Investment Management Recruiters: 14 Firms Compared

Eleven anonymized assignments appear on Harrison Stone's representative searches page, among them a chief investment officer for a non-profit whose trust was valued at $5 billion. Others include a chief compliance officer and head of operations for a multi-billion-dollar emerging markets investment manager, a chief marketing officer for a multi-strategy alternative asset manager and a structured credit team lift-out. The page was published in 2016 and last updated in 2019, so ask for recent examples.

Its testimonials page (opens in a new tab), from 2016, carries accounts signed with a first name, an initial and a role. Matthew T., CEO of an institutional asset manager, describes filling a senior portfolio manager role handling $2 billion in assets. A foundation board member says the firm recruited an endowment CIO in less than four weeks.

The New York firm describes itself as an executive search firm for the investment management industry, with more than 25 years in the field. The client types it lists include RIAs, OCIOs, hedge funds, mutual fund complexes, endowments, foundations and family offices.

Long Ridge's hedge funds page reports 300 portfolio managers and 1,750 analysts placed, and says 94% of the professionals it places stay with its clients for two years or more. The page does not say whether these counts cover hedge fund searches only. Its recent placements list includes a global head of equities, a risk management managing director, systematic portfolio managers and a head of portfolio finance, without client names or dates.

Founded in 2004 and based in New York, Long Ridge calls itself the industry's first recruiting specialist in alternative asset management. Beyond hedge funds it recruits for private equity, real estate and credit firms, and runs technology, legal and professional services practices.

Presidio's representative clients page shows client logos, among them Franklin Templeton, Brookfield, Hellman & Friedman, Lexington Partners, Mubadala and TIAA. It does not say which searches it ran for them or when.

The San Francisco boutique describes itself as "exclusively investment management" and offers retained executive search, plus advisory work such as team assessments and outsourced in-house recruiting. Belinda Yan founded it in 2014 and works on investment and investor relations searches across all levels. The firm describes its clients as general partners (venture capital, growth equity and buyout firms) and limited partners such as endowments, foundations, family offices, OCIOs and sovereign wealth funds.

Two completed searches are described on Select Recruiting Group's practice page, last updated in 2023. One placed a fixed income trader with a client managing over $1 trillion globally, working onsite during the pandemic; the other found an equity research analyst with a CFA for an exclusive client. A head of HR at a global asset management firm says it has been a client "for many years", and the logos on the page include abrdn.

The Philadelphia firm calls executive search its primary expertise and recruits at every level, from client service associates to a chief operating officer. Its employer page (opens in a new tab) sets out five steps, starting with a conversation with the hiring manager rather than HR and ending with follow-up after the placement. Across the firm it reports hundreds of candidates placed in more than 15 years.

Six testimonials on Oxbridge's homepage, identified by role and city, come from private equity investment professionals and from executives at a private equity platform and a portfolio company. A principal in private equity in New York writes, "You succeeded where other search firms failed." The testimonials name no firm and give no dates.

The firm recruits across the buy side: buyout, growth, venture, infrastructure and private credit funds, long/short and event-driven hedge funds, family offices, sovereign wealth and pension funds, and corporate development roles. Its focus page (opens in a new tab) lists hiring levels from pre-MBA associate to vice president, principal, director and portfolio manager, so it suits investment professionals more than C-suite searches. It cites more than 35 years of relationships.

Firm-wide figures appear on Alpha Apex Group's investment management page in October 2026: 2,000+ placements worldwide and a 43-day average time to fill full-time hires. A third claim, new candidates in the hiring manager's inbox within 72 hours, has no stated starting point or scope. The page does not identify these figures as investment management measures and names no investment client or case.

The page says the firm recruits executives for investment firms, asset managers and financial institutions. It lists four areas: investment leadership, asset allocation and portfolio construction, client relationship and business development leaders, and risk management and compliance leaders. Its financial services page (opens in a new tab) names retained executive search.

Heidrick's wealth and asset management practice says it maintains relationships with leaders in real estate, private capital, hedge funds, infrastructure, and asset and wealth management. The page publishes interviews with asset management leaders but names no search, client or count.

The global firm offers asset managers, wealth managers, hedge funds and alternative investment firms help to recruit and retain leaders, identify successors and develop talent. Its financial services page lists investment management as a practice for traditional and alternative asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, pensions, endowments and foundations. Neither page names a client or search.

The asset and wealth management page says Russell Reynolds works with CEOs, boards and executive teams at global asset managers, private banks and wealth platforms to find, develop and assess leaders. It names no client or search.

The firm's executive search page (opens in a new tab), which covers all industries, read in October 2026, says its process typically delivers a shortlist within eight weeks and helps find and secure leaders in as little as 14 weeks. Both figures cover all industries, and the page does not say whether the 14 weeks end at an accepted offer or a start date.

More than 600 asset management assignments over a three-year period, including searches for senior executives and board members, are reported on Spencer Stuart's practice page. It says 97 percent of the asset management executives it placed over that period are still with their firms. The same page says 81 percent of its work is for repeat clients, without saying whether that figure covers the practice or the whole firm.

The practice covers institutional money managers, retirement services providers, mutual fund managers, hedge funds, funds of funds, insurers, endowments and foundations, and wealth managers and family offices. The page names no client or search.

Keller's wealth management page lists placements by role and client type, among them a chief investment officer for a multi-family office and wealth platform, a head of alternative investments for a boutique wealth management group and a chief compliance officer. The list names no client and gives no dates.

The page describes a retained search method and publishes more terms than any other firm here. It lists an 18% client success fee, no upfront costs and no fees for candidates. Its replacement program, shown elsewhere on the page as "up to 365-day" coverage, replaces an executive who can no longer perform the role or leaves within the first year, at no additional expense. The wealth page says first candidates arrive in two to three weeks and many searches reach a shortlist within four to eight weeks. Its approach page (opens in a new tab) says instead that Keller typically presents a shortlist within two to three weeks, and that a complete search may take 30 to 60 days, or more.

CFI.co's "Best Investment Manager Executive Search Firm United States" award for 2015 and 2017 to 2020 is listed on Mack's awards page, alongside family office and wealth awards. It names no client or placement, and the awards page does not give the selection criteria.

The firm, established in 2002, offers retained executive search and consulting for family offices, family enterprises, wealth management advisory firms, and investment consulting and investment management firms. Its about page (opens in a new tab) says it accepts a limited number of assignments at a time and has always delivered the candidate slate on the date set in the search schedule.

On StevenDouglas's wealth management page, two consultants' profiles name Bessemer Trust, Bernstein Global Wealth Management and BNY Mellon Wealth Management as clients they work with or have assisted. The profiles do not say which roles were filled or when.

The practice lists private wealth management, single and multi-family offices, portfolio managers, chief investment officers, senior client service officers and compliance officers among its specializations. StevenDouglas, founded in 1983 according to its history page, also runs professional recruiting, technology staffing and interim services, with offices across the US and in Toronto.

Somers's past mandates page, published in 2019, lists more than 40 assignments by role and client type. They include a chief investment officer for an investment management firm, a senior portfolio manager and a chief investment officer for multi-family offices, and a CFO for a family office. On its wealth management page (opens in a new tab), David Langmead of Langmead Group describes a senior appointment to his family office, and John Bunch, formerly chief commercial director of Evelyn Partners, says he retained the firm for three years.

The firm says it has worked in wealth management search for more than 20 years. It can work exclusively as a client's retained search firm and then guarantees not to work with that client's competitors during the search.