EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM REVIEW
Heidrick & Struggles review — search, leadership advisory & on-demand talent
Founded 1953 in Chicago, Heidrick & Struggles is a global executive search and leadership advisory firm. It sells executive search alongside a named 'On-Demand Talent' (interim) business — a public acknowledgement that not every senior need is a permanent retained search.
Reviewed 27 May 2026 by Editorial Team · ← Back to the main guide
01/ firm profile
Firm profile (from official sources)
02/ in its own words
How Heidrick & Struggles describes itself
Verbatim from the firm’s own positioning page — no paraphrase.
“Heidrick & Struggles is a premier provider of global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions.”— Verbatim from Heidrick & Struggles — About Us
03/ practice areas
What Heidrick & Struggles says it does
The groupings below are taken from Heidrick's About page. The 'On-Demand Talent' line sells interim executives and project leaders as a named separate practice, not as an afterthought to retained search.
Executive search — functional
Chief Executive Officer & Board of Directors · Financial Officers · Government & Corporate Affairs · Human Resources Officers · Legal, Risk & Compliance · Marketing, Strategy & Communications · Supply Chain & Operations Officers · Technology & AI Officers
Leadership advisory
Agile Leader Potential · Board Effectiveness · CEO Succession Planning · Chief Executive Acceleration · Coaching · Digital Leadership · Inclusive Leadership · Leadership Assessment · Leadership Development · M&A Talent Planning · Team Acceleration
Corporate transformation
Carve-Outs · Cost Advantage · Distress Response & Restructuring
On-demand talent
Interim Executives · On-Demand Project Leaders, Consultants, and Experts
Organization & culture
Performance Culture · Organization Acceleration · Organizational Simplicity
Industries
Consumer Markets · Frontier Tech · Financial Services · Healthcare & Life Sciences · Industrial · Private Equity · Social Impact · Sustainability & Climate · Technology · Venture Capital
Listing taken verbatim from Heidrick & Struggles — About Us
04/ best for
Where Heidrick & Struggles is the obvious choice
Heidrick publishes Private Equity as a named industry and 'Chief Executive Acceleration' as a named leadership advisory practice rather than just a search add-on. For a PE sponsor placing a portfolio-company CEO with an onboarding plan attached, that combination is worth a conversation.
It is also a sensible choice when the brief sits at the intersection of search and leadership advisory — a CEO succession that comes with assessment of the wider executive team, a transformation that needs both a new functional leader and an organisation-design overlay. The firm publishes search and leadership advisory side by side, so both can be bought from the same firm.
And it publishes On-Demand Talent / interim as a named business line. If you want interim leadership from the same firm that runs your retained search, Heidrick sells both.
05/ when not to use
When Heidrick & Struggles probably is not the right answer
The usual retained-search economics apply: UK retained search is published at 25–35% of approximate first-year base salary, with minimum fees of £30,000–£40,000 at reputable firms (Headhunters.co.uk, 2026). For a VP-level functional hire, a specialist boutique or an engaged-search model may fit the role better than a Heidrick retained search.
Heidrick's On-Demand Talent practice is an interim business sitting inside a global search firm. For a straightforward fractional engagement, compare it with a specialist. If you brief Fractional Quest instead, this is what we undertake: a shortlist of 3–5 candidates, five-stage vetting as set out on our vetting page, and a stated IR35 position on every brief.
And if you are pre-Series A or earliest-stage scale-up, retained-search economics may simply not fit your business model. Use a fractional executive to build the function and earn the right to a retained search once the role is at C-suite scale and a permanent appointment is the right answer.
06/ the alternative
When a fractional or interim executive fits instead of a Heidrick retained search
Heidrick publishes interim and on-demand senior work as a business line of its own — a tacit acknowledgement that not every senior need is a permanent retained search. The same logic applies when choosing between a fractional executive and a retained search.
Fractional and interim executives are the right answer when the brief is defined-phase — bridging a permanent search, leading a transformation, running a function part-time during a scale-up phase, covering a vacancy. The economics of a fractional engagement (part of the week, invoiced monthly, no retained search fee) are aligned with that defined-phase shape; a retained search is aligned with the permanent multi-year appointment.
The honest test, if you are in the middle of the decision: 'in 18 months, do I expect this person to still be in seat in this same role with the same scope?' If yes, retained search. If no, fractional or interim.
PE-backed and growth-stage interim and fractional CEO leadership.
/fractional-cfo-jobs-how-to-hireFractional CFO Jobs UKInterim and fractional CFO appointments — common alternative to a retained CFO search.
/fractional-jobs-ukFractional JobsAll fractional executive functions across the UK market.
07/ interim and on-demand
Heidrick & Struggles on fractional and interim roles — On-Demand Talent and interim executives
Heidrick sells interim leadership under the name On-Demand Talent.
Its service page describes access to "interim executives, consultants, experts, and project managers" to "tackle big transformational programs, fill interim positions, and oversee critical transitions", and names a regional managing partner for the UK, based in London (Heidrick & Struggles — On-Demand Talent).
Its interim-executives page lists the seats covered, from CEO, CFO and CHRO to COO, CMO, CIO, CTO and CRO, plus interim managers, special-project leaders and special advisors (Heidrick & Struggles — Interim Executives).
Much of that business came through an acquisition: Business Talent Group's own site says Heidrick acquired BTG to offer everything from on-demand independent professionals and interim executives to permanent placements, alongside its consulting (BTG — About).
On fractional work specifically, the Heidrick pages we read use "interim", "on-demand" and "independent talent", not "fractional".
BTG describes its talent as available "on-site or remote, part-time or full-time" (BTG — Key strengths), so ask directly whether a part-time, ongoing seat is in scope before you brief.
Heidrick publishes no day rates or fees for this work.
A UK interim or fractional executive working through their own company falls under the off-payroll working rules, and a medium or large client makes the status determination (HMRC — Off-payroll working for clients; our IR35 guide).
For UK providers that sell interim as their main business, see our list of interim recruitment agencies.
08/ history and records
Heidrick & Struggles history — founded in Chicago in 1953, and the UK company
The Heidrick & Struggles history on the firm's own site is brief: "In 1953, Gardner Heidrick and John Struggles sent a printed card to businesses in the Midwest announcing the founding of their new firm in Chicago, Illinois" (Heidrick & Struggles — About Us).
Chicago is still the address it gives for Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. — Willis Tower, 233 South Wacker Drive — and the firm that began as an executive search business now describes itself as a provider of "global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions".
In the UK, Heidrick & Struggles (UK) Limited is active on the Companies House register, with its registered office at 31 St. James's Square, London (Companies House); Companies House states that it does not check the accuracy of what companies file.
GOV.UK lists Heidrick & Struggles among the signatories to the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Executive Search Firms (GOV.UK), and AESC's member-firm directory lists it (AESC member firms), although the firm does not state that membership on the About page we reviewed.
For comparison with the other large retained firms, see our Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry reviews.
09/ sources
Sources cited on this page
Per-firm facts above are taken from the firm's own official website unless the row itself says otherwise; trade-body pages are cited for industry context. Where the firm does not publish a fact, the profile says so (‘Not stated on firm site’) rather than guessing.
- Heidrick & Struggles — About Us — https://www.heidrick.com/en/about-us
- Heidrick & Struggles — Offices — https://www.heidrick.com/en/offices
- AESC — About — https://www.aesc.org/about-aesc
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Need the seat covered before a search concludes?
Bring the brief. We come back with a shortlist of 3–5 fractional, interim or permanent executives, each through our five-stage vetting, with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out on every brief.
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