Functional expertise

Governance hires that hold up to scrutiny

General counsel, risk, tax and compliance leaders for decisions that have to be defensible, not just capable.

14
senior placements in this function
100+
pivotal roles across six functions
1.3M+
documented client savings

Documented savings compare our delivery economics with traditional agency or search-fee models on comparable assignments.

The moment

When this function decides the outcome

In regulated and scrutiny-heavy environments, governance leadership is judged on defensibility, not capability alone.

Across legal, risk, tax and compliance, the common requirement is defensibility: a clear mandate, a documented process and a candidate who can stand up to internal, external and regulatory scrutiny. The tolerance for a mis-hire is low, and the process behind the appointment matters as much as the appointment.

Legal and compliance hiring keeps tightening as EU regulation reaches further into operations, from CSRD assurance to AI governance. General counsel briefs now ask for commercial judgment first: leaders who enable decisions under scrutiny rather than simply flag risk. In regulated environments we increasingly pair permanent searches with interim cover, because licensing timelines rarely wait for notice periods.

Scope

Roles we secure in this function

General counsel, legal, risk, tax and compliance leaders, from board-facing appointments to specialist interim cover during regulatory or reporting pressure.

01General Counsel
02Head of Legal
03Head of Compliance
04Head of Risk
05Head of Tax
06Data Protection Officer
07Regulatory Affairs Lead
08CSRD / Sustainability Reporting Lead
09Interim Compliance Lead

Typical mandates include general counsel search, head of legal recruitment, compliance leadership, tax leadership and interim compliance support.

Engagements

Selected case examples

Real mandates, anonymized by sector and ownership. Each example shows the business context, search logic and decision we supported.

A General Counsel appointment decided on an objective benchmark

A global testing, inspection and certification group wanted certainty that its senior legal appointment, internal or external, was genuinely the strongest available. We benchmarked internal candidates directly against the external market on a single scorecard and presented comparable evidence on every candidate.

“Internal or external, the client appointed on evidence, with every candidate on one scorecard.”

Closing a CSRD reporting gap with a right-sized interim hire

A listed group facing new CSRD obligations needed external sustainability and greenhouse-gas reporting expertise quickly, without committing prematurely to a permanent hire. We designed the role end to end and sourced across freelance and fixed-term candidates for a consultancy-style engagement covering Scope 1, 2 and 3 and audit-readiness.

“External CSRD expertise in weeks, sized to the deadline, not to the org chart.”
How we deliver

One platform, the right route in

Governance roles suit a documented Executive Search SOW with structured references and assessment. Interim Solutions covers reporting cycles and regulatory deadlines, and Talent Advisory benchmarks scarce compliance and tax markets.

01

Executive Search

Structured search for executive leaders, functional leaders and senior professionals in pivotal roles.

02

Interim Solutions

Interim leadership and specialist capacity for urgent gaps, change programs and continuity.

03

Strategic Team Build

A coordinated approach for multiple critical hires with shared calibration and stronger economics.

04

Talent Advisory

Benchmarking, role design, succession options and market intelligence that inform the decision.