Growth outpaced the team
The business has doubled and the finance or operations function was built for the company you used to be.
Executive Search
The right leader, chosen on evidence.
Permanent leadership hires for middle-market companies. Retained or contingent, scoped to the role — and built around what the leader actually has to accomplish in the first year.
Who We Serve
Companies where one hire moves the whole business.
In a 4,000-person enterprise, a mis-hire is absorbed. In a $30M manufacturer, a mis-hired CFO is felt in the close, the covenant package, the bank relationship, and the confidence of every person who reports into finance. That is the environment we work in.
Our clients are middle-market operators and their investors, most often in industrial and finance-intensive businesses:
- Manufacturing & industrial services
- Private equity portfolio companies
- Family-owned businesses
- Founder-led companies
- Professional services
- Distribution & logistics
Typical Triggers
When companies call us
Some of these are good news. Most searches we run are about growth or succession rather than crisis.
Succession is on the horizon
A long-tenured leader is retiring in 12 to 24 months and the internal bench is not ready yet.
Professionalizing the business
A founder-led or family-owned company needs its first true CFO, HR leader, or operations executive.
A new investor or thesis
A sponsor has closed and the operating plan requires leadership the company does not currently have.
An unplanned departure
A critical seat opened without warning, and the interim coverage needs a permanent answer behind it.
An acquisition to integrate
Two finance functions, two cultures, and one leader who has to make them work as a single business.
Engagement Models
Retained or contingent, matched to the role
We recommend the model that fits the search, not the one that pays best. We will tell you which we think it is on the first call.
Retained search
A committed, exclusive engagement with a structured fee schedule. Right for confidential mandates and business-critical roles where the market has to be mapped completely rather than sampled — most C-suite and senior finance work.
You get: full market mapping, a written position mandate and success scorecard, structured assessment and written candidate briefs, a calibrated shortlist, offer strategy, and 30/60/90-day post-start check-ins.
Best for: CFO, CEO, COO, first-time executive roles, confidential replacements, and any seat where a second failed search is not an acceptable outcome.
Contingent search
Fees payable on placement. Suited to roles with a deeper active candidate market, lower confidentiality risk, and less dependence on exhaustive market coverage.
You get: targeted sourcing, screening and assessment against your requirements, a qualified slate, and support through offer and start.
Best for: senior manager and director-level finance, accounting, HR, and operations roles where speed and market breadth matter more than exclusivity.
Not sure which you need?
That is a reasonable place to start. Describe the role and the situation, and we will tell you which model we would recommend and why — including when we think the answer is an interim leader rather than a search at all.
Representative Roles
What we are asked to fill
Executive
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Operating Officer
- President / General Manager
Finance & Accounting
- VP of Finance
- Corporate Controller
- Director of FP&A
- Treasury & Credit leadership
Operations & Functional
- VP of Operations
- Plant Manager
- VP of Human Resources
- VP of Sales & Commercial
The Process
How a Stature search runs
Retention is built through role clarity, market calibration, evidence-based assessment, and disciplined integration — not through résumé matching. Typical timing is 8 to 12 weeks to offer acceptance.
Discover & Define
Stakeholder discovery, business context, the position mandate, the success profile, decision criteria, and compensation assumptions. We translate your strategy, operating environment, leadership expectations, and first-year priorities into a measurable success scorecard before we contact a single candidate.
Map & Engage
Direct market mapping across your industry and adjacent talent pools, with confidential, relationship-led outreach. We test geography, compensation, industry adjacency, candidate availability, and the trade-offs early — before assumptions slow the search down.
Assess & Decide
Structured interviews, written candidate briefs, a calibrated shortlist, finalist comparison, and professional references. We assess judgment, operating partnership, change leadership, team development, communication, and execution — not only technical credentials.
Secure & Integrate
Offer strategy, negotiation support, stakeholder alignment, transition planning, and 30/60/90-day post-start check-ins. The final mile is where searches are lost, so we stay on it.
What You Receive
Clarity, choice, durability
Clarity
A shared definition of what the leader must accomplish, how success will be measured, and which trade-offs are acceptable.
Choice
An assessed finalist slate with transparent evidence, market feedback, motivations, risks, and meaningful comparisons between candidates.
Durability
A selection and transition process designed to improve long-term fit, stakeholder confidence, and early execution.
Questions
About executive search
Do you work on a retained or contingent basis?
Both. Retained search suits confidential, business-critical roles where the market has to be mapped completely — most C-suite and senior finance mandates. Contingent search can fit roles with a deeper active candidate market and less confidentiality risk. We recommend the model that fits the role rather than the one that fits us, and we say which we think it is on the first call.
How long does a search take?
Typical timing is 8 to 12 weeks to offer acceptance. Search milestones are measured in weeks, with timing influenced by the role, the market, and your own decision process. If the seat cannot stay empty that long, interim coverage can run alongside the search.
What happens if the placement does not work out?
Engagement terms including any guarantee period are set in writing before we start, and they vary by search model. We would rather talk about it plainly up front than bury it in a schedule. What we will also say is that we track retention on our own placements and share the results — because a firm unwilling to show you that data is telling you something.
Can you run a search confidentially?
Yes, and a meaningful share of our work is confidential — a replacement while the incumbent is still in the seat, or a role that cannot be signalled to the market. Outreach is relationship-led and the client is not named until a candidate is genuinely engaged and appropriate.
Do you also place interim leaders?
Yes. Our staffing practice places interim CFOs, controllers, and functional leaders who can often start within days. Running interim coverage alongside a search is one of the most common ways our clients use us, because it removes the pressure to accept the best candidate available this week.
Start a search.
Tell us about the role and the business. We will give you an honest read on the model, the market, the likely timing, and whether a search is even the right first move.
A member of the Stature team will respond within one business day. Are you a candidate? Introduce yourself here.