The best executive search firms San Francisco companies hire share three traits: a real office in the city or on the Peninsula, consultants who know how venture-backed and public technology companies hire, and a retained process that maps the market rather than reposting a job ad. For a CEO, CTO, Chief AI Officer or board seat in the Bay Area, the useful firms are the ones that already know which executives have scaled a product, taken a company public or built an AI research team.
Every firm below was checked against its own website for a San Francisco or Bay Area office, the practice areas it describes and the facts we state. Where a firm does not publish something, we left it out. For the wider picture, start with our executive search hub, and if you have not run a search before, read our walkthrough of the executive search process first.
Executive Search Firms In San Francisco At A Glance
Firm
Headquarters
Best For
Core Services
Heidrick & Struggles
Chicago
Public company CEO and board searches
Executive search, CEO and board, leadership consulting
Executive search, digital and technology recruiting, board and CEO services
True
Philadelphia
Growth-stage and PE-backed leadership teams
Executive search with a data-driven talent platform
Daversa Partners
New York
Founder-led, venture-backed companies
Executive search for high-growth startups
Caldwell
Canada
Mid-market and functional C-suite roles
Executive search across functional officer roles
Christian & Timbers
San Francisco Bay Area
AI, technology and board searches
Retained C-suite, board and AI leadership search
Best Executive Search Firms In San Francisco In 2026
1. Heidrick & Struggles — Global Search Firm With A New Montgomery Street Office
Heidrick & Struggles runs its San Francisco office from 140 New Montgomery Street, with headquarters at Willis Tower in Chicago. That gives Bay Area clients a local team backed by a firm that runs dedicated CEO and board of directors search as well as functional practices for technology and AI officers and financial officers.
Its technology industry practice is the most relevant for San Francisco, alongside financial services, consumer markets and private equity. Heidrick also sells leadership consulting alongside search, which matters when a board wants an assessment of the existing team before deciding whether to hire externally. For a public company replacing a CEO or adding a director with audit committee experience, it is one of the firms most boards will shortlist.
2. Riviera Partners — Technology Leadership Recruiting Is Its Entire Business
Riviera Partners focuses only on technology talent, a point the firm makes plainly on its homepage. It lists San Francisco first among its offices, alongside Los Angeles, Bozeman and New York City, and organizes its search work by company stage and industry so that a seed-funded startup and a late-stage platform company get consultants who know their candidate pool.
The firm is a sensible call for CTO, VP Engineering, Head of AI and Chief Product Officer roles where the hiring manager wants a partner who can judge technical depth. Riviera publishes its own placement diversity figures, reporting that more than 40% of its placements are women or professionals of color, which is useful context for boards with representation goals on the leadership team.
Search practices segmented by funding stage
Product, engineering and AI leadership roles
Offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bozeman and New York
3. Egon Zehnder — San Francisco And Palo Alto Offices Under A One Firm Model
Egon Zehnder has two Bay Area bases: a San Francisco office at One Sansome Street and a separate Palo Alto office for Peninsula and Silicon Valley clients. Across the firm it reports more than 600 consultants in 37 countries, all working under a shared incentive system it calls One Firm, so consultants are not competing between offices for credit on a search.
That structure tends to suit CEO succession and board searches, where a client benefits from consultants in several cities contributing candidates. Egon Zehnder runs a dedicated board search practice and organizes its functional work around leaders such as CEOs, CFOs and technology officers. San Francisco companies with international operations often use the firm when the candidate pool for a role sits partly outside the United States.
4. Spencer Stuart — Battery Street Office With A Technology, Media And Telecom Practice
Spencer Stuart’s San Francisco office sits at 275 Battery Street. The firm reports more than 60 offices in over 30 countries and pairs search with assessment methodologies used to select and develop leaders. Its Board and CEO practice is a core part of the business, which is why its name comes up often in Bay Area board refresh conversations.
For local companies, the most relevant industry groups are technology, media and telecom, professional and technology services, financial services and private equity. Functional practices cover roles such as chief technology officer and chief financial officer. Spencer Stuart is a strong option when a company wants one firm to handle a CEO search and advise on board composition at the same time.
Russell Reynolds Associates operates from 101 California Street in San Francisco and also keeps a Palo Alto office, so it covers both the city and the Peninsula venture corridor. The firm reports 47 locations across 25 countries and more than 500 leadership advisors.
Its technology, data and digital function practice is built for CIO, CTO, chief data officer and chief digital officer searches, which make up a large share of Bay Area executive demand. Russell Reynolds also offers board effectiveness reviews, succession planning and leadership assessment, so a company can use the same firm before and after a hire. It is a common choice for established technology companies that need a functional specialist rather than a generalist.
Technology, data and digital practice
Board effectiveness and succession advisory
San Francisco and Palo Alto offices
6. Korn Ferry — One Montgomery Street Office Inside A Wider Consulting Firm
Korn Ferry’s San Francisco office is at One Montgomery Street. Korn Ferry is larger than a pure search firm: it combines executive search with organizational consulting, assessment and talent acquisition services, which suits companies that are restructuring a leadership team rather than filling a single seat.
Its digital and technology recruiting practice and its board and CEO services are the most relevant for Bay Area clients. Because the firm also runs assessment and leadership development work, it can benchmark internal candidates against the external market during a succession process. Companies hiring several executives at once, such as after a merger or a funding round, often find the breadth useful.
