Senior Interim Search Professional - Private Equity Firm

Role Overview:

We are looking for a seasoned Senior Interim Search Professional to lead and deliver interim leadership mandates for a global private equity firm and its portfolio companies. This is a high-visibility role that combines deep executive search expertise with a strong understanding of private equity dynamics, including value-creation timelines, governance expectations, and the urgency of leadership gaps in portfolio businesses. The ideal candidate will have built their career preferably within a large, multinational executive search organization and will bring a well-rounded, multi-sector search background.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead end-to-end interim executive search mandates (CXO, business head, and functional leadership roles) for a global PE firm and its portfolio companies.
• Partner directly with PE deal teams, portfolio company boards, and operating partners to understand leadership gaps arising from acquisitions, transitions, restructuring, or performance turnarounds.
• Rapidly scope interim leadership requirements and translate business context (100-day plans, value-creation levers, governance needs) into precise search briefs.
• Build and manage a strong, active bench of interim leadership talent across multiple sectors to enable fast, high-quality placements.
• Drive candidate identification, mapping, assessment, and shortlisting using a rigorous, research-led search methodology.
• Manage the complete search lifecycle, including client briefing, market mapping, candidate engagement, assessment, offer negotiation, and onboarding support.
• Act as a trusted advisor to PE stakeholders on interim talent strategy, market compensation benchmarks, and leadership risk mitigation.
• Ensure speed, confidentiality, and precision throughout the search process, given the time-sensitive nature of PE-backed leadership transitions.
• Maintain strong market intelligence across sectors serviced, including talent movement, compensation trends, and competitor mapping.
• Build and nurture long-term relationships with senior executives to create a sustainable pipeline for future interim and permanent mandates.

Candidate Profile:

• 10-15 years of overall experience in executive search or talent search, with a meaningful portion focused on interim or senior leadership mandates.
• Must have worked with a large, multinational global executive search firm, with exposure to structured search methodology, research rigor, and global best practices.
• Proven experience working directly with, or on mandates for, Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies, with an understanding of PE deal cycles, value-creation plans, and portfolio governance.
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple sectors, with hands-on search experience spanning banking, consulting, consumer durables, healthcare, retail, and technology.
• Strong client-facing skills, with the ability to manage senior PE stakeholders and portfolio company leadership with credibility and confidence.
• Excellent stakeholder management, negotiation, and consultative skills, with comfort operating in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.
• Strong research and market-mapping orientation, with the ability to build talent pipelines proactively.
• High degree of ownership, discretion, and ability to manage multiple concurrent mandates under tight timelines.
• Postgraduate degree or MBA from a reputed institute preferred.

What Success Looks Like:

• Consistent, high-quality delivery of interim leadership mandates within agreed timelines.
• Strong relationships of trust with PE deal teams, operating partners, and portfolio company leadership.
• A well-maintained, sector-diverse bench of interim leadership talent ready to be deployed on short notice.
• Recognition as a go-to advisor for leadership continuity and interim talent strategy within the PE ecosystem served.