Exec Demand Surge: What the Market Is Telling Us in 2026

2026 has opened with a confidence we haven’t seen in a while. Across our client base in the United Kingdom and the United States, we’re seeing a significant spike in senior and executive mandates - and the calibre of these roles tells a story about where businesses are genuinely heading.

This isn’t noise. This is signal.

THE UK PICTURE: THE NORTH IS INVESTING

Leeds and Manchester have long punched above their weight as tech and digital hubs, but what we’re seeing now feels different in scale and intent. Companies aren’t just filling vacancies — they’re building leadership infrastructure for the next phase of growth.

The roles we’re currently working on reflect that ambition directly:

• Head of Change Management - Aviation and Tourism, Leeds
• Head of Project Management - Aviation and Tourism, Leeds
• CISO - SaaS Transport, Remote with Leeds HQ
• Head of Central Transformation Office - Leeds (newly created function)

That last role is particularly telling. When a business creates a central transformation office from scratch, it’s not reacting to a problem — it’s positioning itself for scale. We’re seeing more of these newly created senior functions across sectors in the North, as organisations invest in the leadership structures needed to carry them through the next five years.

The challenge is a tight pool of senior talent and a growing number of businesses competing for the same people. The firms that move decisively — and that build a compelling proposition for candidates — will win.

THE US PICTURE: A DIFFERENT KIND OF TALENT GAP

In the US, the demand for executive talent is just as strong, but the dynamic is more complex. The sectors driving the most activity — robotics, advanced air mobility, battery materials, semiconductors and autonomy — are evolving faster than the leadership pipeline has kept up with.

These aren’t legacy industries with deep benches of experienced executives waiting to be placed. They’re industries that, in many cases, are still defining what leadership even looks like at the top. The talent simply doesn’t exist in large numbers with the depth of experience clients would ideally want, because the industries themselves are so new.

Our current US mandates reflect exactly this challenge:

• Chief of Staff - Robotics
• CFO - Battery Materials
• Director of Engineering - Battery Development
• Director of Motor Controls - Semiconductor
• Director of Systems - Advanced Air Mobility
• Director of Software Integration - Autonomy

For these roles, the search methodology has to evolve. Waiting for a candidate with a perfect sector-specific CV is a losing strategy. The most effective approach is to look at transferable leadership capability — executives from adjacent sectors who bring the systems thinking, technical credibility and organisational maturity these businesses need, even if their background doesn’t map perfectly on paper.

Cross-sector experience isn’t a compromise anymore. In these markets, it’s often the strongest signal of a candidate who can actually do the job.

WHAT THIS MEANS IF YOU’RE HIRING

The businesses we’re seeing succeed in this market share a few things in common.

They move quickly. At this level, the best candidates are rarely actively looking, and when they do explore options, they’re typically engaging with multiple opportunities. A slow process is a losing process.

They invest in the employee value proposition. Particularly in the US deep-tech space, where candidate supply is genuinely constrained, the businesses winning talent are the ones that can articulate clearly why this role matters, why now, and what the opportunity looks like over the next three to five years. Compensation matters, but mission and trajectory often matter more at the executive level.

They trust their search partner to go off-piste. The most impactful hires we’ve made in the last 12 months have come from outside the obvious talent pool. If you’re only looking where everyone else is looking, you’ll find what everyone else finds.

WHAT THIS MEANS IF YOU’RE AN EXEC IN THE MARKET

If you’re a senior leader - whether actively exploring or passively open - now is a genuinely good time to be paying attention. The volume and quality of roles coming to market is the highest we’ve seen in several years, and the organisations behind them are serious about growth.

The most interesting opportunities, particularly in the US, are going to leaders who can demonstrate that their skills translate - who can make the case for why their experience from a different sector is exactly what a fast-moving, newly defined industry needs. That’s a narrative worth crafting carefully.

THE RIGHT LEADER CHANGES EVERYTHING

Businesses are building. They’re standing up new functions, making long-term leadership bets and doing it in a market where the talent they need isn’t always obvious or available. The executives who can navigate complexity, lead through change and bring genuine hard-won experience are in high demand - and short supply.

The question isn’t whether you need the right leadership. It’s whether you’ll find them before your competitors do.