Executive Recruiters for Companies Hiring Leadership Across Borders
Alliance places CEOs, CFOs, CTOs and senior leaders for employers hiring into markets they do not operate in, with assessment done by people on the ground rather than over video. Retained method, 36+ countries, permanent appointments only.
Our executive recruiters combine international search expertise with local market insight to assess leadership capability, cultural fit, compensation expectations, and market-specific requirements. This helps employers make confident senior hiring decisions before committing to a permanent appointment.
16+ Years Of Experience
550,000+ Placements Delivered
36+ Countries Served
350+ Expert Teams
50+ Top Level Positions
What Do Executive Recruiters Do?
Executive recruiters identify, approach and assess senior leaders for employers, working from a mapped market rather than an applicant pool. The work is confidential, the candidates are usually not looking, and the firm is engaged to run a defined process rather than to compete for a fee.
Cross-border executive recruitment adds a problem that domestic search does not have: you cannot assess what you cannot read. A CFO’s track record in Buenos Aires, Almaty or Jakarta does not translate cleanly onto a CV read from Chicago. Company reputations, salary norms, notice conventions and what a title actually means all shift by market.
Alliance operates in 36+ countries with recruiters inside those markets. When we present a candidate from a market you do not know, someone who does know it has met them.
Scope covers leadership brief definition, in-market mapping, confidential approach, in-country assessment, shortlist, interview management, offer structuring and relocation coordination where required.
All appointments are permanent. Alliance does not provide interim, fractional or contract executives.
For the wider practice, see our executive search firms page.
Executive Recruitment Agencies That Are Actually in the Market
Most executive recruitment agencies claiming global reach are running LinkedIn searches from one office. The tell is the assessment: a video call and a reference check, presented as international search. Alliance places recruiters in the markets we recruit from, which is slower to build and the only thing that makes a cross-border shortlist worth reading.
How Long Does Cross-Border Executive Recruitment Take?
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Brief and in-market mapping: weeks 1 to 3, longer than a domestic search because the map has to be built rather than recalled.
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Approach and in-country assessment: weeks 3 to 6.
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Shortlist: week 6 to 7.
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Client interviews: weeks 7 to 9.
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Offer, notice and relocation: weeks 9 to 14. Budget 8 to 14 weeks for cross-border, against 6 to 12 domestic.
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Visa or work-permit routes add further time and are scoped before the search starts.
How Much Do Executive Recruiters Cost?
Retained search is priced as a percentage of first-year total compensation across engagement, shortlist and placement milestones. Cross-border mandates carry the same fee structure; relocation, immigration and travel costs sit with the employer.
What We Offer on Cross-Border Executive Mandates
In-country assessment by recruiters who know the market
Not a video call from another continent. Someone who understands what that company on the CV is actually regarded as locally has met the candidate.
A market map for a country you do not operate in, delivered as a document you keep
Who exists at this level, where they sit, what they cost in local terms, and what the realistic notice period is. You keep it whether or not you hire through us.
Compensation benchmarked locally, not converted
A CFO package in Kazakhstan is not a US package at the spot rate. Getting this wrong is the most common reason cross-border offers are declined.
Work-permit and relocation feasibility checked before sourcing
We have ended mandates at this stage because the destination would not permit the hire, which is better than four weeks of wasted search.
One named search team across both markets
Not a handoff between a client-side partner and an unnamed offshore researcher.
A replacement guarantee on retained placements
with the period and terms written into the engagement letter.
Our Executive Recruitment Process
Brief and Market Feasibility (Weeks 1 to 2)
The leadership gap, the year-one decisions, and the realistic compensation band in the target market. We also check whether the hire is permitted and practical before searching, covering work permits, relocation and any restriction on the role.
In-Market Mapping (Weeks 2 to 3)
Systematic identification of everyone operating at this level in the target country and sector, built by recruiters in that market. Delivered as a document. Yours.
Confidential Approach and In-Country Assessment (Weeks 3 to 6)
Direct discreet approach, then structured assessment conducted locally. Expect roughly one in ten approached executives to engage, and expect us to tell you that number rather than present the ten percent as the market.
Shortlist and Client Interviews (Weeks 6 to 9)
Three to five candidates with written assessment against each brief criterion, including where each is weak, plus local context you would not infer from the CV.
Offer, Notice and Relocation (Weeks 9 to 14)
Compensation structured against local norms rather than converted from yours. Counter-offer management, notice navigation, and relocation or immigration coordination where the role requires it.
Joining and Post-Placement Support
We coordinate the final joining steps and stay engaged during the executive’s initial transition. This helps address early relocation, cultural, role-alignment, or onboarding issues and supports a successful long-term appointment.
Hiring a Senior Leader Across Borders?
Find out whether the role, market, and hiring model are feasible before committing to a search.
Where We Recruit, and For What
Cross-border corridors
Employers hiring between two markets, most commonly US and Latin America, US and Asia, Gulf and South Asia, and UK and Europe. This is the mandate we are built for.
Latin America
Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras and the wider region, for US and European employers establishing or scaling operations.
Asia Pacific
Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore. See our executive search Philippines practice.
