Interim · London
Interim Chief Operating Officer
Whitfield Retail · Consumer, Luxury & Retail
Six-to-nine-month interim COO to stabilise store operations and a stalled systems programme.
£1,400–£1,800 per day
London · Zurich · New York
Leadership, placed with discretion.
Steorling is a discreet executive search house. We advise chairs and principals on the appointments that shape institutions — and leave no fingerprints on the market.
The proposition
A smaller firm, held to a higher standard of silence.
We are retained when the appointment cannot become a story. The work begins with the chair, not a requisition: what must be decided in year one, what the culture will not tolerate, and the price of waiting.
Founded in London by Mario Knight, Steorling maps markets quietly, presents shortlists that can be defended in a boardroom, and treats confidentiality as an operating system rather than a clause.
Expertise
Sectors we hold.
Financial Services
Banks, markets, asset management and the institutions that hold the system together.
Private Equity & Alternatives
Operating partners, portfolio chairs and the leaders who convert thesis into return.
Technology & Digital
Product, engineering and commercial leadership for scaled software and digital businesses.
Life Sciences & Healthcare
Scientific, commercial and operating leadership across biopharma, medtech and providers.
Energy, Industrials & Infrastructure
The operators and stewards of assets that take decades to build and minutes to lose.
Consumer, Luxury & Retail
Brand, product and retail leadership for houses that live or die on taste.
Professional & Business Services
Partnership leadership, managing partners and the functions that run the firm.
Public, Culture & Not-for-Profit
Directors and chairs for institutions whose licence to operate is public trust.
Appointments
A few of the seats now open.
Permanent · Zurich
Chief Investment Officer
Meridian Capital Partners · Private Equity & Alternatives
Multi-strategy alternatives house seeking a CIO to steward allocation across private credit, secondaries and a growing real-assets book.
CHF 400,000–550,000 + carry
Permanent · London
Managing Director, European Buyouts
Ashlar Partners · Private Equity & Alternatives
Mid-market sponsor hiring a deal-leading MD to build a European industrial services franchise.
£300,000–£400,000 + carry
Permanent · London
Group Chief Financial Officer
Northbridge Industrials plc · Energy, Industrials & Infrastructure
FTSE-adjacent industrial group seeking a CFO to lead a three-year capital programme and a cleaner reporting cadence with the board.
£280,000–£340,000 + equity
For clients
Instruct a search.
Write to a partner with the brief as you would say it to a chair. We will tell you if the market will answer.
For candidates
Be known, quietly.
Register a profile, save searches, and apply for published appointments. We only write when there is a conversation to have.
Insights
Notes from the practice.
Boards
Succession in a tighter market
When the internal slate is thinner than the board hoped, the work is not a faster search. It is a clearer conversation about risk.
Search
The quiet board: what chairs now ask of a search partner
The best chairs do not want a circus. They want a partner who can hold a secret, test a brief, and leave no fingerprints on the market.
Interim
Interim leadership as a strategic instrument
An interim COO is not a stopgap if the brief is written as one. Used well, the seat buys the board time and information.
Selected clients — names shown are fictional placeholders
Northbridge
Meridian
Helios
Ashlar
Vale & Ash
Lumen
Calder
Atelier
From chairs
“They treated the brief as a board conversation, not a vacancy. The shortlist was short, and every name could have done the work.”
“The process left no fingerprints. Our partners heard about the appointment on the day we announced it — which is exactly as it should be.”
“Steorling told us the original brief would not attract the people we wanted. They were right. The second brief did.”