15 Sales Recruiters and Executive Search Firms to Consider
By Jake Jorgovan, co-founder of Alpha Apex Group, one of the fifteen firms below
Published Updated 14 min read
A candidate's sales record is easier to judge when you know the customers they served, the deals they closed and the support they had. You need a recruiter who can test that experience against the job you need done, whether that means winning new accounts, growing existing customers or leading the sales organization.
This guide compares 15 sales recruiters, headhunters and executive search firms. It covers sellers, account managers and senior revenue leaders, with specialties, published terms and practical questions to help you choose a search partner.
Compare the sales recruiters
Start with the roles and markets each firm describes, then ask the firms you shortlist about assignments like yours. The list is alphabetical, not a ranking; figures and testimonials are the firms' own. Several firms describe technology or software sales work, including Betts, Optimal and Peak. AC Lion covers account management in digital businesses.
| Firm | Relevant roles | Markets and clients described | Potential fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| AC Lion | Account management, client services and their leaders | Digital and emerging technology businesses | Adding a first client-services hire or an account-management leader |
| Alliance Recruitment Agency | Sales directors, VPs and CROs | Technology, healthcare, industrial and other sectors across countries | Hiring senior commercial leaders across countries |
| Alpha Apex Group | Sales managers, directors, VPs and CROs | Businesses across industries | Hiring a leader to build and coach the sales team |
| Ascentria Search Partners | Account managers through CROs | US private, founder-led and private equity-owned companies | Hiring sales and other leaders for a private business |
| Betts Recruiting | Sales development reps, account executives, account managers, sales engineers and revenue leaders | Full-time US hiring for tech and tech-enabled companies | Filling recurring full-time US sales vacancies |
| Cowen Partners | Chief revenue and sales officers; senior leaders | Private equity-backed, founder-led and Fortune 500 companies | Hiring a CRO or chief sales officer through retained search |
| Goodwin Recruiting | Field sales, account managers and sales leaders | Industrial, logistics, healthcare and service businesses | Adding a sales team for market expansion |
| KAS Placement | Sales representatives, business development and VPs | Businesses across industries; US and Canadian leadership searches | Hiring when the job description or offer needs work |
| Korn Ferry | Front-line sellers through sales leaders | Software, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food service and real estate | Hiring at several sales levels or at scale |
| Newman Stewart | Sales talent and commercial leaders | UK-based firm serving complex industries, including industrial markets | Hiring a commercial leader with sector-specific technical skills |
| Optimal Sales Search | Enterprise account executives, sales engineers and revenue leaders | US growth-stage and private equity-backed SaaS companies | Hiring enterprise sellers for a complex software sales motion |
| Peak Sales Recruiting | CROs, chief sales officers, VPs and directors | Software, technology, consumer and industrial businesses | Hiring a technical sales or customer success leader |
| Sales Talent Inc. | Sales managers, directors, VPs, CROs and chief sales officers | B2B businesses, including software, industrial and healthcare | Hiring a B2B sales leader with retained or contingent terms |
| Spencer Stuart | Chief sales officers, CROs and other commercial leaders | Multinationals, private equity portfolios and emerging companies | Hiring a revenue leader as part of succession planning |
| Stone Executive | Sales directors, VPs, CROs, chief commercial officers and account directors | UK senior market across technology, healthcare and other sectors | Hiring a senior UK sales leader through a managed transition |
Sales recruiters and search firms
15 firmsAC Lion
Back to the comparisonAC Lion website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Account management and client services hiring in digital businesses
- Relevant roles
- Technical account management, customer success and account management leadership
AC Lion lists a VP of Account Management for a cloud data business and a Technical Account Manager for an advertising platform among its representative placements. Its account management practice covers technical and client-facing roles through directors and VPs, from a startup's first client services hire to enterprise software teams. The focus is retaining and growing accounts across digital and emerging technology businesses.
