What roles does Clearcut Consulting recruit?
Senior commercial roles in UK financial services distribution. That means Business Development Directors, Directors of Distribution, Heads of Intermediary, Heads of Wholesale, strategic partnerships roles, product and proposition leaders, and C-suite appointments such as Chief Commercial Officers and Chief Product Officers. Mid-level to director, and increasingly above.
Which sectors do you cover?
Investment platforms, DFMs and MPS providers, asset managers, life and retirement providers, fintechs and wealthtech, and banks and neobanks building investment and advice offerings.
What's the difference between exclusive and retained search?
Exclusive is usually where we start with a client I haven't worked with on a retained basis before. I'm happy to work a brief on an exclusive basis to show what I can do and what the results look like, and from there we move to a retained arrangement at the right level. Exclusive also suits senior business development roles with salaries of roughly £85,000 to £120,000, which don't usually call for a full retained process.
Retained is for senior or complex briefs. It starts with commitment from both sides, a short deck on my read of your business and the role, and a project plan agreed up front, with a shortlist planned for week five. The fee is structured around that plan.
Why don't you work on a contingency basis?
Because one brief worked properly beats ten worked half-heartedly. Exclusive and retained work means I can take a proper look across the whole market rather than racing other agencies to send the first CVs, and you get a shortlist of people I've actually spoken to.
How long does a retained search take?
The plan is for a shortlist by week five. Week one is a market map agreed with you before anyone is approached, weeks two to four are the conversations and the longlist, and week five is the shortlist. Plans change when the market answers back, so the timeline is agreed with you and adjusted together if it needs to be.
How many candidates will I see?
Usually three to five on a shortlist, each benchmarked against everyone I've spoken to. Four, not forty.
Can you run a search confidentially?
Yes. Plenty of senior searches run quietly, whether that's a replacement for someone still in the role or a new team the market doesn't know about yet. You decide whether the firm is named or anonymous when I approach people.
Do you work across the whole UK?
Yes. I'm based in South Somerset, near Bristol, and work with clients across the UK, and at times with key clients in European jurisdictions too.
Do you recruit for retail banks and neobanks building investment or advice offerings?
Yes, and it's one of my main focuses right now. Banks and neobanks are moving beyond cash and simple savings into broader wealth offerings, and I already work with everything that sits behind them: the asset managers, the co-manufacturing partnerships and the platforms providing a wider range of wealth products. That puts me in a good position to help them hire the people who make it work.
Can you help us hire for targeted support or simplified advice?
Yes. My network runs across the consultancies advising on targeted support, the software businesses building it, the platforms enabling it and the asset managers providing the product. Understanding the whole chain, from proposition through to distribution, puts me in a fairly unusual position for these hires.
Do you offer remuneration benchmarking on its own?
Yes. It's a standalone piece of work, and I've done it for a number of clients this year. It covers team structure, reporting lines, base salary, bonus mechanics and full package detail, scoped and priced per project.
I'm not actively looking. Should I still talk to you?
Yes. Most of the people I place weren't looking when we first spoke. A conversation costs you nothing, stays private, and means you hear about the right role when it comes up rather than after it's filled.
Will my CV be sent anywhere without my permission?
No. Your CV doesn't go anywhere without your sign-off, and every conversation stays private.
What kinds of firms will you introduce me to?
Platforms, DFMs, asset managers, life and retirement providers, fintechs, and banks and neobanks moving into wealth. I won't push a role I wouldn't take myself.
Who runs Clearcut Consulting?
Simon Evans. I founded Clearcut Consulting in 2013 and run it on my own, by design. Every brief is worked by me, start to finish.
How long have you been recruiting in financial services?
Over twenty years, on the agency and search side, the last thirteen running Clearcut.