Financial Services

Financial Services for a Better World

Firms With A Clear Digital Strategy Will Continue To Capitalize On Disruption.

Financial institutions are facing unprecedented change in market dynamics and consumer behaviors. Disruption from emerging technologies is forcing firms to implement new business models that increase customer loyalty, streamline operations and reduce costs. The rise of digital is creating opportunity for new revenue growth, but also opening firms up to new risks and regulatory scrutiny.

Change in consumer demands and demographics are reshaping the foundation of financial services. Digital disruptions are creating greater market volatility and firms are innovating at increasing rates.

Our team brings a fresh perspective on the dynamic nature of financial services talent markets.

We build digital workforces by monitoring competitor trends, engaging with transformational talent and screening for cultural alignment.

Our team is experienced providing talent insights, market research, intelligence, recruitment strategies and in building teams across:
  • Asset Management
  • Corporate & Investment Banking
  • Financial Technology
  • Hedge Fund
  • Insurance
  • Payments
  • Private Wealth Management
  • Private Equity
  • Retail Banking

Asset Management Recruitment

Asset management, and the financial industry in general, are becoming more complicated because of stricter regulations, global demands, and greater uncertainty. It’s more important than ever for executives and senior leaders to be smart, agile, and able to handle the intricacies of recruiting top talent. The team at Willard Powell is experienced at identifying market-leading talent in Investment Development, Asset Management, Portfolio & Fund Management, Debt & Capital Markets, ESG & Sustainability, Real Estate Advisory, Investor Relations & Capital Raising. Today, senior leaders need to understand the ever-evolving talent ecosystem and require credible advice on all stages of the talent life cycle. We can help you find, assess, recruit, develop, and retain top talent, leading towards a more diverse and higher performing team. 

Asset management organizations have experienced several problems in recent years, ranging from turbulent global markets to a shifting regulatory environment and consistent margin erosion. To flourish in such a difficult climate, businesses require talented individuals with some unique leadership abilities. Leaders capable of combining technical expertise with a broader strategic perspective, experts capable of capitalizing on new market opportunities to produce value for partners, shareholders, clients, and the broader community. Willard Powell meets today’s complex talent challenges and has a proven track record in executive search for asset management. Our clients benefit from the expertise of our team of financial services executive search professionals, who have extensive experience hiring senior asset management professionals. Our innovative team has decades of financial services executive search experience with a demonstrated track record of recruiting high-caliber employees for executive, middle management, and specialty roles.  As market leaders in asset management executive search, the Willard Powell team benefits from a broad professional network that includes multinational asset management firms, private banks, and boutique wealth management companies, as well as some of the industry’s most successful executives.

To discuss your asset management executive search, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.

Corporate & Investment Banking Recruitment

As advanced talent research and sourcing specialists, we help the Corporate & Investment Banking clients  find executives and help build diverse teams. Since our company was founded  in 2011, we have built a platform that helps us find industry leaders, provide data, insights, and industry trends, delivering end-to-end talent acquisition services. 

For the first time in years, banks are competing for a smaller pool of individuals, product knowledge, and transferable relationships to drive expected performance and development, raising the stakes for everybody involved. After a decade of low hiring and heavy automation, the financial services industry has finally recognized the need to replenish its ranks and replace a generation of talent that has been lost. Even in the face of increased competition from FinTechs as well as the retirement of a generation of talent near the end of their professional careers, global transaction banks continue to hire from both their banking competitors and new talent pools.

There are several major areas and industries where we focus our searches: investment banking, corporate finance (structured finance, restructuring), leveraged finance, and structured solutions.

Envisioning the possibility of a high-performance team, we have  experience recruiting candidates across: mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, debt advisory and restructuring, fund private placements, LP and GP advisory.

We have a proven track record in investment banking covering areas such as operations, middle office, and front office opportunities at the Analyst, Associate, Vice President (VP), Senior Vice President/Director/Principal, and Managing Director (MD) levels.

 We are able to organize cross-border and cross-functional executive searches in a short period of time.

To discuss your Corporate & Investment Banking recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.

FinTech Recruitment

Because of the growing need for digital-driven solutions, existing, established financial services organizations run the risk of being disintermediated by start-up FinTech companies if they do not adapt to this new paradigm of operation. They must hire executive teams that are perceptive, creative, strategic, agile, and client-centric, and capable of responding to a quickly changing environment. On the other hand, fast-growing FinTech platforms are putting together their executive leadership teams in order to conceptualize, create, and deliver innovative digital products and services.

New FinTech platforms, services, and structures that support the financial services ecosystem are rapidly evolving and playing a more strategic and defining role in the success of key institutions across the industry. Changing customer expectations, rapidly growing data volumes and the associated demands for increasingly sophisticated analytics, the evolving threat landscape, intensifying cost pressures, and increased regulatory scrutiny are all driving foundational changes across all industries.

Customized to meet your current talent needs, Willard Powell’s close relationships with the software, services, and broader technology communities enable us to identify leaders who can drive business growth and provide market-differentiating solutions.

In addition to core technology (development, operations, infrastructure), payments and processing, transaction services, as well as related hardware, software, and services, the committed Willard Powell team has extensive experience in recruiting talent in emerging fields such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.

To discuss your FinTech recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com

Hedge Fund Recruitment

We have been assisting hedge fund clients in building high-performing teams for over a decade. This experience has allowed us to develop a deep understanding of their businesses and working cultures, as well as a high level of mutual trust. We’re proud to provide the crucial link between talent markets and hiring teams.

Funds will have to adapt to a new business model that requires them to be more integrated with their clients, faster adopters of new technology and more attractive employers for the new types of talent they will need.

