EXECUTIVE SEARCH · PERTH · SYDNEY · GLOBAL REACH
Executive, Leadership and Specialist Search for Australian Industry
PARTNER Executive is an independent, retained executive search firm working across Australian industry, with offices in Perth and Sydney and a global candidate network. We appoint executives, senior leaders and specialists, including the hard to fill roles that sit outside the general manager mould, for organisations in mining and metals, critical minerals and battery materials, energy and renewables, power and utilities, engineering, construction and infrastructure, aviation, defence, and transport and logistics. Every search is retained, director led and built around your brief, and we match on capability, values and cultural fit, not credentials alone.
Retained executive search for executive, senior leadership and specialist appointments
Deep sector expertise across mining, energy, engineering, infrastructure and aviation
Confidential and discreet search, including appointments that are never advertised
Offices in Perth and Sydney, searching nationally and internationally
Independent and privately owned, with a global candidate network
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
The wrong senior appointment costs an organisation far more than the search that should have prevented it. A leader who does not work out stalls projects, unsettles good people and can set a business back years, and by the time it is clear, the cost in lost momentum and remuneration dwarfs any fee. At board, executive and specialist level, where one person shapes the direction of a whole team or project, the margin for error is smallest and the price of getting it wrong is highest.
Yet the leaders worth appointing are almost never in the market. They are performing in a role right now, not scanning advertisements, so the more important the appointment, the less likely advertising is to reach the right person. Casting the net wider only fills a shortlist with the available rather than the best.
Closing that gap, between the people who apply and the people you actually want, is what a retained search exists to do. PARTNER Executive is engaged to find, approach and secure the leaders who will not come to you, discreetly and with the rigour these appointments demand.
Why Organisations Choose PARTNER Executive
Five reasons boards and executive teams retain us for the appointments that matter most.
Specialist knowledge of your market
We work only in industrial and resources sectors, so you are not briefing a generalist from scratch. We already understand the technical, commercial and cultural dynamics of your world, which means a sharper search and a shortlist that genuinely fits.
Director led, start to finish
The Director who takes your brief runs the search, from mapping the market to managing the offer. You get senior attention throughout, with no handover to a junior researcher once the engagement is signed.
A real search, not JUST a database
We map the whole market and approach the strongest people directly, including those who would never answer an advertisement. You see the best available talent, not simply the most available.
Complete discretion
From confidential replacements to succession and statutory appointments, we run searches that never surface in the market until you want them to.
Independent advice
Privately owned and answerable only to you, our counsel is shaped by what is right for your organisation, not by anyone else's targets or quotas.
A Process Built Around You, Not Around Us
No two organisations are the same, so no two searches should be run the same way. We build the process, timeline and contact around your brief and keep you close at every stage, so you always know exactly where your search stands.
The Right Firm for the Appointment
Choosing an executive search partner usually comes down to three options: a global search firm, a generalist recruitment agency, or a specialist like PARTNER Executive. Each works differently, and the right choice depends on how senior, how technical and how sensitive the appointment is.
Global search firms offer scale and brand, but a senior appointment in the Australian industrial market can be limited by client conflicts that put strong candidates off limits, and the search is often delivered by junior researchers rather than the senior name who pitched it. Generalist recruitment agencies offer speed and volume, but rarely the sector depth to appoint at board and executive level in mining, energy, engineering or infrastructure, and they tend to rely on advertising and existing databases rather than approaching the whole market.
PARTNER Executive is built to sit between the two. As an independent, specialist executive search firm working across Australian industry, we bring the rigour and reach of retained search, delivered by a Director who knows your sector, without the conflicts, the handovers or the off the shelf process. It is why boards and executive teams retain us for the appointments that matter most.
A specialist executive search firm focused on mining, energy, engineering, infrastructure and industrial sectors
Retained, research led search that approaches the best candidates directly, not just those who apply
Every search led by a Director from first brief to accepted offer, with no handover to junior staff
Whole of market reach, with few of the client conflicts that limit large global firms
Confidential and discreet search, including senior appointments that are never advertised
Independent and privately owned, offering advice that answers only to you
Our Executive Search Process
01
Initial enquiry : Reach out to our Perth or Sydney team to talk through the appointment and the leadership need behind it.
02
Discovery and briefing : An in depth conversation to understand your culture, values and direction, and exactly what the role has to deliver.
03
Tailored search strategy : A search plan built around your brief, targeting both active and passive candidates across the right sectors.
04
Identification and assessment : We map the market, approach the strongest candidates directly, and assess them rigorously on capability, experience and values alignment.
05
Curated shortlist : Typically three to five high quality candidates, presented with detailed profiles and our honest assessment of each.
06
Interview coordination : We guide and facilitate the process from first interview to final decision, so it never loses momentum.
07
Offer management : Practical support through offer, negotiation and remuneration structuring, including managing counter offers and resignation.
08
Onboarding and follow up : Post placement check ins to make sure the appointment lands and both sides are set up to succeed.
Brief Us on a Search
If you are planning a critical appointment, a confidential replacement or a search others say cannot be filled, we would welcome the conversation. Every engagement is retained, director led and completely confidential, and you speak directly with the Director who will run your search, not a call centre or an account manager.
No obligation. Complete discretion. A senior conversation from the very first call.
Frequently Asked QUestions
When should a company use an executive search firm?
An executive search firm is worth engaging when an appointment is senior, business critical, hard to fill or sensitive, when the best candidates are unlikely to answer an advertisement, or when a role needs to be filled confidentially. It is also valuable when an organisation wants an independent read of the market and the calibre of talent available.
What is the difference between retained and contingent recruitment?
Contingent recruitment is paid only if a candidate is placed, so agencies work quickly and often submit many applicants across multiple clients. Retained search is commissioned exclusively and paid across the engagement, which funds a thorough, mapped search of the whole market and a considered shortlist. Retained search suits senior and hard to fill roles where quality and discretion matter more than speed.
How long does an executive search take?
Most retained searches move from brief to shortlist in around four weeks, with the full process to an accepted offer typically taking six to twelve weeks, depending on the role, the market and the client's own timeline.
Can a search be kept confidential?
Yes. Confidentiality is standard. Whether it is a sensitive replacement, a succession or a role that cannot be advertised, PARTNER Executive runs searches with staged disclosure so they surface only when and where the client chooses.
Do you offer a replacement guarantee?
Yes. If an appointment made through a completed retained search does not work out within an agreed period, PARTNER Executive will conduct a replacement search on agreed terms.
How does PARTNER Executive approach diversity and inclusion?
PARTNER Executive treats diversity and inclusion as fundamental to good search, not a compliance step. It maps the whole market rather than the familiar circuit, challenges briefs that unnecessarily narrow the field, and presents every shortlist on merit and the genuine breadth of available talent.
