In an age of polarised debate, we don’t shy away from the difficult issues to find the best people.

Welcome to Starfish

Starfish was created to change the world through human talent – and we know that change must be driven by the right leaders. In close collaboration with our clients, we bring professional skill, expertise, and fierce commitment to the search for tomorrow’s most influential leaders, wherever they are working now.

With offices across the UK we offer a broad regional overview of our markets and richer connections with the strongest global leaders at home and beyond. Whether it’s senior leadership talent, non-executive directors or interim managers you need, we can help find the right person to carry your organisation through change and into a strong and resilient tomorrow.

Life is changing at speed. Starfish is here to navigate this unpredictable age by staying ahead of the curve and thinking flexibly. We view our UK markets as part of a broader global affairs context and use our awareness to anticipate the demands on leaders across all environments.

Starfish knows the value of inclusive organisations and our approach to our work is grounded in the economic and social value of respect. Our real specialism is securing influential senior people with the skills to lead and thrive in an unpredictable age: our collective network of modern leaders is second to none. As part of this, we work hard to help client organisations retain a balance of different skills and perspectives within their senior teams. This is underpinned by a clear business case for diversity.

Latest Roles

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What our clients say

Who we’ve worked with

From candidate diversity to client satisfaction, our results speak for themselves.

1,505
senior leadership
appointments
99%
first-time success rate
on non-executive
commissions
95%
first-time success rate
on executive
placements
282
interim leaders placed
47%
of our search portfolio
now comprises non-executive
commissions

Who we are

Meet our team

ACCREDITATIONS

espo
espo

ESPO is a public sector owned professional buying organisation (PBO), specialising in providing a wide range of goods and services to the public sector for over 40 years. Starfish Search has been awarded a place on ESPO’s Strategic HR Services framework (3S). Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 1, Executive and Managerial Interim Recruitment Lot 2, Executive and Managerial Permanent Recruitment.

espo
espo

Starfish are proud to be certified Disability Confident Committed. This scheme provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace.

espo
espo

Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn - supporting world-class public services that offer best value for taxpayers. Starfish Search has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s Executive and Non-Executive recruitment. Services we offer under the framework include: Lot 3 - Non-Executive and Public Appointments.

espo
espo

Bloom, launched in 2012 is the UK’s leading marketplace for professional services. They provide an end-to-end solution for the procurement, contract management and payment of all professional services, via the compliant NEPRO³ framework. Their public sector clients have access to 20 professional services categories and over 4500 accredited suppliers. Bloom provides swift routes to market via either direct award or mini competition. Starfish is an accredited supplier to BLOOM; our services can be accessed via this framework - Executive and Non-Executive Search and Interim Management.

Join the starfish team

We hire people who bring insight, integrity and ambition to their work. If you’re ready to contribute to shaping the future of leadership and you want to explore our current opportunities please get in touch.