Executive Search Philippines
Retained executive search and headhunting for senior leadership roles in the Philippines. We recruit country managers, C-suite executives and functional heads for BPO operations, shared services centres, multinationals and Philippine groups. Tell us the role, the reporting line and whether the search is confidential, and we scope it in 48 hours. Hiring leaders across Southeast Asia? Our executive recruiting firm runs regional and global C-suite searches.
16+ Years Of Experience
550,000+ Placements Delivered
36+ Countries Served
350+ Expert Teams
50+ Top Level Positions
What Is Executive Search in the Philippines?
Executive search is retained, research-led recruitment for senior leadership roles, conducted through direct and confidential approaches to people who are not applying for jobs. It differs from contingency recruitment in three ways that matter commercially. The firm is engaged and paid in stages rather than on success only. The search is exclusive, so one firm works the mandate rather than five racing each other. And the work is mapping rather than matching: identifying every credible person in the market, then approaching them, rather than screening whoever responds to an advertisement.
In the Philippines, this matters more than in most markets, because the senior talent pool is concentrated. The people who can run a 3,000-seat BPO operation or lead a shared services centre in Manila largely know each other. They are rarely on the market, and an advertised search reaches almost none of them.
We also handle contingency and mid-level recruitment in this market. For volume and professional hiring, see our Philippines recruitment practice.
Executive Headhunters in Manila and Cebu
Executive search in Manila centres on Makati, Bonifacio Global City and Ortigas, where multinational headquarters, BPO operators and shared services centres base their leadership teams; Cebu is the second market, led by BPO and shared services. We run executive headhunting across both: direct, confidential approaches to leaders who are not on the market, each assessed against your mandate before you meet them.
How We Run Philippine Executive Searches
The counter-offer is the defining risk in this market. Philippine senior leaders are scarce enough that incumbent employers fight hard, and a search that looks won at offer stage frequently is not. We manage motive and timing from the first conversation rather than the last, which is slower at the front and considerably more certain at the end.
Executive Search Costs and Timelines
What It Costs:
Retained executive search is charged as a percentage of the placed executive’s first-year total compensation, billed in stages: engagement, shortlist, and placement. For less senior leadership roles, we also run contingency search, charged on success only.
How Long It Takes:
Most Philippine executive searches are completed in 8 to 12 weeks from engagement to accepted offer, with a shortlist typically presented in weeks 5 to 6. Confidential replacement searches run longer because the approach pace has to be slower.
What Our Philippine Executive Search Service Includes
Retained, Exclusive Search
One firm, one mandate, paid in stages. You get the market mapped rather than a race against four other agencies working the same LinkedIn results.
Confidential Replacement Searches
Where the incumbent is still in post. The Philippine senior market is small enough that an open search becomes known within days, so discretion is a method rather than a promise.
BPO and Shared Services Leadership
The largest executive hiring market in the Philippines. Operations directors, site leaders, country managers and bilingual contact centre leadership.
Country Manager and Market-Entry Leadership
For multinationals establishing or scaling a Philippine operation, where the first leadership hire determines the next twenty.
Functional Leadership Across Disciplines
Finance, technology, HR, operations and commercial leadership, screened on discipline depth rather than on general seniority.
Leadership Market Mapping
A full picture of who holds the role you are hiring for, where, and at what level of compensation, delivered whether or not you proceed to search.
Our Executive Search Process
Step 1: Leadership Requirement Discovery (Week 1)
We establish the role, the reporting line, the mandate the person will be given, and whether the search is confidential. We also establish what the last person in the seat did or failed to do, because that is usually the real brief.
Step 2: Market Mapping and Compensation Benchmarking (Weeks 1 to 2)
Who currently holds equivalent roles in the Philippines, at what level, and what it would take to move them. In a concentrated market, this map is often short, and it is better to know that in week two.
Step 3: Confidential Approach (Weeks 2 to 5)
Direct, discreet approaches to mapped individuals. No advertising, no job boards, and no disclosure of the client until a candidate is engaged and under confidentiality.
Step 4: Assessment and Referencing (Weeks 4 to 6)
Structured leadership assessment against the mandate rather than the job description, with background and reference verification before the shortlist.
Step 5: Shortlist and Client Interviews (Weeks 5 to 8)
Three to five candidates with written assessment against the mandate. We coordinate interviews across time zones for international reporting lines.
Step 6: Offer, Counter-Offer Management and Onboarding (Weeks 8 to 12, then first 90 days)
The counter-offer is where Philippine executive searches are most often lost. We work the candidate’s motive from the first approach so that the offer stage is a confirmation rather than a negotiation. We then stay engaged through the first 90 days, and if the placement does not hold inside the guarantee period we re-run the search at no additional fee.
Industries We Serve
Need Executive Talent in the Philippines?
Tell us the leadership role and requirements, and we’ll build a focused shortlist of qualified executives.
Sectors and Markets We Recruit Leadership For
BPO and Contact Centre Operations
Site directors, operations leadership and bilingual country managers. The deepest executive market in the Philippines.
Shared Services and Global Capability Centres
Finance, HR and technology shared services leadership for multinationals operating from Manila and Cebu.
Technology and Software
Engineering, product and technology leadership for Philippine-based development and support operations.
Banking and Financial Services
Finance leadership, risk and compliance executives across Philippine and regional institutions.
Manufacturing and Industrial
Plant and operations leadership across Philippine manufacturing and industrial employers.
Consumer, Retail and FMCG
Commercial and general management leadership for consumer businesses operating nationally.
