Top Executive Search Firms And Headhunters In New York
Lily Roberts
Senior Marketing Strategist
10.11.2026
The best executive search firms NYC employers use fall into two groups: global firms whose largest offices sit in Manhattan, and New York boutiques that know one industry, such as investment management or fashion, better than anyone else. New York’s mix of banking, asset management, private equity, media, luxury and a fast-growing technology scene means the right headhunter depends heavily on the seat you are filling.
Every firm below was checked against its own website for a New York office address, the practice areas it describes and the facts we state; anything we could not confirm was left out. For more on running a search, see our executive search hub, and if you are unsure which type of recruiter you need, read headhunter vs recruiter.
Executive Search Firms And Headhunters In New York At A Glance
Russell Reynolds Associates features its New York office at 277 Park Avenue across its website. The firm reports 47 locations across 25 countries and more than 500 leadership advisors, and it offers board effectiveness reviews, succession planning and leadership assessment alongside search.
For New York clients, the most relevant practices are financial services, legal, risk and compliance, and technology, data and digital, which together cover a large share of Manhattan’s senior hiring at banks, insurers, asset managers and fintech companies. Russell Reynolds is a frequent choice when a board wants succession planning advice and the eventual external search handled by one team. With 47 locations, it can also search for candidates in other financial centers.
Financial services and fintech leadership
Legal, risk and compliance officers
Board effectiveness and succession
2. Egon Zehnder — Madison Avenue Office That Is The Firm’s Largest In The US
Egon Zehnder’s New York office is on the 23rd floor of 520 Madison Avenue. The firm says it has 120 team members there, making it Egon Zehnder’s largest office in the United States.
Across the firm it reports more than 600 consultants in 37 countries working under a shared One Firm incentive model, so New York consultants can draw on colleagues in London, Hong Kong or Zurich without competing for credit. That suits global financial institutions and multinational headquarters in Manhattan. Its board search practice and CEO succession work are the main reasons New York boards bring the firm in.
120 team members at 520 Madison Avenue
Dedicated board search and CEO succession work
Shared incentive model across 37 countries
3. Spencer Stuart — Park Avenue Office With Media, Consumer And Financial Services Practices
Spencer Stuart’s New York office is at 90 Park Avenue in Murray Hill. The firm reports more than 60 offices in over 30 countries and pairs search with structured assessment to help clients select and develop leaders.
For New York, its technology, media and telecom practice is especially relevant given the concentration of publishers, broadcasters, streaming and advertising companies in the city, along with its consumer, financial services and private equity practices. Spencer Stuart’s board and CEO work is a large part of the business, and New York public companies often use it for director searches and CEO succession at the same time.
Office at 90 Park Avenue
Technology, media and telecom practice
Consumer, financial services and private equity practices
4. Heidrick & Struggles — One Vanderbilt Office For Financial Services And Consumer Leaders
Heidrick & Struggles operates its New York City office from One Vanderbilt Avenue, beside Grand Central, with firm headquarters in Chicago. Its financial services practice includes corporate and investment banking, which is central to New York’s senior hiring market.
Heidrick also runs consumer markets, private equity and technology industry practices, plus a CEO and board of directors service and functional practices for financial officers and technology and AI officers. Because the firm sells leadership consulting alongside search, New York clients can ask it to assess an executive team before deciding whether to promote internally or search externally, a common question in New York succession planning.
Office at One Vanderbilt Avenue
Financial services practice covering corporate and investment banking
CEO and board of directors searches
5. Glocap — NYC Headhunters For Private Equity, Hedge Funds And Venture Capital
Glocap is headquartered at 20 West 33rd Street in Manhattan. The firm began in 1997 with founders who came from finance, and its model is to hire industry insiders as search consultants. Glocap Search, its original business, focuses on investment and business professionals, mainly in the investment management industry.
Its investment practices cover hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, fund of funds, investment banking and capital markets. Glocap also runs a temporary staffing business, started in 2003, so it is not purely an executive search firm, but for a New York fund hiring a partner, principal or investor relations head, few headhunters have a closer view of the buy-side candidate pool.
Hedge fund, private equity and venture capital roles
Consultants recruited from finance
Headquarters in Manhattan since its 1997 start
6. Solomon Page — Madison Avenue Firm With Fashion, Beauty And Consumer Specialists
Solomon Page has its corporate headquarters at 260 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, with a second New York office on Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1990, the firm describes itself as a specialty niche provider of staffing and executive search services.
Its fashion and beauty division recruits across fashion and retail and beauty and consumer, covering executive search as well as full-time placement and staffing. That breadth suits New York’s fashion houses and consumer brands, which often need a chief merchant or brand president and a set of design and merchandising directors at the same time. For luxury and fashion leadership in New York, Solomon Page gives access to industry recruiters without leaving the city.