Middle East and Central Asia
UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kazakhstan.
Europe
Greece, Finland, Serbia and the wider EU, subject to work authorisation.
India
Our largest recruitment base, for both domestic Indian mandates and India-facing appointments by international employers.
Functions
Chief Executive, Chief Financial, Chief Technology, Chief Information, Chief Information Security, Chief Operating, Chief Marketing and Chief HR Officers, plus Vice Presidents, functional Directors, Country Managers and board appointments.
Country Manager and market-entry roles specifically
the appointment most often made across a border, and the one most often made badly.
Sectors
Technology and SaaS, e-commerce, recruitment, insurance, accounting and professional services, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, banking, and private equity portfolio companies.
Who We Serve
Multi-country business leaders
hiring senior executives across several international markets.
Companies entering new markets
appointing Country Managers or senior leaders for new operations.
Businesses avoiding high search fees
seeking a specialist alternative to expensive global search firms.
Companies replacing failed international hires
needing stronger local assessment and market insight.
Private equity portfolio companies
hiring leadership against investor and growth timelines.
Companies hiring scarce specialists
seeking CISO, CIO, CTO and other hard-to-find leaders.
Businesses planning succession
preparing for confidential CEO, CFO, COO or board-level transitions.
Companies scaling internationally
building leadership teams to support rapid expansion across new markets.
The Alliance Advantage
Recruiters inside the markets we recruit from. The single thing that separates real international search from a LinkedIn licence.
You keep the market map. For a country you do not operate in, that document has value regardless of whether you hire. Most firms treat it as their asset. It was built with your money.
Compensation benchmarked locally. Not your package converted at the spot rate.
Feasibility checked before the search starts. Work permits, relocation, and whether the appointment is even permitted.
We state the engagement rate honestly. Roughly one in ten approached executives engage. A firm that shows you a shortlist without telling you how many declined is showing you a filtered view of your own market.
One named team across both markets, on the contract.
36+ countries under one agreement, so a three-country mandate is one relationship rather than three.
Permanent appointments only. No interim, no fractional, no contract executives. If you need a CFO for six months, we will say so on the first call.
Why Choose Alliance as Your Executive Recruiters?
There is a specific failure that happens in cross-border executive hiring and almost nowhere else. A company hires a senior leader in a market it does not understand, assessed over video, on a salary converted from head office, and the appointment is gone inside a year. Nobody involved did anything obviously wrong. The assessment simply had no local context in it, and the offer was benchmarked against the wrong market.
Alliance exists in that gap. Recruiters in the market, assessment done locally, compensation benchmarked locally, feasibility checked first. It is slower to build than a global brand and it is the only version of international search that survives contact with reality.
We will also tell you when we are wrong for the mandate. If you are appointing a FTSE 100 chair, the largest global firms have partner networks we do not. If the role is below director level, retained search is over-engineered and a good agency relationship costs less. And we do not offer interim or fractional leadership at all.
For C-suite specific mandates in a single market, see C-level executive recruiters. For Gulf appointments, our headhunters UAE team handles the region directly.
Our Client Reviews
Alliance understood the seniority and business impact of the role before beginning the search. The candidates presented were highly relevant, and the team handled communication professionally throughout the process.
We engaged Alliance to identify a senior leader for an important business function. Their recruiters were thorough in assessing experience, leadership capability, and cultural fit, which gave us confidence in the final shortlist.
Alliance delivered a strong executive talent pool for a challenging leadership position. Their market reach and structured search process helped us connect with candidates we would not have reached through conventional hiring channels.
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
Executive recruiters identify, approach and assess senior leaders for employers, working from a mapped market rather than an applicant pool. The work is confidential and the candidates are usually not actively looking.
Executive recruiters run retained, research-led search against a defined brief. Recruitment agencies typically work from applicant pools on a contingency basis, competing with other agencies for the same placement.
Yes. That is the mandate this practice is built for. We operate in 36+ countries with recruiters inside those markets who assess candidates locally rather than over video.
Budget 8 to 14 weeks, against 6 to 12 for a domestic search. Mapping takes longer because it must be built rather than recalled, and work permits add further time.
Retained search is priced as a percentage of first-year total compensation across engagement, shortlist and placement milestones. Relocation, immigration and travel costs sit with the employer.
Locally. Our recruiters in that market meet the candidate and provide context you would not infer from a CV, including how that employer is regarded locally and what the title actually means there.
Benchmarked against local norms, not converted from your domestic package. Converting rather than benchmarking is the most common reason cross-border offers are declined.
Yes. Feasibility, including work authorisation and relocation, is confirmed before sourcing begins. We have ended mandates at that stage rather than search for a hire the destination would not permit.
CEO, CFO, CTO, CIO, CISO, COO, CMO and CHRO, plus Vice Presidents, functional Directors, Country Managers and board appointments.
No. Alliance places permanent executives only. We do not provide interim, fractional or contract leadership resource.
Yes. It is delivered as a document and is yours regardless of outcome.
Book a confidential consultation. We confirm feasibility in the target market, agree the brief and quote before any searching begins.
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