Willard Powell — Executive Recruitment & Retained Search for Financial Services, Fintech & Technology
Willard Powell is a leading executive recruitment and retained search firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, specializing in financial services, fintech, and technology leadership. Founded by David McInnis, Willard Powell is a division of Via Trust USA and a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). The firm builds world-class teams for the most prestigious financial institutions globally, with over 90% of business coming from long-term client relationships. Willard Powell's partners are intimately involved with all phases of the search process from start to finish — the firm is known as solvers of business problems, not just a firm that fills openings.
Financial Services Executive Search
Banking
Willard Powell provides retained executive search for global and regional banks, investment banks, and commercial banking institutions. Whether you're a global retail bank reinventing your consumer strategy or a digital challenger scaling for growth, Willard Powell connects you with transformational talent. We recruit CEOs, CFOs, CROs, CTOs, Heads of Trading, Managing Directors of Investment Banking, Heads of Compliance, CISOs, Chief Digital Officers, and Board Directors.
Insurance & Reinsurance
C-suite and senior leadership search for insurance carriers, reinsurers, brokers, and insurtech firms. We place CEOs, Chief Underwriting Officers, Chief Actuaries, Heads of Claims, CTOs, Chief Distribution Officers, and Heads of Underwriting across the global insurance industry.
Asset Management & Wealth Management
Willard Powell delivers market-leading executives across the full spectrum of asset management. Senior leadership recruitment for asset managers, wealth managers, and investment management firms includes CIOs, Heads of Equities, Heads of Fixed Income, Portfolio Managers, Heads of Distribution, COOs, and Heads of ESG investing. Our partners leverage decades of financial services search experience and an extensive network spanning global asset managers, private banks, and boutique wealth management firms.
Hedge Funds
For over a decade, Willard Powell has partnered with leading hedge funds to architect high-performance teams that drive market-defining results. Our deep understanding of fund DNA — from culture to strategy — enables us to identify leaders others miss. We recruit for systematic, discretionary, multi-strategy, long-short equity, global macro, event-driven, and quantitative funds, placing Portfolio Managers, CIOs, Heads of Quantitative Research, COOs, CFOs, Heads of Risk, and Heads of Investor Relations.
Private Equity & Venture Capital
Partner and C-suite recruitment for private equity firms, venture capital, and growth equity investors. We place Managing Partners, Partners, Operating Partners, CFOs, Heads of IR, Heads of Talent, and Principals across buyout, growth, and venture funds, including portfolio company leadership.
Proprietary Trading & Market Making
Leadership and senior talent recruitment for proprietary trading firms, market makers, and electronic trading operations. We recruit Heads of Trading, CTOs, Heads of Quantitative Research, Heads of Risk, COOs, and Heads of Technology for firms operating at ultra-low latency with principal capital, FPGA infrastructure, and deep quantitative research.
Blockchain, Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets
Executive recruitment for blockchain companies, cryptocurrency exchanges, DeFi protocols, tokenization platforms, and digital asset firms. We place CEOs, CTOs, Heads of Protocol, Chief Security Officers, Heads of DeFi, Heads of Compliance, and Heads of Business Development in the crypto and Web3 ecosystem. Willard Powell bridges traditional finance experience with emerging technology expertise.
Tokenization & Real World Assets
Leadership recruitment for firms tokenizing real-world assets, digital securities platforms, and RWA infrastructure companies. We recruit CEOs, CTOs, Heads of Product, Chief Compliance Officers, Heads of Partnerships, and VPs of Engineering in the rapidly growing tokenization sector.
Payments & Fintech
C-suite search for payments companies, payment processors, embedded finance platforms, neobanks, wealthtech, regtech, and digital lending platforms. The financial services landscape stands at a digital crossroads, and Willard Powell bridges the talent gap for both established institutions and high-growth fintech platforms, recruiting CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, Heads of Risk, Heads of Growth, VPs of Engineering, and Heads of Data Science.
