The rules of Private Equity changed. Most search firms didn't notice.

For a decade, cheap leverage and multiple expansion did the heavy lifting. The management team mattered, but not as much as the deal structure. That era is over. Interest rates changed the arithmetic. Exit markets tightened. Now, the people running portfolio companies are the primary instrument of value creation.

In that context, the senior finance leader — the CFO, the FD, the VP Finance — has never been a more consequential hire. Get it right and the investment accelerates. Get it wrong and the cost compounds: delayed exits, lost EBITDA, a broken thesis.

1 Percent was built for exactly this moment.

We are a retained search firm operating exclusively in PE-backed businesses. 

We find, assess, and place senior finance leaders: CFO, FD, VP Finance, Head of FP&A, for mid-market PE firms across the UK and Europe. We do not work on contingency. We do not place across functions. We do not serve clients outside the PE ecosystem.

Every candidate we present has been through structured psychometric assessment and competency evaluation against PE-specific criteria. 

You receive a dossier, not a CV. A recommendation, not a shortlist.

We will also tell you when your brief is wrong.

Through FCP PE, our application-only programme for senior finance leaders, we maintain a proprietary pipeline of assessed, PE-ready candidates that no other firm can access.

This is not a practice within a larger firm. It is the entire firm.

If you are a PE firm with a critical finance hire, or a senior finance leader serious about a PE career, the conversation starts here.

🌐 1percentrecruitment.com

1 Percent

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