Alliance Recruitment Agency
Back to the comparisonAlliance Recruitment Agency website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Senior sales searches that may span several countries
- Relevant roles
- Sales directors, VPs of Sales, business development managers and CROs
- Search options
- Retained, contingency, interim and contract
Alliance reports more than 5,000 senior commercial positions filled across 36+ countries. It describes single-market and multi-country searches, including the US, UK, Canada and India, across technology, healthcare, industrial and other sectors. Its assessment distinguishes inherited pipeline from candidate-generated pipeline and uses references from former sales leaders to check performance.
Alpha Apex Group
Back to the comparisonCo-founded by Jake Jorgovan, the author
Alpha Apex Group website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- A sales leader to build, coach and manage a team
- Relevant roles
- Sales managers, sales directors and VPs of Sales
Alpha Apex Group reports more than 2,000 candidate placements worldwide across all its recruiting. Its sales searches assess sales expertise, strategic thinking, leadership and organizational fit, including the ability to build and coach teams. A separate CRO service (opens in a new tab) covers leaders who connect sales, marketing and customer success.
Ascentria Search Partners
Back to the comparisonAscentria Search Partners website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Sales hiring in a US private, founder-led or private equity-owned business
- Relevant roles
- Enterprise and key account managers, sales directors, VPs and CROs
Repeat clients and referrals drive over 80% of Ascentria's business, according to its company history (opens in a new tab). Formed through the merger of TurningPoint Executive Search and Collabrie, it recruits across sales, finance, marketing and operations. Its stated client base includes private equity-owned, founder-led and privately held companies across the US.
Betts Recruiting
Back to the comparisonBetts Recruiting website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Full-time US sales hiring in tech and tech-enabled companies
- Relevant roles
- Sales development representatives, account executives, account managers, sales engineers and revenue leaders
- Search options
- Contingency search, executive search and subscription services
In a testimonial on Betts' homepage, Madeleine Larsen, a recruiter at Attentive, credits the recruiter subscription with helping hire 10 sales development representatives over nine months. Its RaaS service (opens in a new tab) combines Connect, its vetted candidate-sourcing platform, with recruiter support under an annual subscription.
Betts' FAQ (opens in a new tab) lists sales development reps, account executives, account managers and customer success managers as Connect's roles, with strategic hiring or executive search for other roles. It limits recruiting to full-time US positions. For repeated hiring, compare the included roles and support with your hiring plan and full-term commitment.
Cowen Partners
Back to the comparison- Potential fit
- A retained search for a chief revenue or chief sales officer
- Clients described
- Boards, CEOs and investors in private equity-backed, founder-led and Fortune 500 companies
- Search approach
- Senior partner-led retained executive search
Cowen's sales page lists recent placements including a chief revenue officer in software and VPs of Sales in SaaS, medtech and CPG, among more than 500 executive placements across its practice. Its sales offering covers chief revenue and sales officers, with each search led by a senior partner. Published candidate questions test how leaders would adapt their sales methods to a different business, hire sellers and structure compensation. That gives buyers a concrete assessment approach to discuss when reshaping a sales organization.
Goodwin Recruiting
Back to the comparisonGoodwin Recruiting website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Sales hiring across industrial, field-based and service businesses
- Relevant roles
- Account executives, account managers, territory managers and sales leaders
Goodwin's sales practice names logistics, construction, healthcare and insurance roles alongside industrial and field sales. Its offer spans contract sales support, permanent leadership hires and complete teams for market expansion. The firm describes reviewing the existing sales structure and skill gaps before defining the candidate profile.
KAS Placement
Back to the comparisonKAS Placement website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Sales and business development hiring with help shaping the offer
- Relevant roles
- Sales representatives, sales management and business development
In a testimonial on KAS's homepage (opens in a new tab), Kevin Kirby, a senior executive at T-Mobile Business USA, credits its executive recruiting team with understanding the candidate profile, finding candidates and providing consistent follow-up. KAS helps employers write job descriptions, offer letters and candidate messages for sales and business development hires. That support is useful when the role or offer needs work before outreach. Its recruiting spans industries, with VP of Sales and business development leadership searches across the US and Canada.
