leading executive search firm or specialist boutique, ideally within strategy, transformation, private equity or professional services
• Brings an established network of senior decision-makers across UK corporates, private equity firms and portfolio companies
• Has a strong understanding of the strategy consulting and transformation landscape, particularly the profiles and expertise of senior consultants from leading consulting firms
• Has a proven track record in business development and knows how to turn relationships into commercial opportunities
• Loves talking about Sweav, to anyone, anywhere. You're the kind of person who brings it up at dinner, at events, and in every conversation that could open a door
• Gets energy from building relationships and expanding networks
• Has a strong entrepreneurial mindset
• Is comfortable figuring things out as they go
• Can work independently without needing a lot of structure

You’ve probably also:

• Worked in a senior, commercially focused role within executive search
• Built and managed your own client portfolio, with a strong focus on business development
• Considered starting your own business or taking your entrepreneurial ambitions to the next level

This is probably not the right fit if you:

• Prefer managing existing client relationships over creating new business opportunities
• Need a lot of structure and certainty
• Get uncomfortable when things are still messy or undefined

What we offer:

• A serious co-founder path with significant equity upside if the pilot succeeds
• A proven business model and brand to build on, backed by a team of ~20 in the Netherlands
• Direct collaboration with the founders and full support from day one
• Salary during the pilot phase (100K - 120K £ per year)
• A lot of ownership and freedom
• Access to an ambitious network of top freelance consultants
• Very little corporate bullshit

The process

• Introduction call with Joeri Schouten (Founder)
• Interview with Thijmen Kaster and Joeri Schouten (Founders)

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