Cebu and the Visayas
A growing second executive market, particularly in BPO and shared services.
Regional Southeast Asia
Leadership searches spanning Philippine and regional reporting lines. See our Singapore practice.
The Wider Alliance Network
36 countries, with cross-border leadership searches run from a single point of accountability. See our executive search firms practice.
Who We Run Executive Searches For
You Are Replacing Someone Still in the Seat
The most common reason clients need a retained rather than contingency search. In a market this connected, an open process travels within days.
You Are a Multinational Making a First Philippine Leadership Hire
The country manager who opens the operation sets the standard for every hire after them, and the market map matters more than the shortlist.
You Are Scaling a BPO or Shared Services Site
Operations leadership at a scale where the candidate pool is measurable in dozens, not hundreds.
Your Last Two Searches Were Lost to Counter-Offers
That is a motive problem discovered too late, and it is the single most common failure mode in Philippine executive hiring.
You Need to Know What the Market Looks Like Before You Commit
A leadership market map, delivered whether or not you run the search.
You Need One Firm Accountable Across Several Countries
Philippine leadership hired alongside roles in the Gulf, India or wider Southeast Asia.
The Alliance Advantage in Philippine Executive Search
Retained and Exclusive, Not a Race:
One firm working your mandate, paid in stages, with the market mapped rather than skimmed.
Counter-Offer Managed From the First Approach:
We establish why a candidate would actually move before we present them, not after you have made an offer.
BPO and Shared Services Depth:
The largest Philippine executive market, and the one where a generalist search firm is most visibly out of its depth.
16+ Years, 36+ Countries and 9,000+ Organisations Served:
Cross-border leadership searches with a Philippine component are routine rather than exceptional.
Market Mapping Delivered Whether or Not You Proceed:
You get the picture of the market. If it tells you not to hire, that is a useful answer.
Global Reach Without Global Retainer Structures:
36-country capability at mid-enterprise pricing rather than the retainer model of the largest search firms.
Why Choose Alliance for Executive Search in the Philippines
Philippine executive hiring has a particular failure mode, and it is not a shortage of capable people. It is that the capable people are known, comfortable, well paid and heavily defended by their current employers. A search that produces five excellent candidates and loses all five to counter-offers has not produced anything, and clients who have been through that twice recognise the pattern immediately.
So we spend the first three weeks on motive rather than availability, asking candidates what would have to be true for them to move and frequently concluding that nothing would. Those conversations shorten shortlists. They are also the reason our offers tend to be accepted rather than used as leverage.
Our Client Reviews
We were looking for a senior operations leader in Manila and needed someone with both local market knowledge and experience managing a regional team. Alliance understood the level of the role from the beginning and approached candidates we would not have reached through job advertising. The shortlist was focused, and we were able to make the appointment with confidence.
Our CFO search was highly confidential, and we needed a firm that could approach senior candidates discreetly. Alliance mapped the market, assessed the candidates against our leadership requirements and kept communication consistent throughout the process. We were impressed with the quality of the shortlist and the level of detail provided on each candidate.
We needed a senior technology executive for our growing business in the Philippines, but the strongest people were not actively applying. Alliance took a research-led approach and introduced candidates with the technical and leadership background we needed. Having the search managed from brief through offer made the process much easier for our internal team.
Clients rate Alliance 4.8 out of 5 on average, and 95% of our business is repeat business: most searches lead to another. Across 16+ years we have served 9,000+ organisations.
Awards
Meet Our Leadership Team
Molly Anderson
Franchise Lead | Recruitment Franchise
Alex George
General Manager | RPO & Enterprise Recruitment
Nikki Miller
Head of Recruitment | Recruitment & Staffing
Frequently Asked Questions
Retained, research-led recruitment for senior leadership roles, conducted through confidential direct approaches to people who are not actively job hunting, rather than through advertising.
Executive search is exclusive and paid in stages, and it maps the whole market before approaching anyone. Contingency recruitment is paid on success and typically screens people who respond to advertisements.
Both. Retained for senior leadership and confidential searches, contingency for less senior leadership roles. We will tell you which one your role actually needs.
Country managers, C-suite executives, BPO and shared services operations leadership, and functional heads across finance, technology, HR, operations and commercial.
Yes. It is the largest executive hiring market in the Philippines and the segment where generic search firms most often fail, because the operational scale metrics are specific.
Retained executive search is charged as a percentage of the executive’s first-year total compensation, and the industry-standard range is 20-33%, billed in three stages: at engagement, at shortlist and at placement. For less senior leadership roles we also run contingency search, paid only on success. The fee and the billing stages are agreed in writing before the search starts.
Most Philippine executive searches take 8 to 12 weeks from engagement to accepted offer, with a shortlist typically presented in weeks 5 to 6. Confidential replacement searches take longer, because approaches have to be paced so the market does not learn the seat is open. Notice periods then set the start date, so we plan the offer stage around them from the first conversation.
Yes. Client identity is not disclosed until a candidate is engaged under confidentiality. In a market this connected, that is a working method rather than a courtesy.
Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons clients engage us rather than a contingency recruiter.
Yes. A leadership market map shows who holds the role you are hiring for across the Philippine market, at which organisations, at what level and at roughly what compensation. We deliver it whether or not you go on to a full search, so you can decide with evidence whether to hire externally, promote internally or reshape the role before committing to a retained search.
By establishing genuine motive before presenting a candidate, rather than discovering at offer stage that there was none.
-
Write to us -
Book a meeting -
Call now
Close