Retained search
Committed search for a power desk, run from the register rather than from a job ad.
One search, one specialist, an agreed fee structure, and a shortlist drawn from everyone who does the job in that market rather than whoever happens to be looking. Candidates reach you as anonymised profile summaries first, so the desk assesses the fit before it sees the name.
Dedicated market research, a calibrated shortlist drawn from the full European pool, interview and offer management, plus one operator accountable for the hire from brief to signed contract.
Register census for the role
Anonymised profile summaries
Offer and start-date management
We scope the desk and mandate, map the pool country by country, prioritise those in a genuine move-window, then manage outreach, interviews and closing against an agreed timeline.
Census first
Before any approach, the register is queried for the role and market: how many people do this job, where they sit, and how many are realistically in a position to move.
Approach off-market
Most of the pool is not looking. They are approached directly, in their own language, and told what the desk is before they are told who it is.
Anonymised summaries
You see a written profile of what someone has traded, where and at what scale, without a name attached. The name follows once the desk says the shape is right.
Close and hold
Offer, notice and start date managed to the day they sit down. Power desks lose people between offer and start more often than at interview.
Senior Intraday, Day-Ahead, Balancing, Cross-Border, Algo and Asset-Backed Traders, plus lead quants and optimisers, where speed, discretion and transferability across GB and continental markets all matter.
Desks adding headcount
Roles where the pool is thin
Confidential replacements
Client questions on retained search
What does retained mean here?
A committed search with a staged fee. This gives us the licence to weaponise our entire network and datasets to deliver the shortlist that your role deserves. A handful of precisely selected candidates to deliver the hiring objective.
Why anonymised summaries rather than CVs?
A CV tells you where someone worked. A summary tells you what they traded, in which market, at what book size, and why they would move. It also protects the candidate, which matters in a market this small.
How long does a search take?
Depends on the depth of the pool, which is knowable before we start. The census comes first precisely so nobody is guessing at a timeline.
“A seat filled from the whole pool, with a written record of who else was in it and why they were not the hire.”
Need something a little extra?
Executive search
Market intelligence
Senior power trading, quant and optimisation hires across European markets.