Client Service Lead

​Heidrick & Struggles is the world’s foremost advisor on executive leadership, driving superior client performance through premier human capital leadership advisory services. For more than 70 years, we’ve delivered value for our clients by leveraging unrivaled expertise to help organizations discover and enable outstanding leaders and teams. Learn more at www.heidrick.com

Job Description:

BTG London | A Heidrick & Struggles Company

About the Job

Every week, Business Talent Group (BTG) matches independent consultants, subject-matter experts, and interim executives to live problems inside some of the world's biggest companies — over half the Fortune 100 come to us when they need senior talent fast. As a Heidrick & Struggles company, we sit at the centre of the on-demand talent economy, and our London-based Client Service team is growing to keep up.

We're hiring a Client Service Lead (4+ years' experience) to own the full talent-delivery process on their own projects, build strong client and talent relationships, and begin coaching the associates around them. This is the step up from independent execution to owning outcomes, advising clients directly, and helping build the next generation of the team.

What You'll Actually Be Doing

Our clients come to us for critical, time-sensitive challenges, and we work at pace to find the right talent solution — from an interim CFO for a PE-backed business to an AI transformation leader for a UK bank. Whatever the brief, you will:

• Drive the search, end to end. Own every step of talent delivery on your own projects, from the first client conversation through to talent offboarding: deciding on search approach, shortlisting the candidates you recommend, and shaping how they're positioned to the client.
• Qualify the right talent. Identify and qualify interim executives and independent consultants from within our network or through external search, asking the right questions and drilling down to really understand their capabilities and cultural fit. That means being comfortable picking up the phone for every conversation, including the challenging ones: delivering difficult feedback, coaching a talent, or negotiating rate.
• Bring talent to life for clients. Present talent on client calls with confidence, acting as the go-to expert and advisor on all things talent, from market availability to fit and rate.
• Lead on contracting. Lead contracting and talent onboarding for your projects in collaboration with our contracts team, following best practice to stay compliant, and lead negotiations with talent, including resolving any issues that come up.
• Build your network and your expertise. Cultivate deep relationships with talent on projects and in your area of focus, specialise in that area over time, stay current on relevant news and trends, and use that knowledge to spot opportunities and improve how BTG finds and delivers talent.
• Coach and support associates. Mentor junior team members and give associates and new hires the chance to shadow your work and learn from it.
• Stay on top of your numbers. Consistently hit your targets without needing reminders, review your own performance, and help review the performance of associates you work with.
• Grow accounts through repeat business. Partner with the sales lead on existing accounts, contributing to growth through repeat engagements and extensions.
• Champion growth and efficiency. Help build the UK Client Service team as we grow lean and fast: take initiative, spot ways to sharpen how we work, and champion new tech and AI tools that improve the quality and speed of our delivery, drawing on best practices from other Heidrick solution areas and our On-Demand Talent colleagues in the US and DACH.

What Success Looks Like — and Where It Can Take You

A successful Client Service Lead excels at cultivating talent relationships, naturally positions themself as a subject-matter expert in the interim space, and becomes a trusted advisor to clients. Experienced Leads typically grow into a Director role within Client Service, taking on broader commercial, operational, and people leadership responsibility: managing a larger portfolio of projects and accounts, partnering with sales to build out dedicated, strategic client relationships, deepening into an industry or talent specialism and becoming a go-to voice on it, driving process and best-practice improvements across the wider commercial organisation, and creating and delivering training while coaching both Associates and Leads. As the on-demand talent space keeps growing and evolving, other senior opportunities across the Heidrick organisation may open up along the way.

Life at BTG & Heidrick

You'll be based alongside our Heidrick & Struggles colleagues at 31 St James's Square — one office, one culture, with day-to-day access to a global leadership advisory firm rather than a standalone interim outfit. That means access to group-wide training programmes beyond BTG's own onboarding, and an annual Europe & Africa conference that brings together associates, leads, and engagement managers from across the region to connect, learn, and build a network most people don't have access to until much later in their careers.

What We're Looking For

• 4+ years of work experience within the interim, search, or consulting and recruitment space, or other client-facing professional services environment.
• A strong advisor mindset. You look for opportunities beyond the immediate ask; advising clients and talent, and spotting ways to improve how we work.
• Confident under pressure. You can lead a client conversation, scope a project, and negotiate with talent, often across multiple live projects at once.
• A natural coach. You're ready to mentor associates, create shadowing opportunities, and set an example in how you interact with clients and talent.
• Detail-oriented and compliant. You take contracting, onboarding, and compliance seriously, and hold yourself to a high service standard.
• Genuinely curious about business. You actively build knowledge of your industry or specialism and bring that perspective into your project work.
• Comfortable with change. You thrive in a fast-moving, lean team, take initiative without waiting to be asked, and pivot easily as new tools and technologies transform how the On-Demand Talent business works.
• Strong business writing and professional speaking skills.
• Undergraduate degree with a strong academic record.
• Right to work in the UK.

The Details

• Bonus: Annual performance-based bonus, plus quarterly commission payouts.
• Benefits: Pension, private health and dental cover, life assurance, income protection insurance, 25 days' holiday + Christmas closing.
• Working model: Hybrid — flexible split between our London office and home.

Learn more about us at businesstalentgroup.com.

Heidrick & Struggles is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring qualified protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, or citizenship status.

Heidrick & Struggles is committed to providing reasonable accommodations and/or adjustments during our recruitment process. If you are selected for an interview and require an accommodation and/or adjustment, please inform your Talent Acquisition professional.