THE OPPORTUNITY

• Are you energized by the opportunity to independently lead executive searches from initial client conversations through successful placement?
• Do you enjoy evaluating senior-level talent and have the judgment to look beyond credentials and polished presentations?
• Do you naturally cultivate professional relationships, recognize business opportunities, and maintain connections even when there isn’t an immediate need?

ABOUT GILMAN PARTNERS

For more than 45 years, Gilman Partners has helped organizations build stronger leadership teams through retained executive search and leadership development. Based in Cincinnati and deeply connected to the regional business community, we have built our reputation through long-term relationships, a disciplined search process, and an unwavering commitment to integrity, candor, and sound judgment.

With a team of approximately twenty professionals and more than one hundred searches successfully completed each year, we offer the rigor clients expect from a retained executive search firm with the collaboration, accessibility, and entrepreneurial spirit of a smaller organization. We take the time to understand each client’s business, culture, leadership team, challenges, and opportunities before determining what success in a role truly looks like. Our consultants and research team then work closely together to identify, engage, assess, and attract the right leadership talent.

Our culture is low ego and high accountability. Consultants have meaningful autonomy and ownership, but no one operates in a silo. We share information, relationships, candidates, ideas, and credit; follow through on commitments; communicate directly; and help one another succeed. We value colleagues who are curious enough to ask questions, confident enough to offer a point of view, and humble enough to acknowledge what they do not know.

For someone joining Gilman Partners, that means becoming part of a firm where individual contribution, relationships, quality of work, living our core values matter and where success is built together.

This position is at the corporate office in Cincinnati, Ohio and onsite at least three days per week.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING

As a key member of the Gilman Partners team, the Executive Search Consultant will independently lead retained executive search engagements from kickoff through successful placement while serving as a trusted advisor to senior leaders. This individual will develop search strategies, assess executive talent, manage client and candidate relationships, and contribute to the firm’s growth through relationship-driven business development.

Executive search is highly relational and consultative, but success also requires disciplined, hands-on execution. This is not a role where recruiting execution is handed off entirely to others. The Executive Search Consultant will lead the following areas:

Executive Search Delivery

• Lead retained executive searches from kickoff through successful placement.
• Partner closely with the research team to develop targeted search strategies, identify and engage executive talent, and build strong candidate pipelines.
• Conduct in-depth candidate interviews, assess leadership capabilities and organizational fit, distinguish substance from polish, synthesize findings, and present candidates to clients with clarity and credibility.
• Manage the full client and candidate process, including interview coordination, preparation, feedback, communication, expectation management, and maintaining search momentum.
• Facilitate compensation discussions, references, offer strategy, negotiations, and successful placements while ensuring a positive client and candidate experience.
• Manage multiple searches simultaneously, maintaining disciplined processes, accurate documentation, clear priorities, and consistent follow-through.

 Client Relationships & Executive Advisory

• Serve as the primary relationship manager and trusted advisor for assigned clients, building long-term partnerships with CEOs, CFOs, CHROs, board members, and other senior executives.
• Lead client discovery and kickoff conversations to understand organizational strategy, culture, leadership needs, business challenges, and the characteristics required for success.
• Provide candid, consultative guidance on talent availability, compensation, candidate quality, market conditions, and search strategies, including challenging client expectations when appropriate.

 Business Development & Relationship Building

• Develop new search opportunities by intentionally building and maintaining relationships with prospective clients, executives, and referral sources through networking, introductions, community involvement, and consistent follow-up.
• Independently pursue business development opportunities, including initiating prospect conversations, leading meetings, developing proposals, and converting relationships into new retained search engagements.
• Represent Gilman Partners in the business community through professional organizations, networking events, volunteer activities, and other opportunities to build relationships and share expertise.

 Firm Collaboration & Professional Development

• Collaborate with Partners, Directors, search consultants, researchers, and colleagues to deliver exceptional search outcomes and a consistent client and candidate experience.
• Lead or actively contribute to firm initiatives, committees, or community partnerships that support Gilman Partners’ continued growth and success.

IDEAL CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Eight to fifteen+ years of experience in executive search, professional services, consulting, corporate leadership, or another relationship-driven business environment preferred.
• Search experience in the accounting/finance, HR, other corporate roles or nonprofit leadership searches is required.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating, recruiting, hiring, developing, advising, or working closely with leadership talent.
• Established professional relationships and demonstrated ability to build networks, cultivate long-term relationships, and identify new business opportunities.
• Search strategy and research fluency – Ability to translate client needs into targeted search strategies, identify prospective candidates, leverage professional networks, and collaborate effectively with research partners.
• Technology agility and data discipline – Comfort using recruiting, CRM, research, communication, and productivity tools while maintaining accurate, timely, and accessible candidate, client, and business development information.

KEY PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Intellectual curiosity – Genuinely interested in learning new businesses, organizations, functions, cultures, and leadership challenges; asks thoughtful questions rather than assuming they already know the answer.
• Sound judgment – Knows when to push, when to listen, when to challenge assumptions, and when to adjust course. Demonstrates strong instincts with clients, candidates, and colleagues.
• Resilience and persistence – Remains steady and productive through setbacks, ambiguity, unanswered outreach, changing client needs, candidate withdrawals, and business development that takes time to produce results.
• Relationship orientation – Genuinely enjoys getting to know people, maintaining connections, helping others, and investing in relationships with a long-term rather than transactional mindset.

WHY BUILD A CAREER AT GILMAN PARTNERS

• Influence at the highest level – Partner directly with senior leaders on consequential leadership decisions.
• Variety and continual learning – Learn new organizations, functions, leadership challenges, and business models with every search.
• Collaborative platform – Work alongside experienced consultants and a dedicated research team within a firm that values shared success.
• Compelling compensation and lifestyle – Generous base salary, commission, profit sharing, a first-year income guarantee, full benefits, hybrid work environment, work/life balance, and 20 days of PTO.

OUR COMMITMENT TO CANDIDATES

Gilman Partners is committed to strengthening leadership teams and elevating talent in our communities—and that means all qualified applicants will receive consideration. You do not have to meet every qualification in this job description to apply. If you are drawn to the position and believe your experience makes you a good fit, we encourage you to apply.