Korn Ferry
Back to the comparisonKorn Ferry website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Hiring across several levels of the sales organization
- Relevant roles
- Front-line sellers, sales managers and sales leaders
- Search options
- Direct hires, interim projects, individual appointments and hiring at scale
Korn Ferry describes sales recruiting from front-line sellers through leadership in software, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food service and real estate. It also offers benchmarking of existing sales leaders against its Success Profiles to guide training and coaching, giving employers a development option alongside recruitment.
Newman Stewart
Back to the comparisonNewman Stewart website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Sales and commercial leadership in complex industries
- Relevant work
- Sales recruitment and executive search
A testimonial on Newman Stewart's sales page credits it with a successful sales hire for Zeppelin Systems UK. The managing director praises its understanding of the business and recruitment process. The UK-based firm describes recruiting sales talent and commercial leaders with the technical skills needed in complex industries, supported by a global network of passive commercial candidates.
Optimal Sales Search
Back to the comparisonOptimal Sales Search website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Enterprise and mid-market software sales hiring in the US
- Relevant roles
- Enterprise account executives, sales engineers and revenue leaders
- Clients described
- Growth-stage and private equity-backed SaaS companies
Optimal reports interviewing more than 12,000 sales professionals. Its software recruiting process defines the sales motion and role, approaches candidates directly and evaluates the conditions behind their past performance. For an enterprise software search, ask how it would distinguish someone who sold with an established brand and support team from someone who built a territory with fewer resources.
Peak Sales Recruiting
Back to the comparisonPeak Sales Recruiting website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Sales leadership searches using structured skills assessment
- Relevant roles
- CROs, chief sales officers, VPs and directors
- Assessment described
- Psychometric testing, skills validation and experience checks
Peak's executive search page describes placing CogencyGlobal's first CRO: a single offer, accepted less than 120 days after initial contact. Its leadership specialties include technical sales, sales operations, business development and customer success across software, technology, consumer and industrial businesses.
Peak's sales recruiting guarantee (opens in a new tab) offers a replacement without charging time and expenses if the hire is missing goals and expected progress within an agreed timeframe. Confirm its applicability to your executive assignment and put the goals, timeframe and conditions in the agreement.
Sales Talent Inc.
Back to the comparisonSales Talent Inc. website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Comparing contingent and retained searches for a B2B sales leader
- Relevant roles
- Sales managers, directors, VPs, CROs and chief sales officers
- Sectors named
- Software, SaaS, technology, industrial, manufacturing and healthcare
Sales Talent says 82% of its 2025 hires across the firm came from passive candidates. It offers contingent and retained searches, with interviews examining capability, motivation and fit. It reports 62 search hours on average and more than 80 on retained assignments, which also get higher priority and more detailed market information. Ask what market information and reporting schedule a retainer would add to your search.
Spencer Stuart
Back to the comparisonSpencer Stuart website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Senior revenue appointments with wider leadership development needs
- Relevant roles
- Chief sales officers, CROs, chief commercial officers and VPs of Sales
- Clients described
- Multinationals, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and emerging companies
Spencer Stuart's Chief Sales Officer Practice reports more than 1,000 sales searches over a three-year period and says two-thirds of its work comes from repeat clients. Alongside recruitment, it describes developing future sales leaders, improving leadership team effectiveness and supporting strategic or cultural transformation. Those services suit an appointment within a broader succession plan.
Stone Executive
Back to the comparisonStone Executive website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Senior sales and commercial leadership appointments in the UK
- Relevant roles
- Sales directors, VPs, CROs, chief commercial officers and account directors
A testimonial published on Stone's sales page from Lloyd Wilcox, Managing Director of Medical Supermarket, credits the firm with finding the sales-leadership experience a highly specific technical and cultural brief required. Stone's process includes sector-specific research, written candidate profiles and help with the transition from the previous employer. Stone gives a typical four-to-eight-week estimate from briefing to offer acceptance. Complex appointments involving relocation, sector-specific experience or CRO seniority often take longer. Ask how it will support resignation and the notice period up to the start date.
