UK Managing Director

Global Technology Firm

Written by:

Jemma Gajic
Partner / MD / SVP 6 Jul 2026 5 min read

A global technology business with multi-billion-pound revenues needed a new UK Managing Director.

The incumbent was still in post, and the board needed complete discretion as we hunted for a leader capable of running a £1bn+ P&L, and a commitment to building a more diverse senior team. The stakes were high, and the margin for error non-existent.

The problem

The search sat at the intersection of several competing pressures. Confidentiality was non-negotiable, as any market signal risked reaching the incumbent. The candidate profile was narrow: P&L scale, commercial credibility, and transformation experience. Diversity wasn’t an aspiration, but the board had made it a hard requirement.

Finding all three in the same person, without anyone knowing you were looking, is exactly the kind of problem many firms struggle to solve.

The solution

We mapped 140 executives before approaching a single candidate. Our search extended beyond the obvious global enterprise technology firms, management consulting practices, and large-scale managed services organisations, and our diversity strategy was built into the methodology from the outset.

Every conversation we had was handled with the discretion the brief demanded, so we could begin to find the right candidates without impacting current operations.

The outcome

The appointed candidate had led a £1.4bn P&L, delivered sustained double-digit revenue growth and built one of the most diverse leadership teams in their previous organisation. The transition happened in complete confidentiality, and we were at their side throughout integration.

The impact

This wasn’t a succession appointment, but a strategic reset of one of the company’s most important international markets. It was done quietly, precisely, and without disruption, essential for any search at this level.

Post-placement integration

Stepping from a high-performing organisation with an established culture into a business undergoing a strategic reset brought its own set of pressures. The incoming MD had built their reputation in an environment where the operating model was mature, the brand equity was strong, and the leadership team was largely of their own making. Here, they were inheriting a structure, a market position, and a set of relationships that predated them – and doing so under the weight of board expectation and commercial urgency.

The risk wasn’t capability, but pace. Moving too quickly risked destabilising relationships that were already in flux; moving too slowly risked confirming the doubts that accompany any externally appointed leader.

We worked closely with the incoming MD in those first months to help them read the room accurately – mapping the informal power structures, identifying where early wins could be built without creating political friction, and coaching through the moments where their instinct from a previous culture pulled in a different direction than what the new environment required. The goal was simple: give them the best possible chance of landing well, and ensure the investment the board had made translated into the impact they had appointed for.

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