San Francisco office at One Montgomery Street
Board and CEO services
Digital and technology recruiting practice
7. True — Data-Led Executive Talent Platform On New Montgomery Street
True has a San Francisco office at 33 New Montgomery Street, with headquarters in Philadelphia and offices across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The firm describes itself as a global executive talent platform powered by data, meaning clients get both a search team and software that tracks candidate pipelines.
Its product, data and technology practice, along with dedicated pages for CEO and chief information security officer searches, line up well with Bay Area demand. True works heavily with venture and private equity backed companies that need to build several leadership roles over a short period. Clients who want visibility into search progress, rather than a weekly phone update, tend to like the platform approach.
San Francisco office at 33 New Montgomery Street
Product, data and technology practice
CEO and CISO search pages
8. Daversa Partners — Broadway Office Focused On Founder-Led Startups
Daversa lists a San Francisco office at 300 Broadway, alongside New York, Santa Monica, Connecticut, Florida and London. The firm positions itself around founders: its homepage says it works for founders and showcases leadership work for AI, fintech, defense, healthcare and developer tooling companies.
Daversa has published a piece on building the leadership team at OpenAI, which gives a sense of the stage and profile of company it targets. For a Series B to pre-IPO startup hiring its first CFO, Chief Revenue Officer or head of engineering, a firm that spends its time inside venture-backed companies will usually understand equity-heavy offers and fast-changing role scopes better than a generalist.
San Francisco office at 300 Broadway
Work for founder-led AI and fintech companies
Offices in New York, Santa Monica and London
9. Caldwell — Public Search Firm With A San Francisco Office
Caldwell lists San Francisco among its 22 offices, 14 of them in the United States. Founded in 1970, it 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.
Caldwell organizes much of its work by function, with practices for data, digital and technology officers, cyber security officers, chief financial officers, HR officers, legal officers, marketing and growth officers, and supply chain leaders. That functional structure is useful for San Francisco companies that need a strong second-line executive, such as a CISO or a VP of finance, and want consultants who recruit that role every week.
Functional practices from CFO to CISO
22 offices including San Francisco
Public company since 1989
10. Christian & Timbers — Retained Search For AI, Technology And Board Leaders
Christian & Timbers describes itself as a retained executive search firm placing AI, technology and C-suite leaders for boards and CEOs, and it dates its work in technology search back to 1980. The firm is Bay Area based: its main line is a San Francisco 415 number and it runs a dedicated San Francisco practice covering board-level roles from CEO and CFO to Chief Product and Technology Officer and Chief AI Officer.
Its functional practices cover AI, board, C-suite, finance, operations, product and technology, sales and marketing, and PE portfolio leadership. Sector coverage is unusually deep for the Bay Area’s current hiring mix, including AI infrastructure and models, cybersecurity, semiconductors, robotics, developer tooling and fintech. The firm says it uses proprietary talent mapping that tracks executives across research output, patents and leadership tenure.
Board practice for independent director searches
Chief AI Officer and CPTO mandates
Compensation and availability benchmarking for C-suite roles
How To Choose An Executive Search Firm In San Francisco
Does The Firm Know Your Stage And Funding Model?
Bay Area hiring splits sharply between venture-backed startups, PE-owned software companies and large public technology firms. Compensation for a startup executive is often weighted toward equity, while a public company CFO search turns on governance and investor relations experience. Ask each firm for recent searches at companies of your size and funding stage, and for the share of its San Francisco work that looks like yours. Our list of the best executive search firms covers national firms if your candidate pool is wider than the Bay Area.
Should You Use Retained Or Contingency Search?
For C-suite and board roles, retained search is the norm because the firm commits to mapping the market and presenting a shortlist rather than racing to send resumes. Contingency recruiters can work for director-level technical roles, but in a market where many candidates hear from recruiters weekly, a retained mandate signals seriousness. Our guide to retained vs contingency search explains the trade-offs.
What Will It Cost?
Retained search is typically priced at about one-third of the hire’s first-year total cash compensation, paid in installments, plus expenses. In San Francisco, where base salaries and bonuses for technology executives run high, that number can be significant, so agree up front how equity, sign-on bonuses and relocation are treated in the fee base. See executive search fees for the details to negotiate.
How Will Candidates Be Assessed?
Bay Area candidates often have strong resumes on paper, so the difference between firms is how they test for fit with your stage, culture and technical needs. Ask whether the firm uses structured interviews, referencing beyond the candidate’s list and psychometric tools. Our guide to executive assessment outlines what good looks like.
Can The Firm Reach Passive Candidates In Your Niche?
The executives most San Francisco companies want, such as AI research leaders, security chiefs and product heads who have scaled to an IPO, are rarely looking. Ask how the firm builds a target list, which companies it is blocked from recruiting out of because they are current clients, and how many candidates on recent shortlists were not actively searching.
Conclusion
San Francisco gives companies an unusual choice: global firms with offices on Montgomery, Battery and California Streets, and technology specialists that do nothing but engineering, product and AI leadership. Heidrick & Struggles and Riviera Partners suit technology and board work, while the global firms add scale for public company and international searches.
Shortlist two or three firms, compare their recent searches at your stage, and agree on assessment and fee terms before signing. For more guides on running a search, see our executive search hub.