How should you choose sales leadership recruiters for a VP or CRO?
Choose a firm whose assigned search lead can show comparable VP or CRO assignments and explain why retained or contingent terms fit your search. Ask how it will assess candidates on the decisions they will own: hiring and coaching sellers for a VP, or coordinating revenue responsibilities across functions for a CRO.
A VP of Sales usually runs the sales team; a CRO may also own marketing, customer success and partnerships. Define the team, territories, management responsibilities and hiring authority in your VP of Sales brief. For a CRO, agree with the board on responsibility across sales, marketing, customer success and partnerships, including which functions the person will manage and which they will coordinate. If the need is temporary, consider an interim or fractional CRO before commissioning a permanent search.
What should an account executive or account manager brief include?
Specify the customers, revenue responsibilities and sales process the hire will own. At Lead Cookie, my first attempt to hand off sales failed: the process was too ambiguous, and I tried to transfer too much at once. By January 2020, I had documented the process and phased the successful handover. Are you hiring someone to operate a process, improve it or build it?
For an account executive, specify lead sources, target customers, typical deal size and new-account ownership. For an account manager, define the starting book, renewal and expansion targets, service responsibilities and any new-sales quota. If the brief centers on adoption and customer outcomes, the customer success recruiter comparison helps assess that adjacent role.
Sales recruiter, headhunter or executive search firm?
The service label does not determine how you pay: Sales Talent describes headhunting under both contingent and retained models. A sales recruiter finds and assesses candidates; headhunting involves direct approaches, including passive candidates. Executive search (opens in a new tab) covers leadership appointments from role definition through assessment and offer management. The proposal should explain the work and commitment behind the label.
Should you use contingency, retained or subscription search?
Start with retained search for a confidential assignment needing dedicated research, contingency for an individual hire with a defined brief, and subscription services for recurring hiring. Then compare the commitments below against your needs.
- Contingency: Alliance describes mid-senior sales searches where multiple agencies may participate. Agree on candidate communication, competing introductions and any exclusivity requirement.
- Retained: Alliance describes dedicated, exclusive commitment for senior or confidential work. Compare research and assessment deliverables against the same brief; Sales Talent offers both models for leadership roles.
- Subscription: Betts' annual RaaS is an option for repeated go-to-market hiring. Compare full-term cost and support against your hiring plan: fewer approved hires could leave you paying for a full annual subscription with less recruiting work needed.
How to assess the recruiter and the candidates
Vet the recruiter's comparable assignments and references
Ask the assigned search lead for placements at a comparable company stage, sales cycle and responsibility level. Request a sample candidate report and discuss how references will test its claims. Ask what retention and sales-performance outcomes the firm can substantiate for comparable placements, and over what period. Resolve disagreements about compensation, resources or an overloaded role before outreach begins.
Put candidate quota achievement in context
Alliance's example shows why attainment percentage and quota size both matter: a seller at 140% of a $600,000 quota closed $840,000, while one at 95% of a $4 million quota closed $3.8 million. Judge fit by the attainment period, product, territory, support and opportunity available, then distinguish pipeline the candidate generated from inherited opportunities. For account managers, examine starting-book quality and personal contribution to retention and expansion.
Test candidates on the work the role requires
Use a bounded work sample: a discovery conversation for a seller, an account growth plan for an account manager, or a diagnosis of an anonymized sales organization for a leader. Agree on criteria before meeting candidates and divide assessment responsibilities between recruiter and employer.
For software sales, include the buying group, procurement, technical evaluation and sales-engineering support. Use fictional or anonymized material so candidates can demonstrate judgment without sharing confidential customer data or doing unpaid client work.
