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The headhunter on your niche runs the search end to end. Engaged, contingent, or staffing... matched to the role. Inside one business day from first call to scoped engagement.
CEO. CFO. VP Engineering. Director of Nursing. The senior search that's been open too long closes here.
Engaged Headhunters is a boutique executive search firm that places senior leaders in technology, finance, and healthcare organizations. We combine AI-assisted sourcing with rigorous human vetting to find, assess, and secure passive C-suite, VP, and Director-level talent nationwide. Every placement is backed by a documented 90-day replacement guarantee.
Founded by James Pemberton in 2022 with a research-first methodology built on 500+ executive placements, Engaged Headhunters serves organizations that cannot afford a mis-hire at the leadership level. Read the Executive Search Guide, explore our placement case studies, or go straight to our healthcare executive recruiters for hospital and senior care searches.
Searches run nationwide from four specialist desks. Finance leadership runs through CFO executive search and, for advisory and RIA firms, our wealth management recruiters. In the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, work is delivered locally by our Richmond headhunters and Birmingham headhunters. Compensation benchmarks for the roles we place are published in our hospital CEO salary data and our guide to how much a headhunter costs.
What We Do
One Firm. Four Search Practices.
Retained and engaged searches for CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and board-level roles. We map the market, approach proven leaders directly, and manage the search from intake through a signed offer. This is the core of the firm and the model every other practice is built on.
Explore Executive SearchCTOs, VPs of Engineering, and product leaders for SaaS, AI, and cybersecurity companies. Technology searches move fast because strong engineers evaluate employers as hard as employers evaluate them. We prepare you for that scrutiny before the first interview.
Explore Technology RecruitingCFOs, controllers, and senior finance leaders for banking, asset management, and fintech. Finance placements demand verified track records and discretion, so our searches in this practice run confidential by default.
Explore Finance RecruitingHospital, health system, and senior care leadership is a dedicated practice with its own team. If your search is a CNO, administrator, or executive director role, start with the specialists who run those searches every day.
Meet Our Healthcare Executive RecruitersThe founder still runs searches. James Pemberton is a U.S. Navy veteran with 15+ years in recruiting and more than 500 placements. The firm was built on a simple rule: the person who scopes your search is the person who runs it.
The guarantee is written down. Every placement carries a documented 90-day replacement guarantee. If the leader leaves inside the window, we rerun the search at no additional fee. That clause changes how we vet: for retention, not for a fast close.
The fee structure is aligned. Our Engaged Search model puts the majority of the fee on a successful start. See how past clients have used it in our case studies.
Four steps, weekly updates, no black box. Most searches reach a signed offer in 45 to 90 days.
A direct conversation about the role, the market, and whether we are the right firm for it. You leave with an honest read either way.
We identify every organization and leader relevant to your search, then approach the strongest candidates directly and confidentially.
You see a calibrated shortlist inside the first three weeks. Every candidate is screened, referenced, and genuinely interested.
We manage negotiation, resignation, and transition, then stay involved through the first 90 days of the guarantee window.
One scoping call. An honest read on your market, the compensation it will take, and whether we are the right firm to run it.
Verified Track Record
Engaged, contingent, or staffing: the senior headhunter on your niche picks the model that fits the search, then runs it end to end. Inside one business day from first call to scoped engagement.
Retained-style commitment, scoped per role.
For the senior search that absolutely has to close. The headhunter on your niche runs it end to end with a scoped engagement fee and a replacement guarantee scoped per engagement.
Best For
Director of Nursing · Executive Director · VP Clinical Operations · C-suite
Performance-only when speed matters more than exclusivity.
For roles where you want the headhunter on your niche working the search without an upfront commitment. Same senior recruiter, paid on placement.
Best For
Mid-to-senior leadership · Department heads · Specialist hires
Interim and contract talent: same vetting bar.
For interim leadership and contract clinical or technical roles. Pre-vetted talent placed against a scoped statement of work.
Best For
Interim DON · Interim CFO · Contract clinical ops · Project leadership
First call to scoped engagement · Inside one business day
We measure our success by the long-term impact of the leaders we place.
Engaged Headhunters didn't just find us a candidate; they found us a transformational leader. Their process is surgically precise and their performance guarantee gave us total peace of mind.
The speed and quality of our CTO search was unprecedented. They understood our technical requirements and cultural nuances from day one. Highly recommended for elite tech roles.
The most professional search firm I've worked with in 20 years. Their niche expertise in the finance sector is unmatched. They delivered three perfect candidates within the first month.
Expert insights on executive search and leadership placement.
An executive search firm is a specialized recruitment agency retained to identify, evaluate, and place senior-level professionals in leadership roles. Unlike general staffing agencies, executive search firms use targeted research, direct outreach, and rigorous vetting to surface candidates who are often not actively looking for a new role.
Engaged Headhunters specializes in technology, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare executive search. This includes SaaS, fintech, industrial operations, behavioral health, home health, and senior care organizations.
Every placement carries a documented 90-day replacement guarantee. If a placed executive does not remain in the role within the guarantee window, Engaged Headhunters conducts a replacement search at no additional retainer cost.
Executive search fees typically range from 25% to 35% of the placed executive's first-year compensation. Retained search firms charge upfront in installments, while contingency firms charge only upon successful placement. The investment protects against the far greater cost of a failed senior hire.
A standard executive search takes between 45 and 90 days from the initial intake session to the signed offer. We prioritize speed without sacrificing quality, typically presenting the first qualified candidate shortlist within the first 21 days of the search launch.
Whether you're hiring your next executive or exploring career opportunities, we're ready to connect.
Your information is kept confidential.