North West

Executive search Manchester from Peter House, Oxford Street

Client enquiries reach this office directly through manchester@stoneexecutive.co.uk. For organisations seeking executive search in Manchester, an initial confidential conversation about the role, the organisation and the market establishes whether the appointment calls for a regional search, a national one, or both.

Greater Manchester’s economy and the leaders it requires

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority brings together the Mayor and the ten Greater Manchester councils: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The councils have cooperated for many years on transport, regeneration and attracting investment, and senior public sector leaders in the city-region are expected to work within that shared agenda.

The Combined Authority also reports that Greater Manchester has become the UK’s fastest growing economy in the decade since devolution, with productivity growth ahead of the national average and more foreign direct investment than any region outside London. Growth of that kind brings a need for experienced leaders in the private sector as well as the public sector, especially in businesses that are scaling up, moving functions to the North West or preparing for investment.

For councils and combined authorities, our Local Government practice appoints chief executives, executive directors and statutory officers who can work across organisational boundaries as well as within their own.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, formed in October 2017, is one of the largest acute trusts in the UK, employing more than 28,000 people across ten hospitals on seven sites. Independent healthcare and social care providers also operate across the region, and our Healthcare practice works with providers, commissioners and investors across both.

North West sectors where we appoint senior leaders

Manchester’s commercial economy is broad, and our executive recruitment in Manchester reflects that breadth:

• Professional and financial services, where law firms, accountancy practices and advisory businesses appoint managing partners, operations directors and finance leaders through our Business & Professional Services practice.

• Media and the creative industries around Salford Quays, covered by our Media, Entertainment & Publishing practice.

• Chemicals, manufacturing and process industries across Lancashire and Cheshire.

• Digital and technology firms, from growth companies backed by investors through to established software groups.

People leadership applies in every one of these sectors. Chief People Officer and HR Director appointments in the North West are handled by our HR executive search practice.

Beyond the city: Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and Cumbria

The North West office looks after a broad area, so a Manchester search can bring in candidates from right across it. Organisations in Liverpool sit within a separate city-region with its own priorities, while the professional and commercial community around Altrincham and south Manchester connects closely with Cheshire. Further north, Blackpool and the Fylde coast, Preston and Lancaster have their own employer base in manufacturing, public services and tourism. For clients, this means the best candidate for a Manchester role may currently be working in Warrington, Chester or Preston, with no reason to look at advertised opportunities.

When businesses come under private equity ownership, the first leadership appointments after investment, often a chief financial officer or a new chief executive, need to be made quickly and with complete discretion. We help investors, management teams and boards with these appointments, and with the operational and commercial roles that come next as a business grows.

Appointments led from our Manchester office

As headhunters in Manchester, we are retained on board-level and director-level appointments, including:

• Managing Director and Group Chief Executive for owner-managed businesses and those backed by private equity.

• Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director across the private and public sectors.

• Director of Operations and Chief Operating Officer in healthcare, manufacturing and services.

• HR Director and Chief People Officer.

• Chair, Non-Executive Director and trustee appointments, working with our board-level practice.

Among the executive search firms in Manchester, we operate as a specialist headhunting practice. We lead each search with research, and we make a direct, confidential approach to leaders who are performing well in their current roles. A typical assignment reaches offer acceptance four to eight weeks after the briefing. Before they meet the client, we interview each shortlisted candidate in depth against the brief, and we keep in close contact with both client and candidate through referencing and as the appointment starts.

Senior executives considering a move within the North West are also welcome to contact the Manchester office. We keep conversations with candidates confidential, and we stay in touch with leaders whose experience is likely to be relevant to future searches in the region.

FAQs

For a confidential conversation about executive search in Manchester or the wider North West, please call the team on 0161 433 8960.