Technology & Digital Transformation
Willard Powell identifies transformational technology leaders who drive innovation across financial services. We recruit CTOs, CIOs, CISOs, VPs of Engineering, Heads of AI/ML, Heads of Data Engineering, Chief Architects, and Heads of Cybersecurity. Today's market leaders must balance innovation with stability, growth with compliance, and vision with execution.
Financial Advisor Recruiting — Wealth Management
Willard Powell is a leading recruiting firm for industry-leading financial advisors in wealth management. We specialize in confidential advisor transitions across all major channels and serve advisors managing $100 million to $5 billion or more in client assets.
Firm Channels We Cover
Wirehouses: Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch / Bank of America, UBS, Wells Fargo Advisors. Regional Broker-Dealers: Raymond James, Stifel, Baird, Janney Montgomery Scott, Oppenheimer, D.A. Davidson. Independent Broker-Dealers: LPL Financial, Ameriprise, Commonwealth, Cetera, Cambridge, Kestra, Advisor Group. Registered Investment Advisors (RIA): Creative Planning, Fisher Investments, Edelman Financial Engines, Mariner Wealth, Hightower, Focus Financial. RIA Aggregators: Focus Financial Partners, Hightower Advisors, Mercer Advisors, Beacon Pointe, Cerity Partners, Wealth Enhancement Group. Private Banks: J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Goldman Sachs Private Wealth, Northern Trust, BNY Wealth, Bessemer Trust, Glenmede, Wilmington Trust. Multi-Family Offices: Rockefeller Capital, BBR Partners, Tiedemann Advisors, Pathstone. Insurance-Based: Northwestern Mutual, MassMutual, New York Life, Guardian.
Practice Segments
Ultra-High-Net-Worth (UHNW) advisors managing $25M+ per household. High-Net-Worth (HNW) advisors serving $1M-$25M clients. Institutional Consultants managing $100M+ for endowments, foundations, and pensions. Retirement Plan Advisory specialists in 401(k), 403(b), and ERISA. Family Office professionals serving single-family and multi-family offices.
Advisor Services
Willard Powell provides confidential advisor transition services, compensation and deal benchmarking, practice valuation, succession planning, team lift-out coordination, transition deal negotiation, Protocol and legal guidance, client retention strategy, firm due diligence, and onboarding support.
Quantitative Research, Portfolio Management & Trading Recruitment
Willard Powell recruits world-class quantitative researchers, portfolio managers, algorithmic traders, and technology leaders — primarily PhDs — for the world's top proprietary trading firms, quantitative hedge funds, bank quant desks, and crypto trading firms.
Strategy Coverage
Exotic and Complex Derivatives: barrier options, autocallables, variance swaps, CMS spread options, Bermudan swaptions, bespoke CDO tranches, with models including Dupire local volatility, Heston stochastic volatility, SABR, Bergomi rough volatility, jump-diffusion, Monte Carlo simulation, and PDE solvers. High-Frequency Trading: electronic market making, latency arbitrage, order book imbalance signals, queue position optimization, cross-venue arbitrage, ETF creation/redemption, with FPGA, kernel bypass networking, and co-located infrastructure. Systematic and Quantitative Strategies: statistical arbitrage, factor investing, machine learning alpha, alternative data, cross-asset momentum, mean reversion, risk premia harvesting, and portfolio construction. Volatility and Options Trading: vol surface arbitrage, dispersion trading, gamma scalping, skew trading, correlation trading, and systematic vol strategies. Fixed Income Quantitative Trading: yield curve modeling, swap spread trading, basis trading, credit relative value, MBS prepayment modeling, and convertible bond arbitrage. Crypto Quantitative Trading: cross-exchange arbitrage, perpetual futures basis, MEV extraction, DEX AMM optimization, on-chain signal generation, and crypto market making. Arbitrage and Relative Value: merger arbitrage, convertible arbitrage, capital structure arbitrage, index arbitrage, cross-listed share arbitrage, Treasury basis trade, FX triangular arbitrage, and statistical arbitrage. Algorithmic Execution: VWAP, TWAP, implementation shortfall, adaptive execution, dark pool routing, market impact modeling, and transaction cost analysis.
