Bespoke Recruitment Services
Executive Search
Finding leaders is harder than it looks.
The right person for a board-level or senior leadership role is usually working, usually not looking, and almost certainly not responding to job adverts. But securing the right leadership is critical. The wrong appointment at board or senior level is costly in ways that go well beyond the fee.
Finding the right person requires a genuine understanding of what the role actually demands, proper research into who exists in the market, and the patience to run a process that does not cut corners. We are not filling seats. We are finding leaders who will make a meaningful impact.
Hereward Partners runs retained executive search mandates at board and senior leadership level. Every search is led personally by Mike Younger. There is no handoff to a junior researcher, no reliance on database scraping, and no shortlist of candidates who simply happened to be available. The work is done properly and rigourously, from the ground up.
How we work
We start with a genuine brief. Not a job description, but a conversation about what the role actually requires, what the organisation looks like, and what success means in twelve months and beyond. That shapes the search strategy, the candidate profile, and the way we approach the market.
We map the relevant population, identify individuals who fit, approach them directly, and present a shortlist of people we have actually spoken to and assessed. We manage the process through to offer and beyond, including the moments where advice, not just coordination, is needed.
Sectors and functions
Automotive and mobility
We have placed senior leaders across product, engineering, commercial, and operational functions in OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and technology businesses serving the automotive sector. Our network is extensive and active, built over years of direct engagement rather than database accumulation.
Advisory and professional services
Placing into advisory and consulting firms is a specialism in its own right. These organisations hire differently. They assess judgment, presence, and commercial instinct as much as technical expertise. We have placed partners and senior directors into firms operating across consumer and manufacturing, defence, transport, food and nutrition, chemicals, energy, and public sector environments.
Interim Management
Leadership on demand.
The best interim leaders are not gap fillers. They are experienced operators who arrive with pace, take accountability from day one, and deliver outcomes in environments where time is the constraint.
That distinction matters. A good interim does not need six weeks to find their feet. They have held P&L responsibility, led complex programmes, managed senior teams, and made decisions under pressure. They bring strategic clarity precisely because they are not caught up in the politics of the permanent organisation. Their focus is entirely on the outcome.
When interim is the right answer
There are moments in any organisation when the need is immediate and the stakes are high. A critical programme is stalling. A senior leader departs unexpectedly. A transformation requires capability the business does not currently have internally. A board decision needs an experienced operator to carry it through.
In those moments, the right interim leader does not just hold the line. They add genuine strategic value, often accelerating progress beyond what a permanent hire would have achieved in the same timeframe.
What we offer
We identify and deploy senior interim leaders across automotive, mobility, advisory, and professional services environments. Every individual in our network has operated at board or executive level, or brings deep specialist capability in complex engineering, procurement, and commercial leadership into your team. They are available for defined, outcomes-focused engagements, scoped clearly from the outset so that expectations, deliverables, and timelines are agreed before work begins.
That means every engagement starts with a clear answer to three questions: what needs to change, by when, and how will we know it has worked. Revenues stabilised or grown. Programmes delivered on time and on budget. Teams built, restructured, or led through transition. Procurement processes overhauled and costs reduced. Commercial strategies defined and executed. The measure of a good interim is not how long they stayed. It is what was different when they left.
Fractional Leadership
Senior leadership with flexibility. No compromise on quality.
Not every organisation needs a full-time executive. Some need the strategic weight and experience of a seasoned leader in a more flexible arrangement, without the cost or commitment of a permanent appointment. That might mean two or three days a week, or two or three days a month. The time commitment varies. The calibre does not.
That is what fractional leadership delivers, and it is not a junior arrangement. A fractional leader is not an advisor who attends a monthly meeting and sends a summary note. They are an active, accountable member of the leadership team, present enough to understand the business deeply, experienced enough to add value from the first conversation, and focused enough to drive measurable progress within whatever time is agreed.
Why fractional, and why now
The market has changed. Businesses are leaner. Headcount decisions are scrutinised more carefully. And the pool of senior leaders willing to work in flexible, portfolio arrangements has grown significantly, partly because the best operators have earned the right to work that way, and partly because they find it more intellectually engaging than a single full-time role. Many also balance fractional commitments alongside non-executive directorships, bringing governance experience and board-level perspective as well as operational depth.
For the right organisation, fractional leadership is not a compromise. It is a cost-effective way to access knowledge, experience, and capability that would otherwise be out of reach.
When fractional is the right answer
- A business is scaling and needs senior commercial or operational leadership but is not yet at the point where a full-time appointment makes financial sense.
- A function needs strategic direction and experienced oversight while a permanent search is underway.
- An organisation is entering a new market and needs someone who already knows it.
- A board wants experienced challenge and counsel at leadership team level without adding to the permanent headcount.
In each case, the need is real, the stakes are meaningful, and a full-time hire is either not warranted or not yet viable. Fractional provides access to the right person, at the right level, at a cost that reflects the time committed rather than the seniority brought.
What a fractional leader brings
The individuals we place in fractional roles have operated at board and executive level across automotive, mobility, complex engineering, and advisory and professional services environments. They bring the same depth of experience, the same commercial instincts, and the same accountability for outcomes as any permanent senior hire.
The difference is the arrangement, not the calibre. Engagements are structured around clear objectives, agreed time commitments, and defined deliverables. Progress is visible and measurable. Whether someone is with you two days a week or two days a month, they should be able to point, at the end of every engagement, to what moved forward because they were there.