Fashion and retail recruiting
Beauty and consumer recruiting
Executive search plus full-time placement
7. Korn Ferry — Park Avenue Office Inside A Wider Consulting Business
Korn Ferry’s New York office is at 200 Park Avenue, above Grand Central. The firm combines executive search with organizational consulting, assessment, leadership development and talent acquisition services, which suits companies reorganizing several leadership roles at once.
Its board and CEO services and digital and technology recruiting practice are the most relevant to New York’s financial and media companies, many of which are hiring chief digital, data and AI leaders. Korn Ferry can benchmark internal candidates against external ones during a succession process, and its scale helps when a Manhattan headquarters needs to hire leaders in several countries.
Office at 200 Park Avenue
Board and CEO services for public and private companies
Digital and technology recruiting practice for chief digital and data roles
Daversa lists its New York office first, on the 25th floor of 330 Madison Avenue, with further offices in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Connecticut, Florida and London. The firm’s homepage says it works for founders, and its published work spans AI, fintech, healthcare, defense and consumer technology companies.
That focus makes Daversa a fit for New York’s startup scene, including fintech and AI companies building their first full executive team. Founder-led businesses often need leaders comfortable with equity-heavy compensation, fast-changing role scopes and investor scrutiny, and a firm that spends its time inside venture-backed companies will usually screen for those traits better than a generalist.
New York office at 330 Madison Avenue
Work for founder-led AI and fintech companies
Offices in San Francisco, Santa Monica and London
9. True — West Midtown Office With A Data-Led Search Platform
True’s New York office is on the 16th floor of 441 9th Avenue, on the west side of Midtown, and the firm is headquartered in Philadelphia with offices across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. It describes itself as a global executive talent platform powered by data, combining search consultants with software that tracks candidate pipelines.
True has functional practices for CEOs, chief information security officers and product, data and technology leaders, and it works heavily with venture and private equity backed companies. New York portfolio companies that need several executives in a short period, and investors who want live visibility into search progress, are its core clients.
New York office at 441 9th Avenue
CEO, CISO and product, data and technology practices
Venture and private equity backed clients
10. Caldwell — Broadway Office Within A Public Search Firm
Caldwell’s New York office is at 1700 Broadway in Midtown. The firm was founded in 1970, became one of the first executive search firms to go public in 1989 (TSX: CWL) and describes itself as the only Canadian-owned firm in the global top 20, with 22 offices worldwide.
Caldwell organizes its search work by function, with practices for chief financial officers, legal officers, compliance, risk and regulatory officers, cyber security officers, data, digital and technology officers and marketing and growth officers. That suits New York’s regulated industries, where a general counsel, chief risk officer or CISO search needs consultants who know the regulatory background candidates must bring.
Midtown office at 1700 Broadway
Legal, compliance, risk and regulatory officers
CFO and CISO practices
How To Choose An Executive Search Firm In New York
Global Firm Or New York Boutique?
Global firms bring board relationships, international reach and assessment tools, which matter for public company CEO, CFO and director searches. Boutiques such as Glocap and Solomon Page know one New York industry in depth and often move faster on specialist roles. Many New York employers use a global firm for the top seat and a boutique for the team below it. Our list of the best executive search firms covers more national options.
Does The Firm Know Your New York Sector?
Wall Street, the buy side, media and advertising, fashion and luxury, and the city’s technology companies each have their own candidate networks and compensation norms. A banking search turns on deferred compensation and regulatory history, while a fashion search turns on brand and merchandising track record. Ask each firm for recent searches in your sector and how many consultants work on it from the New York office.
Are There Off-Limits Conflicts?
Large firms cannot recruit from their current clients, and in a city where many banks, funds and media groups use the same handful of firms, that can rule out the companies you most want to recruit from. Ask the firm to confirm which organizations are off limits before you sign.
What Will It Cost?
Retained executive search typically costs about one-third of the hire’s first-year total cash compensation, paid in installments, plus expenses. In New York, where bonuses can make up a large share of pay in finance, agree how bonuses and deferred compensation count toward the fee base. Our guide to executive search fees covers the details.
Is This A Board Seat Rather Than An Executive Role?
Director searches run differently from executive searches, with more focus on governance experience, committee needs and independence. If you are filling a board seat, choose a firm with a dedicated board practice and read our guide to board director search first.
Conclusion
New York has more executive search capacity than any other American city. Russell Reynolds Associates, Egon Zehnder, Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles cover CEO, board and financial services work from large Manhattan offices, while Glocap, Solomon Page and Daversa give buy-side, fashion and startup employers specialists who work almost entirely in their niche.
Match the firm to the seat, confirm off-limits conflicts and agree fee terms up front. For more guides on hiring senior leaders, see our executive search hub.