How much do sales recruiters charge?
Alliance's indicative guidelines calculate contingency fees on base salary and retained CRO or VP search on total first-year compensation. Stone's FAQ describes a percentage of first-year remuneration, paid at engagement, shortlist and appointment; it gives no rate, saying the percentage varies with seniority and complexity.
| Engagement | Fee and calculation base | Payment milestones | Typical replacement period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contingency for senior sales roles | 15%–20% of first-year base salary | Successful start; no upfront fee | 90 days |
| Retained CRO or VP search | 25%–33% of total first-year compensation, including base salary and on-target earnings | Engagement, shortlist and start date | Three to six months |
Alliance says it repeats the search at no additional fee if the hire leaves or is released during the replacement period, subject to the agreed terms.
For a hypothetical hire on a USD $220,000 base and $400,000 total on-target earnings (OTE, including base), Alliance's contingency calculation is $33,000–$44,000 and its retained calculation is $100,000–$132,000. Ask Alliance how its contract counts variable pay and which service fits your search.
A replacement remedy covers further recruiting work. Salary, ramp time and management attention already spent remain part of the employer's cost.
How long does a sales search take?
The published timelines measure different stages: Cowen a candidate slate, Stone an accepted offer, Alliance a confirmed start, and Betts a recruitment process with no stated endpoint. Optimal separately publishes an estimate for its own service and a longer general software-sales hiring benchmark.
| Firm | Published timing | Endpoint and conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Alliance Recruitment Agency | Initial shortlist in 10–14 business days for most roles; full process typically four to eight weeks | Brief to confirmed start; complex or confidential CRO/VP searches may take eight to twelve weeks |
| Betts Recruiting | Typically two to six weeks | Recruitment process; endpoint unspecified; depends on the position and how specific its requirements are |
| Cowen Partners | Qualified candidate slates in an average of three weeks | Kickoff to slate; firm-wide executive search figure |
| Optimal Sales Search | One to two months for its own searches, by its account | Endpoint not specified; Optimal separately gives three to five months as a general software-sales hiring timeline from scratch (profile 1–2 weeks, outreach 2–4, interview feedback 4–8, offer and acceptance 2–4) |
| Stone Executive | Typically four to eight weeks | Briefing to offer acceptance; complex appointments involving relocation, sector-specific experience or CRO seniority often take longer |
Agree on the search before appointing a firm
- Coverage: Which roles, countries and assessment activities are included?
- Economics: What is the fee base, when is payment due, and which expenses are additional?
- Changes: What happens if the search is paused, canceled or filled internally?
- Access: Which employers are off-limits because of existing client commitments?
- Remedy: What triggers replacement coverage, which exclusions apply, and how do we claim it?
- Reporting: How will candidate progress, market feedback and delays be communicated?
Send the same brief to the firms you want to compare. Their response should show both access to suitable candidates and how carefully they have understood the job.
Sources and method
How this list was made
The fifteen firms were selected from the sales, account management, CRO and software-sales articles combined in this guide because their own sites describe direct recruiting practices relevant to those roles. The alphabetical comparison preserves role and sector overlap. Provider figures and testimonials are self-reported. Firm sites were read September 27 and October 3, 2026.
Jake's experience
- Sales handoff: How I hired, trained and handed off sales at Lead Cookie, January 2020; historical experience
September 27 and October 3, 2026
Jake Jorgovan
Jake works with enterprise leaders on marketing strategy and executive talent. He co-founded Alpha Apex Group, founded Content Allies, owns Listen Network and is a partner in Fieldtrip, a group of marketing agencies. He founded Lead Cookie and later sold it.
Related sales hiring guides
VP of Sales job description: role, pay and how to hire
Executive search
Fractional and interim CRO firms: 16 compared
Fractional & interim leadership
How to Run a Sales Test Assignment Before You Hire
Recruitment & workforce
Customer Success Recruiters: 13 Firms Compared
Recruitment & workforce