Senior Associate

Senior Associate | Executive Search Insurance

Location: London, hybrid

Bonus: Quarterly performance bonus

Additional commission: Available on self-originated revenue

Progression: Principal / Search Consultant

About Valmont Talent

Valmont Talent is an executive search and talent advisory firm operating exclusively within regulated financial markets.

We partner with founders, executives, investors and regulated institutions across Financial Services, Insurance, FinTech, Digital Assets, Payments, Market Infrastructure, Investment Management and related markets. Our work focuses on critical appointments where judgement, market access and quality of execution matter.

Through Valmont Search, Embedded Talent, Talent Advisory and Statement of Work delivery, we support clients through growth, transformation, regulatory build-outs and senior leadership hiring across the UK, Europe, North America and global financial markets.

Valmont Talent is built by operators, not traditional recruiters. Our Founder has managed more than 340 people internationally, developed 32 individual £1 million annual billers and previously built one of the world’s most successful Financial Services recruitment firms without external capital.

We are now investing in our internal search capability and looking for an outstanding Senior Associate to work directly with the Founder.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity to become a central member of Valmont Talent at an important stage of its growth where you will be joining a team of 5 initially.

You will initially take ownership of the research, market mapping, candidate engagement and execution underpinning Valmont’s executive search assignments. You will work directly with the Founder on live retained mandates, gaining exposure to clients, senior candidates and commercially important searches from the outset.

This is not a back office sourcing position or a high-volume recruitment role. You will be expected to understand the substance of each mandate, develop an informed view of the relevant market and engage credibly with senior executives.

As you develop your market knowledge and understanding of Valmont’s proposition, the role will expand into client relationships, candidate led origination and business development.

The long-term opportunity is to progress from search execution into a commercially successful Principal Consultant position.

What you’ll be doing

• Working directly with the Founder on retained executive and specialist search mandates
• Translating client briefs into structured search strategies
• Defining target companies, relevant markets and candidate hypotheses
• Building detailed company maps, organisational structures and leadership pipelines
• Identifying high-quality candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter, databases, referrals, market intelligence and original research
• Managing several searches and candidate pipelines simultaneously
• Developing thoughtful and personalised outreach across telephone, email and LinkedIn
• Approaching and building relationships with senior candidates
• Conducting initial candidate interviews and qualification conversations
• Assessing experience, track record, motivation, compensation and suitability
• Producing concise, evidence-led candidate reports
• Managing candidates professionally throughout the search process
• Building long-term relationships beyond an individual mandate
• Monitoring senior appointments, investment activity, regulatory developments and organisational change
• Developing reusable talent maps across Valmont’s core markets
• Producing market, competitor and compensation intelligence
• Maintaining accurate candidate, company and relationship information within Valmont’s CRM
• Helping turn search activity into valuable proprietary market knowledge
• Identifying trends and intelligence that can support clients and generate future opportunities

Client exposure and business development

• Participating in client briefings, progress meetings and shortlist discussions
• Researching priority accounts and mapping relevant decision-makers
• Identifying commercial opportunities arising from candidate and market conversations
• Supporting targeted client outreach and proposition development
• Taking exceptional senior candidates to market where appropriate
• Building relationships with prospective clients across Valmont’s markets
• Progressively originating and developing your own opportunities

Business development will be introduced as your sector knowledge and credibility develop. You will not be expected to arrive with an established client book, but you must have the ambition to build one.

What we’re looking for

We are interested in ambitious professionals from:

An executive search firm

A specialist financial services or insurance recruitment business

A high quality 360 recruitment environment

A research or delivery position where you are ready for greater client and commercial exposure

You will probably have between two and six years’ relevant experience, although capability and trajectory matter more than a fixed number of years.

Experience across Insurance, Financial Services, FinTech, Payments, Digital Assets, Investment Management or another regulated market would be valuable but is not essential.

This is an opportunity to join a well-capitalised specialist search firm with retained client demand, deep market focus and leadership that understands how to build successful recruitment and executive search businesses.

You will not be joining a large team to perform one narrow part of the search process. You will work closely with the Founder, take meaningful ownership and see how high-value executive-search work is won, delivered and expanded.

The role should appeal to someone who has built strong search fundamentals but now wants more: more responsibility, greater client exposure, stronger commercial development and a meaningful position within a growing firm.

If you are an experienced researcher, associate or recruitment professional who wants to become a complete executive-search consultant, this is an opportunity to make that transition.