Increased industry polarization leads to decreasing viability for hedge funds that are neither large nor narrowly oriented.  Hedge fund sustainability requires rigorous performance management, continual portfolio rebalancing, and diversification. According to industry statistics, diversity and inclusion at hedge funds have been trailing behind other financial companies, such as banks and asset managers.

Our strategic Search Consultants provide comprehensive and diverse talent solutions for funds, covering all investment and non-investment hires across all strategies, from support of some of the largest funds, to startups and boutique firms.

Our agile and client-centered team has expertise in recruiting front office talent for multi-strategy and systematic hedge funds (fund management across multi-product classes, account managers, product specialists) and specialists in quantitative investment strategies (portfolio management and alpha research), quant analytics & development. We also recruit into all essential support functions, including finance (FP&A, fund accounting), compliance (regulatory monitoring, guideline monitoring, compliance reporting), risk (analysts, credit risk, quant risk), marketing (RFP writing, communications, events), HR, and technology (software development, data science & machine learning).

To discuss your Hedge Fund recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.

Insurance Recruitment

Insurance firms face a complicated web of obstacles in an increasingly difficult economy, ranging from continued economic uncertainty to a growing claims culture, a developing regulatory structure, and a shifting client demographic profile.

Insurance firms need leaders who can come up with new business models and find strategic  ways to connect with customers and make money. The industry is ripe for change. Businesses are adopting usage-based insurance (UBI) solutions, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning, and self-service customer support applications. This necessitates organizations recruiting and hiring transformational executives who have experience integrating emerging technologies such as cloud computing, big data, robotic process automation (RPA), and blockchain. 

For years, insurance carriers have been trying to reinvent the way they attract, motivate and retain employees to stay relevant to the modern workforce. They require leaders who can drive innovation and lead best-practice in policy administration and claims management. Additionally, businesses are implementing ESG and DEI initiatives as part of their value offer to demonstrate social responsibility, but are unprepared to handle issues of pay equity, representation, and belonging adequately.

With decades of experience in insurance executive recruitment, Willard Powell changes the way the recruitment process is conducted. Our network includes global insurers, specialist suppliers, professional associations, and some of the industry’s most successful executives. Our team is active in all key areas of the global insurance market, undertaking projects on behalf of insurance brokers, carriers, and reinsurers. We have decades of expertise developing talent pipelines across actuarial, claims, digital product management, loss control, operations, risk management, sales, technology, and underwriting functions.

To discuss your Insurance recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.

Payments Recruitment

Commercial payment market dynamics are fluid. Payment innovations have created opportunities for new entrants. This included independent/integrated software vendors (ISVs) and startup FinTechs. Smaller firms can now leverage secure payment platforms created by larger technology companies. Their focus is to capitalize on industry specific payment needs, driving greater market fragmentation. As a result, larger payment providers have been forced to merge. Changes in the market structure have impacted large banks and created an opportunity for them to reconsider existing partnerships with third-party payment providers. 

As the market shifts, our resourceful and passionate Search Consultants assist clients by providing intelligence on competitor’s organizational structure, compensation plans, and mood of talent.  We are a modern recruitment company, supporting clients by creating new sourcing channels for payments talent within the following verticals: merchant acquirers, large domestic banks, card networks, payment gateways, point of sale software and hardware providers, independent/integrated software vendors (ISVs), and tier-one consulting firms.

We provide clients with specialized payments talent across: payment security, card Issuing (credit, debit, corporate, prepaid, loyalty), card acquiring (cross border, single & multi-currency), payment & transaction processing, lending & personal finance, payments technology (smart cards, chips, EMV, RFID), mobile payments/NFC/P2P, open banking, remittances & money transfer, digital wallets and alternative currencies.

To discuss your Payments recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.

Private Wealth Management Recruitment

The wealth management industry is undergoing significant change. This includes the rising compliance burden and the global economy’s unpredictability, both of which put downward pressure on profit margins.  Wealth management organizations are facing increasing regulatory requirements, as well as increased costs of risk, which is undoubtedly an industry problem. Meanwhile, advisers are leaving the business at a faster rate than firms can hire replacements for them. The demand for business-critical talent in private wealth management is higher than ever before.

Our responsive and dynamic Search Consultants support a range of clients including private banks, brokerage firms, RIAs, private client investment managers, multi and single-family offices, as well as large institutions.  We help our clients build sustainable teams, and reach their business goals when it comes to talent planning, acquisition, and retention.

Our team has experience recruiting industry leading talent in portfolio management, investment advisory, private banking, product management, investment research, investment strategy, asset allocation, HNW & UHNW relationship management, mortgages and specialist lending, and tax planning.

 To discuss your Wealth Management recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.

Private Equity & Venture Capital Recruitment

As part of our Private Equity and Venture Capital executive search practice, we work closely with a diverse range of clients, ranging from incubators and accelerators, early-stage investors and development capital companies, through to mid-market acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and international private equity funds.

We make a concerted effort to develop long-term connections with both our clients and prospects, thereby adding value to both. We identify individuals with the expertise and drive necessary to assist our clients in achieving their strategic objectives, and we go to similar lengths to assist our candidates in identifying opportunities that allow them to maximize their assets and potential.

When it comes to specialist recruitment solutions, the Willard Powell team redefines corporate recruiting and works with clients who invest in seed and early stage companies as well as growing enterprises, often with a technological bias, all over the United States. We work in both active and passive portfolio management, and we provide a comprehensive range of talent solutions that are tailored to our clients’ requirements. We work with Operating Partners, Investment Professionals, and Portfolio Company management teams.

Our professional candidate network and talent sourcing services provide us with access to talent from a variety of industries, with a particular emphasis on SaaS, FinTech, and eCommerce.

To discuss your Private Equity & Venture Capital recruitment needs, please contact our Founder at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com.