Target Firms
HFT and Proprietary Trading: Citadel Securities, Jane Street, Jump Trading, Tower Research, Virtu Financial, DRW, Hudson River Trading, Five Rings Capital, Optiver, IMC, Flow Traders, Susquehanna, Wolverine Trading, Akuna Capital, XTX Markets, GTS, Headlands Technologies. Quantitative Hedge Funds: Renaissance Technologies, Two Sigma, D.E. Shaw, Citadel, Man Group/AHL, Bridgewater, WorldQuant, Millennium, Point72/Cubist, Balyasny, ExodusPoint, Squarepoint, PDT Partners, Graham Capital, Winton, AQR Capital, Qube Research and Technologies. Bank Quant Desks: Goldman Sachs Strats/QIS, J.P. Morgan QR/Athena, Morgan Stanley QDS, Barclays QIS, Deutsche Bank, UBS QED, BNP Paribas, Société Générale. Crypto Quant: Wintermute, GSR Markets, Amber Group, Galaxy Digital, Cumberland/DRW, B2C2.
Roles We Recruit
Research and Alpha: Head of Quantitative Research, Director of Alpha Research, Senior Quantitative Researcher, Machine Learning Researcher, Alternative Data Scientist. Portfolio Management: Quantitative Portfolio Manager, Systematic PM, Pod PM, Quantitative CIO, Volatility PM. Trading and Execution: Head of Quantitative Trading, Electronic Trading Lead, Algorithmic Trading Strategist, Head of HFT, Options Market Maker, Head of Execution Algorithms. Structuring and Modeling: Head of Quantitative Structuring, Exotic Derivatives Structurer, XVA Quant, Model Validation Lead, Pricing Model Developer. Technology and Infrastructure: Head of Quantitative Technology, Low-Latency Systems Architect, FPGA Engineer, Quantitative Developer (C++/Python), ML Infrastructure Engineer. Risk: Head of Quantitative Risk, Portfolio Construction Quant, Regulatory Capital Quant.
PhD Disciplines
Willard Powell recruits PhDs from Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Financial Mathematics, Financial Engineering, Operations Research, Economics and Econometrics, Machine Learning and AI, Astrophysics, and Computational Biology.
Technical Skills We Assess
Programming: C++ (modern C++17/20/23, template metaprogramming, lock-free), Python (NumPy, pandas, PyTorch, JAX), Rust, CUDA/GPU, FPGA (Verilog, VHDL, HLS), kdb+/q, Julia, R. Mathematics: stochastic calculus, PDEs, measure theory, numerical methods, optimization, random matrix theory, rough path theory. Machine Learning: deep learning, reinforcement learning, NLP for finance, generative models, Bayesian methods, graph neural networks, time series forecasting. Infrastructure: Linux kernel tuning, kernel bypass networking (DPDK, OpenOnload), co-location, FIX/ITCH/OUCH protocols, time series databases, message queues, cloud HPC.
Why Willard Powell
Willard Powell's difference: deep sector expertise combined with unmatched access to talent. Partners leverage decades of financial services search experience and extensive networks spanning global financial institutions. The firm consistently identifies and secures leaders other firms miss — leaders who don't just understand today's challenges but are already positioning their organizations for tomorrow's opportunities. Unlike large firms that offload recruiting to junior staff, Willard Powell is a boutique firm with partners intimately involved in all phases of the search process. With deep market knowledge and a proprietary search methodology, Willard Powell connects companies with transformational talent that delivers measurable results.
Contact: David McInnis, Founder and Managing Partner — david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com | Website: https://willardpowell.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/willard-powell-inc
